Educational Productivity Essay Research Paper Educational productivity

Educational Productivity Essay, Research Paper

Educational productivity is the improvement of students outcomes with little or no additional financial resources, or a consistent level of student performance at a lower level of spending. Educational productivity is based on effectiveness. This is the linkage between student outcomes and the level and use of finacial resources in the schools. Production functions are concerned with how money is related to student learning and lifetime earnings. Other approaches are cost functions, data envelopment, and the impact of smaller class size on the student learning. Although there has been extensive research about educational productive functions, there are still many disagreement among researchers as to whether or not a statistical link can be found between student outcomes and money. However, it is agreed upon that the single largest expendidture in the public school system is teacher expenditure.

Early production-function research, modeled on classical economic theory, tried to correlate a set of educational “inputs” to a single “output.” Most of these studies were inconclusive. Because of the complexity of the schooling process and factors (like child poverty) outside schools’ control, it has been difficult to isolate statistically significant one-to-one correlations between inputs and student learning.

The most common outcomes measured in such studies are standardized test results, graduation rates, dropout rates, college attendance patterns, and labor-market outcomes. Inputs usually include per-pupil expenditures; student-teacher ratios; teacher education, experience, and salary; school facilities; and administrative factors (Lawrence Picus 1997). The most famous production-function study was the U.S. Department of Education’s “Coleman Report.” This massive survey of 600,000 students in 3,000 schools concluded that socioeconomic background influenced student success more than various school and teacher characteristics (Picus 1997).

Another type of research was culminated in Eric Hanushek’s 1989 study, which analyzed results of 187 production studies published during the previous 20 years. Using a simple vote-counting method to compare data, Hanushek found no systematic, positive relationship between student achievement and seven inputs.

Hanushek’s findings have been challenged by recent studies using more sophisticated research techniques. When Larry Hedges (1994) and associates reanalyzed Hanushek’s syntheses using meta-analysis, they discovered that a $500 (roughly 10 percent) increase in average spending per pupil would significantly increase student achievement. Likewise, Faith Crampton’s comprehensive analysis (1995) of inputs affecting achievement in New York State schools found that expenditures seemed to matter when they bought smaller classes and more experienced, highly educated teachers.

Some educational productivity measurements are as follows: The first one is based on the economic production function that is used to measure the contribution of individual inputs to the output of some product. This function is:

O = f(K,L)

Where:

O = some measurable output K= capital or non labor inputs to the production process L = labor

Based on this equation, an education production function was developed. It is as follows:

P = f(R,S,D)

Where

P = a measure of student performance R = a measure of resources available to students in the school or district. S = a vector of student characteristics. D = a vector of district and school characteristics. (Odden, p. 290)

Although these equations serves as valid equations, there are still many difficulities with these functions. In economic terminology, the effort is to find a production function – a mathematical expression of the relationship between inputs and outputs in education. It is yet to reach an agreement on the proper measure of student performance to serve as the outcome indicator. Also, there is not indicator that takes in account the students that do not speak English, as their first language, and children with disabilities who do not do as well in school as other students. Many production functions rely on cross sectional data to

In his book, Monk uses the production function as the basic element in studying productivity in schools. He defines a production function as a model which links conceptually and mathematically outcomes, inputs, and the processes that transform the latter into the former in schools (Monk, p. 316). He notes that production functions are important for improving both technical and allocative efficiencies. However, despite their potential benefits, Monk recognizes the major obstacles that face the creation of production functions for education. Neither outcomes, inputs, nor processes are easily understood.

In education, outcomes are multiple, jointly produced, and difficult to weigh against one another. The outcomes of education are not all translatable into a standard metric, such as money, which makes it very difficult to give them relative value. A further difficulty with outcomes has to do with the level at which they should be measured. At various times researchers have been interested in outcomes of individual students, classes of students, schools, school districts, states, nations, ethnic groups, age groups, ge