This issue of Topic in Depth explores some of the resources available online regarding school finance. The first article from the RAND Review (1) discusses the challenges involved in meeting the ambitious goals established by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and the need to develop a school accountability system that can provide "the incentives and resources that the schools really need to help all students meet the state performance standards." In the second article (2), Linda Darling-Hammond, a Professor at Stanford University discusses the inequality of school funding across the US, again using California as an example. This website from CPRE (3) offers several articles that explain how school finance in the US works. The NCES Education Finance Statistics Center (4) is also a hub for information on public elementary/secondary education finance, including finance data on school districts nationwide. The Education Commission of the States (ECS) (5) offers this listing of state finance agencies for more state-specific information. Students can explore the topic further using this educational website from NCES (6). A collection of reports available through New American Schools (7) highlights one approach to the problem of school finance, namely resource reallocation. Taking yet another tactic, the author of this last article (8) proposes "a 'World Bank' for American education."
Comments