Dr. David Sweet
(202) 219-1748
David.Sweet@ed.gov

The Institute intends for the Education Policy, Finance, and Systems (Policy/Finance) research program to address five goals: (1) exploring malleable factors¹ (e.g., systemic programs, policies, management practices) that are associated with better education outcomes (e.g., high school graduation rates, student achievement), as well as mediators and moderators of the relations between these factors and education outcomes, for the purpose of identifying potential targets of intervention; (2) developing innovative policies and systemic practices that are intended to improve student outcomes either directly or indirectly by improving the teaching and learning environment; (3) evaluating the efficacy of education policies, education finance programs and practices, and systemic programs and practices that are intended to improve student outcomes either directly or indirectly by improving the teaching and learning environment; (4) evaluating the impact of policies, finance programs and practices, and other systemic practices that are implemented at scale and are intended to improve student outcomes either directly or indirectly by improving the teaching and learning environment; and (5) developing practical measures of the organization and operation of schools or school systems and validating such measures against student outcomes or developing and testing cost accounting tools that will enable education administrators to link student-level resources to student-level achievement data.

The long-term outcome of this program will be an array of tools and strategies (e.g., assessments, systems-level programs, policies) that have been documented to be effective for improving education outcomes.