Achieving More, Spending Less in Schools, Districts, and States

In an era of financial stringency and demands for better school performance, it is useful to think about several means of raising school productivity: (1) increase learning effectiveness without increasing costs; (2) reduce costs without diminishing effectiveness; or (3) both, that is, increase effectiveness and simultaneously reduce costs. The purpose of this document is to concisely summarize research on how learning productivity can best be increased by all three means. It is aimed to serve responsible officials in schools, districts, and states. Though the present document emphasizes new research on "learning more, spending less," much past research on effective methods is described in greater detail in a related book from the Center on Innovation & Improvement (CII), "Improving Student Learning: Action Principles for Families, Classrooms, Schools, Districts, and States" (Walberg 2011), which emphasizes rigorous, statistically controlled, contrast-group research. Intended for busy educators and policy makers, this document is an overview of actionable productivity innovations. Compared to the huge underlying research literature, this document is purposely concise but refers to and serves as an index to many of CII's resources responding to the needs of states and school districts. These provide further explanations, references to research, and examples in practice. New in this document are Transformational Innovations. Several are less well researched than those previously summarized by CII, but in the current era of budgetary stringency, are increasingly put forward by policy analysts and legislators as having considerable potential to meet the productivity challenge. This document also invites state, district, and school officials to contribute examples of policies and practices they have successfully employed. The following are appended: (1) Achieving More, Spending Less--Innovation for Productivity Survey; (2) Time Influences and School-Level Influences on Student Learning; and (3) Database of Resources. [For "Improving Student Learning: Action Principles for Families, Classrooms, Schools, Districts, and States" (Walberg 2011), see ED573685.]