News Analysis
Amid the struggle of most public schools to overcome the learning setbacks brought on by the pandemic, students in Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District are surging ahead, leaving the shadow of COVID behind.
Boulder Valley’s impressive 2024 test scores, surpassing its 2019 math and reading marks, are not a result of a new educational approach but rather a fundamental principle of American business: Return on Investment.
Academic ROI (AROI) is a data-driven method that assesses costs and outcomes of programs to pinpoint those that offer the greatest educational value for the money invested. While some traditional educators may resist AROI, fearing mechanized learning methods, Boulder Valley is among the few districts embracing this business practice to allocate funds where they have the most impact on student performance.
For instance, when considering the most cost-effective way to assist elementary students struggling in reading, AROI helped Boulder Valley determine that four-on-one tutoring was more beneficial than one-on-one sessions.
The district found that group tutoring was not only cheaper but also more effective in improving reading skills, leading them to shift their resources to the four-on-one program for optimal cost efficiency.
“The results of four-on-one were a little bit better at a quarter of the cost, so we can now do four times as much literacy intervention,” stated Bill Sutter, the CFO at Boulder Valley.
Advocates suggest that other districts should follow Boulder Valley’s lead to address the decline in student performance exacerbated by the pandemic. Despite a significant increase in school funding over the years, reaching over $750 billion annually, the drop in math and reading scores among the nation’s students, especially in low-income areas, indicates a poor return on investment for districts, as highlighted by researchers at Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab.
Professor Marguerite Roza, who heads the lab and promotes AROI, emphasized the need to scrutinize existing funding to maximize outcomes for students.
Smaller Classes Don’t Always Pay Off
District spending often follows educational trends or staff interests without considering the most effective use of resources for student achievement. For example, New York State mandated a reduction in class sizes for New York City Public Schools by 2028, despite evidence suggesting minimal academic benefits from such a costly program.
The Los Angeles Unified School District’s multimillion-dollar artificial intelligence deal with a tech firm faced public backlash when the company filed for bankruptcy, underscoring the wasteful spending in education, particularly on technology.
AROI aims to ensure that every education dollar is spent wisely. While the practice has expanded to various fields, it can encounter resistance from teachers who are attached to specific programs.
As emergency federal funding comes to an end, districts have an opportunity to use AROI to navigate budget cuts and prioritize cost-effective programs that will aid students in their recovery from learning setbacks.
“We are urging districts to evaluate if their investments have contributed to better student outcomes,” said Roza, who trains educators in AROI utilization.
If the new tutoring program proves to be effective, perhaps it’s time to consider phasing out some long-standing initiatives in the Boulder Valley district. Following the recommendation of the United Federation of Teachers, lawmakers are mandating that New York City reduce class sizes across all grades. This initiative, aimed at the largest district in the country which primarily serves black and Latino students, will require the hiring of approximately 18,000 additional teachers to accommodate smaller classes, as reported by the NYC Independent Budget Office.
While the union argues that research supports the positive impact of reducing class sizes on student achievement, education scholar Matt Chingos from the Urban Institute suggests that the literature does not fully endorse the broad K-12 program being implemented in NYC. Research indicates that class-size reduction may be most effective in elementary grades with lower-income students, but the influx of new, potentially less experienced teachers could impact results.
An alternative approach to class size reduction, known as AROI, could have involved pilot programs in a few elementary schools to assess costs and outcomes before widespread implementation. This approach would allow for comparisons with other strategies, such as high-dosage tutoring, to accelerate student learning.
Chingos criticizes the state mandate for sidelining school leaders who are more familiar with the needs of their students. He emphasizes the importance of allowing principals to make decisions about school improvement based on evidence and their expertise.
AROI presents a learning curve for school leaders, which may explain the gradual adoption of the approach. Districts can utilize available data, including test scores, student records, and expenditure reports, to estimate the cost-effectiveness of academic programs.
Advocates for AROI, such as Marguerite Roza and Carol MacLeod, highlight the benefits of the approach in improving academic outcomes for students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds. The growing interest in AROI is evident in the increasing number of districts seeking to implement this practice.
*Please note that the views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Please rewrite this sentence.
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