School finance and opportunities to learn: Does money well spent enhance students' achievement?

The study reported here linked U.S. census data on school finance to data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 to evaluate the process through which financial resources affect opportunities to learn in U.S. public high schools. It examined the direct effects of school expenditures on students' achievement in math and science and the indirect effects of expenditures on achievement through their provision of opportunities to learn. It also tested multiple components of opportunities to learn to determine their relative impact on students' success. The results indicate that per-pupil expenditures indirectly increase students' achievement by giving students access to educated teachers who use effective pedagogies in the classroom.