Measuring Equity: Creating the New Standard for Inputs and Outputs

• In Event: Resources and Reform: Education Funding and Finance in the States

Abstract

This research described in this paper makes use of district level data from Kentucky to examine the equity of both inputs to and outputs of schooling. Authors make use of measures of dispersion and distribution to analyze the equity of the system of finance and measures of student performance. Because court interpretations of state systems of finance required a greater alignment between inputs and outputs, authors introduce a new ratio of the kurtosis of the distribution of inputs to the kurtosis of the distribution of the outputs to draw conclusions as to whether equal resources have resulted in equal outputs. Authors conclude by suggesting new standards for equity in revenues and measures of student achievement.

Authors

• Robert Charles Knoeppel, Clemson University

• Patricia F. First, Clemson University

• Matthew J. Piotrowsky, Clemson University

• Matthew R. Della Sala, Clemson University