| Student outcomes have been the focus of the current educational reform movement. Researchers and public officials seek to ascertain the best mix of resources to teach all children to high standards. In order to determine what resources reach classrooms and how well they have been used, researchers have made use of educational production functions. Despite many years of research on this topic, there has been little agreement concerning which resources are the most essential variables to increase education productivity.; The purposes of the study are: (1) to determine if a relationship exists between inputs to schooling and outputs, and (2) to determine which variables, if any, contribute significantly to the outputs of schooling. The research questions are examined through canonical analysis.; Data were collected from 128 school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The study investigated seven independent variables (average teacher salary, days in school, teacher-pupil ratio, a local measure of wealth, an adjusted per pupil expenditure, an administrative cost per pupil, and a facilities cost per pupil) and seven dependent variables (fourth grade scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, eleventh grade scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, graduation rate, voter participation, the percentage of students who enroll in a two year college, a four year college, or those who have other college plans).; It was found that there was a significant relationship between inputs to and outputs of schooling. Seven canonical correlations were calculated in the study. Each correlation examines the relationship between the linear combination of both sets of variables. Subsequent canonical correlations consider the relationship after the variance explained by the previous canonical correlation is removed. Two of the seven canonical correlations calculated were significant at the p ≤ .05 level. It was found that teacher salary contributed most heavily to the first equation; local wealth contributed most heavily to the second.; An important implication of the study is that finance structures must be part of the discussions to reform schools since a positive relationship was found between inputs to and outputs of schooling. |
