In this article, we perform cost-effectiveness analysis on interventions that improve the rate of high school completion. Using the What Works Clearinghouse to select effective interventions, we calculate cost-effectiveness ratios for five youth interventions. We document wide variation in cost-effectiveness ratios between programs and between…

Describes a comprehensive evaluative framework that draws on a larger range of goals that have been posed for education in a democratic and free society. Tradeoffs are made among criteria that include: (1) freedom of choice; (2) productive efficiency; (3) equity; and (4) social cohesion. (SLD)

Reviews William Clune's "The Shift from Equity to Adequacy" (in this same issue) as a provocative contribution to the policy questions on educational adequacy. Supports the overall concept, but identifies certain problems, including an inadequate knowledge base to produce high minimum outcomes, insufficient knowledge about the resources/outcomes…

School salary policy, with its reliance on the single salary schedule, has not provided competitive salaries for mathematics and science specialists in the past. It continues to create a shortfall in the number of qualified mathematics and science personnel taking teacher training and offering their services to schools. (Author/LMO)

Techniques of cost-effectiveness analysis and their applications to educational policy are discussed. Recommendations are made to increase the capacity of evaluators, policy analysts, and decision makers to use these tools appropriately for resource allocation. (SLD)

Competing explanations for youth unemployment (demography, minimum wages, education and training, economic conditions) have profoundly different implications for policy. The history of youth unemployment in Australia and the United States is explored and the causes of the problem as well as some solutions are evaluated. (LC)

A cost-utility framework is used as a basis for evaluating the relationship between the costs of developing alternative systems of information needed to support teacher certification and program accreditation, and the social value or utility of particular approaches. (RL)

The financial requirements for bringing students at risk of failure into the educational mainstream are explored. Demographics; economics; social costs; roles of state, federal, and local governments; and the private sector are addressed. An additional annual spending of 21 billion dollars would help address this problem. (TJH)