Assessing the Effects of School Resources on Student Performance: An Update

TLDR

The link between school resources and student achievement remains controversial, challenging traditional policy assumptions. The authors conduct a comprehensive review of educational production literature, updating prior summaries. Across nearly 400 studies, the authors find that, after accounting for family inputs, school resources are not strongly or consistently linked to student achievement, a conclusion supported by meta‑analyses and labor‑market research, indicating that simple resource policies are unlikely to improve outcomes.

Abstract

The relationship between school resources and student achievement has been controversial, in large part because it calls into question a variety of traditional policy approaches. This article reviews the available educational production literature, updating previous summaries. The close to 400 studies of student achievement demonstrate that there is not a strong or consistent relationship between student performance and school resources, at least after variations in family inputs are taken into account. These results are also reconciled with meta-analytic approaches and with other investigations on how school resources affect labor market outcomes. Simple resource policies hold little hope for improving student outcomes.