Abstract

This study, a response to a 1987 study of the efficiency of small school districts by Herbert Walberg and William Fowler, critiques the notion of efficiency and applies one definition to the performance of school districts in Kentucky. The efficiency of all 178 Kentucky school districts was determined by regarding expenditures per student on three socioeconomic variables (assessed valuation, personal income, and percent of students receiving free or reduced lunch) in order to determine a maximum influence of SES on expenditures. Efficient districts were defined as those that spent less per student than predicted, whereas inefficient districts were those that spent more than predicted. Average performance on six measures of norm-referenced and minimum competency achievement tests in the inefficient districts exceeded that in the efficient districts by 1/5 of a standard deviation. The relationship of efficiency and three characteristics was investigated using a chi-square analysis of expected frequencies. A statistically significant (p < .0005) relationship was determined to exist between efficiency and [I] smallness and [2] district type. This relationship was not, however, observed with [3] ruralness. Spending in rural county districts was found to be considerably less variable than in other districts. Discussion related the findings to the notion of the "one best system" and to the role of adequate expenditures in supporting higher average student achievement.

How to Cite:

Howley, C. B., (1989) “Efficiency and the Characteristics of School Districts: A Study of 178 School Districts in Kentucky”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 6(1), 33–43.

Rights: Copyright