Finance equity, student achievement, and justice

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections between state education finance distribution models and student achievement. To date, lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of state finance systems have been heard in 45 states; the judicial interpretation of the requirement to provide equality of educational opportunity has led to changes in finance distribution models as well as the implementation of accountability policy. Design/methodology/approach – The study included district level finance and achievement data from five states. Researchers reviewed the relevant judicial interpretation of the finance system, the accountability policy, and the finance distribution system. Next, researchers calculated the equity of both the finance distribution model and measures of student achievement. Finally, an equity ratio was developed and calculated to discern the degree to which state distribution models resulted in equitable measures of student achievement. Findings – Findings reveal that no state has both an equitable system of finance and equitable measures of student achievement. The way that states define proficiency significantly impacts the percentage of students that reach proficiency. This impacts the provision of equality of opportunity. Originality/value – Traditionally, the measurement of equity has only been applied to finance distribution systems. The authors of this paper have applied these concepts to measures of student achievement and aligned the two concepts with the equity ratio. Since states are charged with providing sufficient resources to enable students to reach proficiency, an understanding of the interaction between resources and achievement is a critical tool in analyzing the provision of equal opportunity.

Measuring the Alignment between States’ Finance and Accountability Policies: The Opportunity Gap

“…Building on this work, Knoeppel, First, Della Sala, and Ordu (2014) investigated the particularities of the equity ratio in light of varying notions of equality of educational opportunity and judicial interpretations of states' constitutional language and adequacy-based finance litigation. They concluded that factors such as states' differing finance and accountability policy goals, interpretations of court decisions and equality of educational opportunity, definitions of proficiency, and finance and accountability policy coherence complicated explanations of the equity ratio.…”

“…In addition to the traditional finance measures used in this analysis, researchers developed and calculated a metric titled the "opportunity gap" to represent the degree of misalignment between the equity of states' education finance systems and the intended student performance outcomes of accountability policies. Because court decisions have often emphasized equality of inputs or outputs as sufficient to meet equality of educational opportunity (Knoeppel et al, 2014), the opportunity gap was created to represent either inequities in finance inputs, student performance outcomes, or a misalignment of both policies. Whereas current finance measures can be used to independently measure the equity of inputs and outputs, the opportunity gap was intended to measure the simultaneous equity of both and is represented as the difference between an ideal alignment of each state's finance inputs with student performance outputs and states' actual measures of finance and student performance.…”

“…The research described in this paper expands on previous attempts to conceptualize, measure, and evaluate the degree to which states have aligned their finance systems with their specific accountability policies (Knoeppel & Della Sala, 2013;Knoeppel, First, Della Sala, & Ordu, 2014). Previous research has centered on the calculation and testing of an equity ratio to discern states' progress toward providing an educational system that yields equitable student performance outcomes given equitable resource inputs.…”

The Influence of Administrators’ Allocations of the Local Control Funding Formula on African American Students’ Academic Achievement

“…Adams ( 2009) and Knoeppel et al (2014) confirmed that a robust financial system is an essential component of a healthy education system.…”