Cost Accounting for Student-Level Resources

Measurement Tool: The researchers are developing a program-based practical managerial accounting system that will provide detailed cost information related to how resource decisions are made for students. The design of this cost accounting system will allow for costs to be first identified by program. Then, student-level costs will be determinable by identifying the programs students receive. The system will be able to collect, organize, and report multiple levels of expenditure data; expenditures will be determinable per student by program, function, and school categories. With these data, administrators will be able to examine the results of current resource allocation decisions and to make reallocation decisions in order to achieve improved academic results.

In the first phase, the initial framework will be fully articulated, and a specific set of tools, protocols, and procedures will be developed to implement the system. Also, during the initial phase, researchers will conduct a survey of all states to establish the status of student-level or school-level accounting nationally and will convene a working conference of school administrators to determine the types of data, information, and reports that would be most useful to them. In the second phase, the initial cost-accounting system will be submitted to a full year of field-testing with the selected pilot-test school districts. After necessary modifications have been made, a broader implementation with additional school districts will be conducted during the third phase.