| This study analyzed how schools reallocated resources to support education improvement strategies designed to improve student learning. The major research question was: How had schools allocated their resources towards their previous, educational strategy, and how and why did they reallocate resources toward a new educational strategy? The study analyzed these issues for three elementary schools in the Midwest that had utilized resource reallocation strategies to implement new educational strategies within the school during the past two years.;All schools engaged in resource reallocation after a process in which they had concluded that their previous educational strategy was not robust enough to accomplish their goals and, through a search and analysis process, had jointly selected a new educational strategy. Their new educational strategies all required a different set of resources than their previous educational strategies. In terms of new resources, the school's new educational strategies utilized various combinations of smaller class sizes (15 students), multi-age student grouping in smaller class sizes, individual tutoring for struggling students, and more professional development.;The study findings, consistent with other research, was that the primary sources of resource reallocation were categorical programs funds for services with special needs, including federal and state compensatory education funds, funds for learning disabled students, and comprehensive school reform grants, as well as district general revenue funds. Regular class room teacher positions and education specialist teacher positions (e.g., art, music and physical education) remained or the former were increased, and there were increases in the number of teacher tutors, school-wide instructional facilitators and professional development expenditures (up to ;Finally the schools were able to operate with some degree of autonomy within the school district structure in order to accomplish their individual school goals, which were driven by a consensus need for improving student learning. Resource reallocation was a means to an end---implementing a new educational strategy to boost student learning. |
