McKinsey's report, The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools, examines the dimensions and economic impact of the education achievement gap. While much controversy exists on the causes of the gap and on what the nation should do to address it, the full range of the achievement gap's character and consequences has been poorly understood. This report examines the dimensions of four distinct gaps in education: (1) between the United States and other nations, (2) between black and Latino students and white students, (3) between students of different income levels, and (4) between similar students schooled in different systems or regions.

The report finds that the underutilization of human potential as reflected in the achievement gap is extremely costly. Existing gaps impose the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession--one substantially larger than the deep recession the country is currently experiencing. For individuals, avoidable shortfalls in academic achievement impose heavy and often tragic consequences via lower earnings, poor health, and higher rates of incarceration.

This is the conclusion of an extensive six-year national study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The study's final report, Facing the Future: Financing Productive Schools, authored by Paul Hill, Marguerite Roza, and James Harvey, criticizes school finance systems because they are so burdened by rules and narrow policies that they commit dollars "with little regard for results, holding adults accountable for compliance but not results."  Facing the Future offers a four-part action plan to overhaul today's outmoded school finance systems:

• Drive funds to schools based on student counts--the money would be given to principals to allocate and manage within their individual schools. A weighting formula could be used to provide extra funds for disadvantaged students.
• Concentrate federal funds on low-income students--direct money on the basis of student characteristics right down to the individual student's school.
• Redesign states' school finance systems for continuous improvement--demand innovation and continuous improvement, keeping what works and discarding what does not.
• Base accountability on performance--make superintendents and the chief of state schools responsible for judging school performance and finding better options for children whose schools do not teach them effectively.

• Allow dollars to follow students to their schools
• Integrate resource decisions with instructional plans; measure and analyze results of different expenditures
• Actively support continuous student improvement
• Define and fund a research and development agenda that expands what we know about effective resource use
• Make resource use and academic achievement central to financial reporting practices, and use funding contingencies to create fair and meaningful accountability

The report was produced by the School Finance Redesign Project (SFRP), with funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Authors: By Marguerite Roza, Karen Hawley Miles
Date: July 21, 2008
This paper seeks to address these questions in a way intended to assist policymakers at the district level in considering expanding the length of the school day. After a short introduction to the thinking behind expanded learning time and the core models for implementation, we provide a framework for policymakers and practitioners to identify the key cost components involved in expanding the school day. We then cost out core design elements, and compare these costs against other reform initiatives. Lastly, we explore investment in expanded learning time in the context of existing funding sources and other trade-offs and strategies that must be considered at the same time. As with simply adding more dollars to schools, adding time makes little sense unless it is part of an overall strategy for improving student performance

Young people who live in rural areas are less likely to finish high school and to complete college than their urban and suburban peers. These adolescents are also more likely to use drugs and alcohol. In fact, rural adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 have the highest levels of drug use in this age group. Out-of-school time programs in rural areas can provide healthy and constructive activities that offer productive ways for children and youth to spend their time, build positive relationships, and receive academic support. This brief highlights the challenges faced by rural out-of-school programs and suggests several strategies that can strengthen these programs. Includes a profile of a program in Adams County, Pennsylvania.
Authors: Ashleigh Collins, M.A., Jacinta Bronte-Tinkew, Ph.D., and Cassandra Logan, Ph.D
Date: May 2008