Elm Street School:A Case Study of Professional Development Expenditures

Authors

  • H. Alix Gallagher Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v10n28.2002

Abstract

This article addresses the question of how much is spent on teachers' professional development.  A review of the literature finds two problems that have frequently led to inaccurate estimates of professional development spending: 1) the accounting codes that are used in many studies provide little description of spending, and 2) studies generally focus on district or state expenditures for professional development, but do not collect data on school-level spending.  These problems are compounded by the fact that studies define professional development spending differently, and thus it is difficult to compare findings across studies.  In an effort to begin to address this problem, this study utilizes a detailed cost structure to analyze both district and school site expenditures on professional development across cost categories.  The study found that school-level expenditures were a significant source of professional development for teachers.  This has implications for the methodologies used to estimate current professional development expenditures and what level of expenditures would be necessary to generate dramatic improvements in student achievement.

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Author Biography

H. Alix Gallagher, Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

H. Alix Gallagher is completing her Ph.D. in Educational Administration at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Throughout her career as a graduate student, her area of focus has been school finance. Her dissertation and future research plans involve in-depth study of various policies that better support and prepare teachers, including knowledge and skill-based pay plans, pre-service and inservice education.

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Published

2002-05-31

How to Cite

Gallagher, H. A. . (2002). Elm Street School:A Case Study of Professional Development Expenditures. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10, 28. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v10n28.2002

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Section

Articles