Costing the Rubicon: Addressing Methodological and Conceptual Complexities in Cost Analysis (Table 10)

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 5:25 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3

Session Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

The prevalence of cost analyses in education research is growing rapidly, punctuated by the encouragement for cost analysis in Institute of Education Sciences funding opportunities. With this, the field of education research has ‘crossed the Rubicon’, now needing to integrate cost analysis techniques into policy areas or perspectives where economic evaluation was infrequently employed previously. This inevitably means that researchers are facing new and interesting challenges when conducting cost analyses. In this symposium, presenters will share their work addressing unique conceptual or methodological challenges for conducting cost analyses in three different policy areas. Discussants and presenters will confer with the audience on the opportunities and challenges emerging as cost analyses are applied in novel policy spaces.

Sub Unit

• Division L - Educational Policies and Politics / Division L - Section 6: Human Capital and School Finance

Chair

• Christopher Brooks, American Institutes for Research

Papers

• What’s Liberation Worth?: Assessing an Anti-Racist Teacher Residency Program Through an Economic Framework - Chelsey Nardi, Empirical Education Inc.; Mayah Waltower, Empirical Education Inc.; LaCretia Plane, Northcentral University

• Two Sides of the Child Care Coin: Current Costs Versus Adequacy Costs - Amanda E. Danks, American Institutes for Research

• Evaluating Locally Responsive Funding Interventions Through a Cost Analysis Framework - Christopher Brooks, American Institutes for Research; Stephanie Levin, American Institutes for Research; Karthik Ramesh, University of Washington; Katherine Laird, American Institutes for Research; AnhMinh Nguyen, American Institutes for Research