Sep 27, 2007

More Money Does Not Always Lead to Better Education

by Laura Starita

The sum of funding does not add up to better math skills for kids.

Nearly every debate about the necessary elements of successful education hinges on the key issue of money. Is there money to build a school, pay teachers, buy supplies, sponsor a lunch program? There seems a direct relationship between money invested in education and how well children learn. But when money spent becomes the measure, it’s unlikely goals will be met.

This is shown clearly in this year’s Education at a Glance report, by the Paris, France-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The report shows that among the world’s wealthiest countries, those that spend well more than the average on education (the United States included) do not see proportionate increases in the number of students who finish secondary school, or indeed go beyond. A Financial Times article on the report quotes an OECD analyst giving his take on why the big spenders do not out-perform their peers: Too few of their dollars “reach the classroom.”

It seems obvious that the quality of teaching students receive has a direct impact on their level of education, but as the report (among many others) shows, education spending often misses this vital point. Which is one of the reasons why Nicholas Negroponte’s steadfast insistence on selling his cheap One Laptop Per Child computers, despite growing evidence that this sort of spending does not improve education quality, is so puzzling. Now that his efforts to convince developing nations to buy his product has failed, he has shifted tactics toward wealthy markets. His plan: Sell cheap laptops for $399 to Western buyers, and for each laptop purchased, one will be donated to a developing country.

To date, the lack of a market for Negroponte’s venture has kept his efforts in the realm of theory, but this new distribution scheme might provide the dollars that Negroponte has been unable to shake loose from developing countries. Unfortunately there remains no evidence that putting computers into developing world schools will actually improve the quality of education received. Laptops do nothing to provide the health, nutrition or sanitation infrastructure desperately needed, much less the most important ingredient: Well-trained, committed teachers.

And the research clearly shows that more dollars don’t mean better outcomes.

OECD: Education at a Glance 2007

Financial Times: Nations wasting cash on education boost

New York Times: Buy a Laptop for a Child, Get a Laptop