Cheri Pierson Yecke, Center of the American Experiment
February 2005
Former Minnesota education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke, newly announced as a candidate for Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District, compares that state's school districts according to their efficiency in producing high school graduates. She first divides a given district's graduation rate by the average graduation rate of its "peer group" (all districts sorted into quartiles according to the poverty level of their students); then she divides the district's per-pupil expenditures by the average level of its peer group. Next, she divides the former quotient by the latter and multiplies by 100 to produce, for that (and every) district, an "efficiency and effectiveness index," which she examines by quartiles. Then she engages in some interesting analyses of districts that are demographically similar yet very different in their efficiency/effectiveness. Perhaps of greatest national significance is the contrast between the Twin Cities: "Although similar in size and demographics," Yecke observes, "St. Paul manages to graduate 72 percent of its students, compared to 53 percent for Minneapolis - and spends $1,000 less per student doing so." A nice bit of analysis that shows, once again, that neither demographics nor expenditures are destiny when it comes to school performance. You can find it here.
