The 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education recently released an interesting study titled Are Educational Expenditures Associated with 11th Grade Student Achievement in Pennsylvania School Districts? According to the researchers,
This report examines three years: 2007, 2008 and 2009. We looked at the association of total expenditures per pupil as well instructional expenses per pupil to 11th grade student achievement. The available student achievement measures were 11th grade PSSA scores in math, reading and science and SAT math and verbal scores. We then looked at 14 subcategories of educational expenditures to determine whether they were related to student achievement. We also looked at the effect of changes in expenditures between 2007 and 2009 and their corresponding changes in achievement. We conducted this analysis in a way that would be most favorable to the claim that higher district expenditures would result in higher achievement levels.
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In sum, we found there was either no or very weak association between levels of education expenditures and 11th grade student achievement after controlling for other variables.
The education level, racial composition, and socioeconomic status of the community appeared to be associated with (not necessarily the cause of) differences in student achievement.
