Researching the Links between School Resources and Student Outcomes in the UK: A Review of Issues and Evidence

Abstract

Knowledge of the effect of school resources on student outcomes is important for policy decisions concerning expenditure on schools. However, empirical research has so far produced equivocal findings. This paper examines the methodological and data requirements for good quality estimation of the education production function and reviews four UK studies that use pupil-level longitudinal data with a range of resource and control variables. These have produced some evidence of small resource effects on student outcomes and indicate the importance of model specification in affecting reported findings. If research in this area is to progress, high quality datasets are essential.

Does class matter more than school? Evidence from a multilevel statistical analysis on Italian junior secondary school students

“…In particular, many works conducted by prof. Hanushek (Stanford University) provoked a great debate among academics and practitioners, suggesting that higher levels of (school) resources are not associated with higher educational outputs (see, among many others [25], [26] and [27]). Therefore, a huge debate exists about the role of resources on education (see [5]), and some authors -criticizing Hanushek's approach -demonstrate that higher levels of resources are instead associated with better outcomes, if modeling is built in an adequate way (see, for instance, [32] on class size) -for evidence about school resources and educational output in UK, see [34], [58] and [29]; for a survey of literature until early 2000s, see [64]. A recently growing attention is being paid to the role of school principals and school practices in influencing students' results 1 (for instance, Bloom et al 2015 (see [10]) apply a theoretical framework from management science to describe principals' managerial behavior, and show how these are associated with different school performances).…”

A new model for equitable and efficient resource allocation to schools: the Israeli case

“…Because formulas can operate at the school level, and because they can be sensitive to a wide variety of cost factors and inputs (e.g., different categories of students), they can be effective instruments for reform, provided that they are properly deployed (Cohn & Geske 1990;Ross & Levacic, 1999;Levacic & Vignoles, 2002).…”

The pupil premium: assessing the options

“…First, we note that schools currently have a limited empirical research base on which to make resource allocation decisions; Levačić and Vignoles (2002) argue that until better empirical evidence on the impact of using resources in different ways becomes available, little guidance can be given to head teachers and teachers as to the 'best' way to allocate a marginal increase in resources.…”