Nonparametric Estimation of the Cost of Adequacy in Education: The Case of Dutch Schools

TY - JOUR

T1 - Nonparametric Estimation of the Cost of Adequacy in Education: The Case of Dutch Schools

AU - Haelermans, Carla

AU - Ruggiero, John

PY - 2017/4

Y1 - 2017/4

N2 - Adequacy is defined in education as a minimum set of outcome standards. Schools that are unable to achieve these goals are not providing an adequate education. This failure could arise from insufficient spending on productive resources and/or inefficient use of existing resources. The purpose of this paper is to build on previous research to provide estimates of the cost of adequacy. We introduce a non-parametric measure of the cost of adequacy that controls for the socio-economic environment and resource prices. For illustrative purposes, we apply this model to analyse Dutch schools. Our results show that the costs of achieving the minimum standard of performance are very different for schools with different levels of environmental harshness. Furthermore, the additional costs of achieving a higher standard are much higher for schools with a harsh environment than for schools with a favourable environment.

AB - Adequacy is defined in education as a minimum set of outcome standards. Schools that are unable to achieve these goals are not providing an adequate education. This failure could arise from insufficient spending on productive resources and/or inefficient use of existing resources. The purpose of this paper is to build on previous research to provide estimates of the cost of adequacy. We introduce a non-parametric measure of the cost of adequacy that controls for the socio-economic environment and resource prices. For illustrative purposes, we apply this model to analyse Dutch schools. Our results show that the costs of achieving the minimum standard of performance are very different for schools with different levels of environmental harshness. Furthermore, the additional costs of achieving a higher standard are much higher for schools with a harsh environment than for schools with a favourable environment.

KW - DISADVANTAGED-STUDENTS

KW - MEASURING EFFICIENCY

KW - NON-DISCRETIONARY INPUTS

KW - PERFORMANCE

KW - PRODUCTIVITY

KW - PUBLIC-SECTOR

KW - SECONDARY-SCHOOLS

KW - adequacy

KW - data envelopment analysis

KW - minimum costs

KW - secondary education

U2 - 10.1057/jors.2015.68

DO - 10.1057/jors.2015.68

M3 - Article

VL - 68

SP - 390

EP - 398

JO - Journal of the Operational Research Society

T2 - Journal of the Operational Research Society

JF - Journal of the Operational Research Society

SN - 0160-5682

IS - 4

ER -