Dissertation Writing Help - SCHOOL-LEVEL RESOURCE USE IN ARKANSAS: A STATEWIDE STUDY

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The Arkansas School Uses of Resources Study is the first study to utilize a random sample at the state level to examine how schools allocate their staff and other resources. This research identifies how resources were used by programmatic strategies (e.g. small class sizes for core subjects, instructional coaches, tutoring, pupil support programs) at the school level after a large adequacy-oriented school finance reform, and how those resource patterns aligned with or were different from the resource use strategies that implicitly were part of the Arkansas funding model.

A random sample of 107 schools was selected out of 1,106 statewide. The 48,132 students in the 55 elementary, 17 middle, and 35 high schools in the sample mirrored the state's student demographics. Data collection tools were created based on a school expenditure structure and corresponding resource indicators (Odden, Archibald, Fermanich, & Gross, 2003), which was then field tested in five states across the United States (Odden, Goertz, Goetz, Archibald, Gross, Weiss, & Mangan, 2006). The tools were fine-tuned to the state-specific context with input from Arkansas Department of Education and Bureau of Legislative Research staff. Data were collected via in-person interviews with principals and superintendents in the spring of 2006, and documents including district and school budgets. Analyses were quantitative and included frequencies and averages among the 107 schools, often disaggregated by school level (e.g. elementary, middle, and high). Results reveal that schools did not use the new state aid for the evidence-based, high-impact strategies that were implicitly embedded in the state funding model. More elementary teachers and less core high school teachers were present compared to the model. Twice as many specialist teachers for elective classes were found in schools. Schools under-utilized the two main high-impact strategies, instructional facilitators for teachers and teacher tutors for struggling students. Implications for results include setting constraints on the use of key resources and providing statewide leadership and capacity development.