Equity of Opportunity to Learn, Spending, and Student Achievement: A Statewide Analysis

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Equity Considerations in School Improvement

Abstract

A statewide study of the relationships among student level measures of opportunity to learn, state assessments in mathematics and reading, and the allocation of spending by schools for various educational programs was completed for a joint legislative committee workgroup of the House and Senate Education Committees of the Vermont Legislature. The results of the study showed a positive relationship among all three sets of variables when displayed on GIS maps and examined with multiple regression. When measures of poverty were included in the mapping it became evident that areas of the state that held high concentrations of poor families displayed significantly lower levels of opportunity to learn, lower levels of achievement and lower levels of investment in school programs.

Authors

• Herman W. Meyers, Lighthouse Evaluation

• John Rogers