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Attachment E:
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Methods Used to Establish the Current Cost of Educational Achievement in New York State and Its Relationship to Student Poverty

 

Charles Winters

December 3, 2003

 

  1. Per Pupil Cost Data: Expenditure and revenue data were compiled for all operating districts from the local financial reports (ST-3) for 2001-2002.  Expenditures were included from both the General Fund and from the Special Aid Fund.  Construction costs, pre-kindergarten costs, inter-fund transfers and summer youth employment costs were not included.  Costs funded by NCLB and IDEA (K-12) and grants such as magnet schools were included.  These Special Aid fund expenditures make up over 20% of instructional costs for some urban schools.  Per pupil costs were derived by dividing the cost by the K-12 enrollment, less .5 for half-day kindergarten programs. 
  2. Regional Adjustment:  Per pupil costs were regionally adjusted using the NCES index relationship with the lowest county represented by an index of 1.0 with all other counties indexed to that county.  This reduces all district per-pupil costs to the equivalent of those in the lowest county for all districts. 
  3. Eliminate Size Factors:  Only districts that tested a minimum of 100 students on both Math and ELA in both 4th and 8th grade were included.  This eliminated small districts and K-6 districts. 
  4. Calculate the Achievement Measure:  The percentage of students achieving each of the four performance levels on each of the four tests in each district was calculated.  This percentage was multiplied by the number of levels above the base level (one).  Thus, the percentage in level two was multiplied by one; the percentage in level three was multiplied by two; and the percentage in level four was multiplied by three.  When aggregated, this represents the total levels that students were raised above the base.  For example, if all students (100%) scored in level four, the aggregate would be 300 (100 X 3), meaning that the entire student body had achieved three levels above basic.  The scores for the four tests were then averaged to yield an aggregate measure of 4th and 8th grade achievement. 
  5. Calculate the Per-Pupil Cost of Achievement:  For each district, the regionally adjusted per-pupil cost was divided by the average achievement score.  This represents the regionally adjusted cost of raising one percent of the students by one level on average for four tests in each district testing at least 100 students. 
  6. Calculate the Relationship Between the Achievement Cost and Student Poverty:  A best fit linear regression calculation and scatter-plot was done using the K-6 Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRPL) percent as the independent variable and the regionally adjusted cost per level achieved as the dependent variable.  This calculation helps determine three critical issues:
    • Is the relationship a strong, consistent and linear one?  Yes, the free lunch rate predicts almost 57% of the deviation in cost. 
    • What is the cost of achievement at the zero-poverty level?  $40.065 per percent of students per level raised, or $4,006.50 to raise all students one level. 
    • What is the relationship between cost and poverty?  For every increase of 10% in the student poverty, the cost to raise all students one level increases by $436.90, or slightly more than ten percent.  At 100% poverty, this cost would rise by $4,369 to be slightly more than double the cost for the zero-poverty district.  This equates to a poverty weighting of 1.0905.  This mathematical formula best predicts the actual costs and performance reported in these districts for 2001-2002.  While the exact numbers will change somewhat based on the cost indexing method, the number of districts included and other factors, this overall relationship is very durable.  


 

•Albany
•Amsterdam
•Auburn
•Batavia
•Beacon
•Binghamton
•Canandaigua
•Cohoes
•Corning
•Cortland
•Dunkirk
•Elmira
•Fulton
 •Geneva
•Glen Cove
•Glens Falls
•Gloversville
•Hornell
•Hudson
•Ithaca
•Jamestown
•Johnstown
•Kingston
•Lackawanna
•Little Falls
 •Lockport
 •Long Beach
 •Mechanicville
•Middletown
 •Mount Vernon
•New Rochelle
•Newburgh
•Niagara Falls
 •N. Tonawanda
•Norwich
•Ogdensburg
•Olean
•Oneida
•Oneonta
•Oswego
•Peekskill
•Plattsburgh
 •Port Jervis
 •Poughkeepsie
 •Rensselaer
 •Rome 
•Rye
•Salamanca
•Saratoga
 •Schenectady
•Tonawanda
•Troy
•Utica
•Vernon Verona Sherrill
•Watertown
•Watervliet
•White Plains