NAME:  Getting What You Pay For: The Debate Over Equity in Public 
       School Expenditures 
TYPE:  Census
SIZE:  50 observations, 8 variables

DESCRIPTIVE ABSTRACT: 
This dataset contains variables that address the relationship between 
public school expenditures and academic performance, as measured by the 
SAT. 

SOURCE: 
The variables in this dataset, all aggregated to the state level, were 
extracted from the 1997 _Digest of Education Statistics_, an annual 
publication of the U.S. Department of Education.  Data from a number of 
different tables were downloaded from the National Center for Education 
Statistics (NCES) website (Available at: 
http://nces01.ed.gov/pubs/digest97/index.html) and merged into a single 
data file.

VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS: 
Columns
 1 - 16     Name of state (in quotation marks)
18 - 22     Current expenditure per pupil in average daily attendance 
            in public elementary and secondary schools, 1994-95 
            (in thousands of dollars)
24 - 27     Average pupil/teacher ratio in public elementary and 
            secondary schools, Fall 1994
29 - 34     Estimated average annual salary of teachers in public 
            elementary and secondary schools, 1994-95 (in thousands of 
            dollars)
36 - 37     Percentage of all eligible students taking the SAT, 1994-95
39 - 41     Average verbal SAT score, 1994-95
43 - 45     Average math SAT score, 1994-95
47 - 50     Average total score on the SAT, 1994-95 

The data are aligned and delimited by blanks.  There are no missing 
values.

SPECIAL NOTES:

While an initial scatterplot shows that SAT performance is lower, on 
average, in high-spending states than in low-spending states, this 
statistical relationship is misleading because of an omitted variable. 
Once the percentage of students taking the exam is controlled for, the 
relationship between spending and performance reverses to become both 
positive and statistically significant. 

THE STORY BEHIND THE DATA:  
I compiled this dataset in response to recent controversy over equity 
in public school expenditures.  While some argue that the prevailing 
system of financing local schools is unfair, aggregate data reported in 
the new media seem to suggest, paradoxically, that school spending and 
academic performance are statistically unrelated.  My goal was to create 
a workable dataset that would introduce students to this continuing 
debate and allow them the opportunity to build their own conclusions 
upon a base of solid statistical reasoning. 

Additional information about this dataset can be found in the "Datasets
and Stories" article "Getting What You Pay For: The Debate Over Equity 
in Public School Expenditures" in the _Journal of Statistics
Education_ (Guber 1999).

PEDAGOGICAL NOTES:

This exercise is ideally suited for classroom discussion in an
elementary statistics or research methods course.  It allows students
to gain experience and confidence in using basic statistical techniques
such as scatterplots, measures of association and dispersion, and
linear and multiple regression, while giving them the opportunity to
examine an issue of substantive importance.

REFERENCES:

Hawkins, J. A. (1994), "Money Matters! But What Difference Does It Make
to Schools and Students?" _NASSP Bulletin_, 78, 19-26.

Powell, B., and L. C. Steelman (1984), "Variations in State SAT 
Performance: Meaningful or Misleading?" _Harvard Educational Review_, 
389-410. 

Powell, B., and L. C. Steelman (1996), "Bewitched, Bothered and 
Bewildering: The Use and Misuse of State SAT and ACT Scores," _Harvard 
Educational Review_, 27-59. 

Will, G. F. (September 12, 1993), "Meaningless Money Factor," _The 
Washington Post_, C7.

SUBMITTED BY:
Deborah Lynn Guber
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
The University of Vermont
P.O. Box 54110
Burlington, VT 05405-4110
dguber@zoo.uvm.edu