Achievement Growth: International and U.S. State Trends in Student Performance

Many people believe spending more on education will improve student learning, but “the data offer precious little support for the theory,” conclude Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson, and Ludger Woessmann in a Harvard University study. They plotted test-score gains against increments in spending in every U.S. state between 1990 and 2009. Just about as many high-spending states showed relatively small gains as showed large ones. Spending and achievement gains have a slight positive relationship, but it is of no statistical or substantive significance.