Toward an understanding of productivity in education

The growing national interest in the academic performance of public school students has heightened interest in understanding how schools, teachers, and other educational resources can be marshaled to improve student performance. Because the public demand for improved public school outcomes is not matched by a similar willingness to increase spending, there is considerable interest in increasing the bang we get for the public education buck or, put differently, in increasing the productivity of public schools and educational institutions in the United States.