Even when studying the same measures of school performance, some educational researchers conclude that greater spending is useful in promoting student progress; others find little evidence that extra spending produces meaningful improvement in student performance. The studies in this book focus on two measures of educational effectiveness. Half examine the effect of school spending on the academic achievement of youngsters while they are in school. The other half assess the impact of school resources on students' earnings after their formal schooling has ended. About half of the papers find no persuasive evidence that increased spending produces consistent gains, either in student achievement or in adult earnings. Two sets of authors conclude that added spending improves student outcomes. The last two groups of authors argue that variations in the level of school spending are less important than effective organization of school resources in determining whether spending differences have important consequences for student outcomes. Chapters include the following: (1) "Introduction and Summary" (Gary Burtless); (2) "School Resources and Student Performance" (Eric A. Hanushek); (3) "Have Times Changed? The Relation between School Resources and Student Performance" (Larry V. Hedges and Rob Greenwald); (4) "Evidence from Fifteen Schools in Austin, Texas" (Richard J. Murnane and Frank Levy); (5) "Labor Market Effects of School Quality: Theory and Evidence" (David Card and Alan B. Krueger); (6) "Is There a Link between School Inputs and Earnings? Fresh Scrutiny of an Old Literature" (Julian R. Betts); and (7) "Does Measured School Quality Really Matter? An Examination of the Earnings-Quality Relationship" (James Heckman, Anne Layne-Farrar, and Petra Todd). Sixty-five tables, 20 figures, and an index are included. References accompany each chapter. (LMI)