Investigation of Education Databases in Four States to Support Policy Research on Resource Allocation
Authors: Diane Pan, Lotte Smith-Hansen, Debra Hughes Jones, Zena H. Rudo, Celeste Alexander, Rahel Kahlert
Price: Online only
• Published: 2005 • 187 pages
Available online: PDF
In this report, SEDL researchers investigate data collected and managed by state education agencies to determine whether new research can be conducted to support policy questions about education resources and student performance. Increased attention on the resources needed to help students succeed, how these resources should be allocated, and whether spending and staffing strategies affect student performance bring to light the need to examine state data to inform these issues. This report contributes to education research and policy by
- describing in fine detail the data collected and housed by state education agencies in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas;
- providing guidance to policy audiences and researchers about the questions that can be answered with these data, with discussion about using specific financial, staff, student performance, and student characteristic variables from each study state; and
- discussing ways these data could be improved to expand the range of policy questions answered.
This report is divided into three major sections with detailed reference material in the appendixes. Chapter 2 describes how data on instructional resources and student performance have been utilized to support policy in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas. Chapter 3 describes existing state education data in the four study states and discusses how researchers could use these data to answer policy questions related to instructional resources. We also explore what additional questions could be answered if data were improved. Chapter 4 poses recommendations for policymakers regarding how data might be better utilized and improved to support decision making. Detailed appendixes explain the methods used to conduct this study and provide descriptions of state education data in each of the four study states for the reader’s reference and use in planning future research studies.
