American Enterprise Institute - Education Myths

Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Jay Greene looks at the "money myth" in public education: "At the end of World War II, public schools in the United States spent a total of $1,214 per student in inflation-adjusted 2002 dollars. By the middle of the 1950s that figure had roughly doubled to $2,345. By 1972 it had almost doubled again, reaching $4,479. And since then, it has doubled a third time, climbing to $8,745 in 2002."

Standard & Poor's - School Evaluation Services: Measuring Educational Productivity in Standards-Based Accountability Systems

Excerpt: "For many years the school system in the United States has measured success by the number of dollars spent, computers and textbooks purchased, and programs created. Moreover, the measures of success have not focused on academic achievement. Since 1965, American taxpayers have spent more than $321 billion in federal funds on K-12 public education, yet the average reading scores for 17 year olds have not improved since the 1970s, according to the U.S. Department of Education."

Allegheny Institute for Public Policy - Explaining Variability in School Performance: The Case of Pennsylvania

This report assesses Pennsylvania's 501 school districts and looks at the relationship between academic performance and factors including class size, teacher salaries, and per pupil spending.