Resource Analysis of Compensatory Education. Technical Report #6 from the Study of the Sustaining Effects of Compensatory Education on Basic Skills.

This report on Compensatory Education (CE) documents the kinds, amounts, and costs of resources used in providing reading and mathematics instruction. A resource-cost model translated the measures of resource exposure into estimates of standard dollar costs for each student's instructional program. The overall strategy for estimating costs provided a dollar-metric that reflected the measures of individual resource exposure, accommodated interregional price differences, and was sensitive in discerning intraclassroom differences among instructional programs offered to students. The study found that the resource costs for CE students, particularly participants in Title I programs, were substantially higher than for non-CE students. Furthermore, differences in program costs were not affected by student characteristics (achievement status, teacher judgment of need for CE services, minority status, and participation in free or reduced price meals programs). (Author/JCD)