A new study has found that there is zero correlation between increased spending and improvements in education.
A new study has found that there is zero correlation between increased spending and improvements in education.
While spending has just about tripled in inflation-adjusted dollars and the number of school employees has almost doubled since 1970, reading, math and science scores for students have remained stagnant.
“That is remarkably unusual,” Coulson wrote in his study. “In virtually every other field, productivity has risen over this period thanks to the adoption of countless technological advances — advances that, in many cases, would seem ideally suited to facilitating learning. And yet, surrounded by this torrent of progress, education has remained anchored to the riverbed, watching the rest of the world rush past it.”
Click on the link just to see the main graph. While math, reading, and science scores have remained unchanged for literally decades, spending has skyrocketed. To put it bluntly, we aren’t getting our money’s worth.
Note this quote also:
But if spending has no affect, then why do students at private schools, which charge tuition, perform better than students in public schools? “Actually, the average per-pupil spending in private schools is substantially below the average per-pupil spending in government schools,” Coulson said. He pointed to a study he conducted in New Mexico’s neighboring state of Arizona in which Coulson said average per-pupil spending at private schools was about 66 percent of the cost of public schools.
I wonder if the phrase “public sector unions” comes to anyone’s mind as an explanation for this sad situation,
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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A new study has found that there is zero correlation between increased spending and improvements in education.
While spending has just about tripled in inflation-adjusted dollars and the number of school employees has almost doubled since 1970, reading, math and science scores for students have remained stagnant.
“That is remarkably unusual,” Coulson wrote in his study. “In virtually every other field, productivity has risen over this period thanks to the adoption of countless technological advances — advances that, in many cases, would seem ideally suited to facilitating learning. And yet, surrounded by this torrent of progress, education has remained anchored to the riverbed, watching the rest of the world rush past it.”
Click on the link just to see the main graph. While math, reading, and science scores have remained unchanged for literally decades, spending has skyrocketed. To put it bluntly, we aren’t getting our money’s worth.
Note this quote also:
But if spending has no affect, then why do students at private schools, which charge tuition, perform better than students in public schools? “Actually, the average per-pupil spending in private schools is substantially below the average per-pupil spending in government schools,” Coulson said. He pointed to a study he conducted in New Mexico’s neighboring state of Arizona in which Coulson said average per-pupil spending at private schools was about 66 percent of the cost of public schools.
I wonder if the phrase “public sector unions” comes to anyone’s mind as an explanation for this sad situation,
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I could have told you this without the study.
But the left always wants their studies, they want some “pro”(read collage educated) person to place their stamp of approval on the study before they consider it valid.
Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s our local city school system was so desperate for teachers they changed the requirements.
A very good friend of mine was hired as a full time teacher with just her high school diploma and a promise that she would attend collage during the summer to reach her teaching degree.
It took her 4 years to get that first degree and by that time the union has placed into the contracts that for every credit hour a teacher had in collage they got paid more. A few years later they got the state the help pay for teachers continuing educations.
Thats right. The state paid her tuition every summer so she could have a raise every fall.
She retired with a masters and 3 other degrees.
And the next week she was hired back as a teaching assistant at half her teaching pay.
She also qualified for Social security.
And this was in one of the poorest districts in the state. But they managed to spend in the top 20% of the state per student.
And the average graduation rates and test scores went down the whole time.
Spending has no correlation to student performance. The students performance has everything to do with his home life.
A community that does not glorify the thug life. But instead encourages an education.
A two parent household. No matter how poor or bad that household is, the student stands a better chance than one with a one parent household.
Educated parents who can help the child with homework and then encourage that child to do homework. Even if the parent only has a high school education they can at least help the child with their homework. If the parents can not read or do simple math how is the young child ever going to get help?
None of this takes huge amounts of cash. And NONE of it requires more spending than we already do on education.
“A two parent household. No matter how poor or bad that household is, the student stands a better chance than one with a one parent household.”
It is also important for at least one parent to be working. Otherwise the children don’t get the lesson that work is the way to get ahead.
A friend of mine moved into a poor neighborhood. She noticed that when she came home in the evening, the neighborhood children would stare at her as she drove into her parking space. One day, one of the kids got up the courage to ask her where she went all day. That is when she realized that they had no concept of a work ethic.
And if you aren’t going to work, why bother with a good education? No wonder the drop out rate is so high in some areas. They fall into the poverty trap.