出版社：Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science
摘要：Despite being central to government education policy in many countries, there
remains considerable debate about whether resources matter for pupil outcomes.
In this paper we look at this question by considering an English education
policy initiative - Excellence in Cities – which has been a flagship policy
aimed at raising standards in inner-city secondary schools. We report results
showing a positive impact of the extra resources on school attendance and
performance in Mathematics (though not for English) but, interestingly, there is
a marked heterogeneity in the effectiveness of the policy. Its greatest impact
has been in more disadvantaged schools and on the performance of middle and high
ability students within these schools. A simple cost-benefit calculation
suggests the policy to be cost-effective. We conclude that additional resources
can matter for children in the poorest secondary schools, particularly when
building on a solid educational or ability background. However, small changes in
resources have little or no effect on the ‘hard to reach’ children who have not
achieved a sufficiently strong prior level.
