Measuring Inflation in Public School Costs. Working Paper Series.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Measuring Inflation in Public School Costs. Working Paper Series.
Language: English
Authors: Chambers, Jay G., American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC.
Availability: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National Center for Education Statistics, 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Room 400, Washington, DC 20208-5654.
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 63
Publication Date: 1997
Sponsoring Agency: National Center for Education Statistics (ED), Washington, DC.
Report Number: NCES-WP-97-43
Document Type: Reports - Evaluative
Descriptors: Costs, Economic Factors, Educational Finance, Elementary Secondary Education, Inflation (Economics), Measurement Techniques, Public Schools, Research Methodology
Geographic Terms: U.S.; District of Columbia
Abstract: This report develops an inflationary cost-of-education index (ICEI) that improves on measures of inflation previously proposed and used by researchers studying educational cost differences. In place of such measures, this report presents a comprehensive measure of inflation for the prices of school inputs. The methodological approach builds on the same hedonic wage model used in previous work by J. Chambers (1995) to develop a geographic cost-of-education index. Several improvements are made in this model, which include: (1) improvements in explanatory measures; (2) extension to additional school inputs; (3) application to expenditure data; and (4) comparison with alternative indices. In addition to focusing directly on school inputs, the ICEI attempts to adjust for the qualitative differences in those inputs employed over time. It controls for differences over time in factors that underlie cost-of-living differences and differences in the characteristics of regions that affect their desirability as places to live and work. The ICEI makes a methodological contribution by including estimates of price differences for virtually all categories of school inputs, and it provides a useful tool for educational researchers. (Contains 5 tables and 93 references.) (SLD)
Journal Code: RIEJUL1998
Entry Date: 1998
Accession Number: ED417210
Database: ERIC
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