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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Answer Sheet - New report on educational productivity: a waste of resources?

The Answer Sheet - New report on educational productivity: a waste of resources?

New report on educational productivity: a waste of resources?

By Valerie Strauss

You can’t argue with the general notion of a new report by the nonprofitCenter for American Progress that some school districts waste money and shouldn’t. Any teachers who spends their own money to buy erasers and notebooks for their students know that.

Beyond that, I’m trying to figure out what else of great value is in the report released Wednesday, which is, perhaps ironically called “Return on Educational Investment,” and which was a year in the making.

The details district-by-district how much school systems spend and what they get in terms of student achievement for their money. Student achievement, in this case, is measured by standardized test scores, which, any reader of this blog knows, is not a valid indicator for any