ND Topical Call Innovative Uses of Title I, Part D, Funds: Cost-Benefit Analysis to Drive Decisionmaking (Call 1) February 5, 2014

2 Agenda 1.Roll Call 2.Overview of the Innovative Uses of Funds Topical Call Series 3.What is Cost-Benefit Analysis? 4.Evidence-Based Public Policy in the Juvenile Justice System Guest Speaker: Elizabeth Drake, Senior Research Associate, Washington State Institute for Public Policy 5.Implications for Title I, Part D

3 Series Overview  How can TIPD grantees and subgrantees maximize service delivery for children and youth who are neglected and delinquent with strained state and local budgets?  Promote technical assistance strategies to encourage more creative uses of funds  Share ways in which TIPD funds can and have been used effectively to promote programs  Suggest alternative funding sources to supplement TIPD  Discuss cost-benefit analysis as a tool for driving programming decisions

4 What is Cost-Benefit Analysis?  A type of cost analysis, for example:  Cost-allocation: Determine a unit cost or cost per unit of service (e.g., cost of hiring local college tutors)  Cost-effectiveness: Compares two or more interventions according to their effectiveness and the costs associated with achieving specific objectives (e.g., increasing mathematics achievement)  Cost-utility: Used when benefits cannot be easily or reliably expressed in monetary metric terms. In healthcare, outcomes are often expressed in terms of improved quality of life or life expectancy projections

5 What is Cost-Benefit Analysis?  Cost-Benefit Analysis:  Refers to methods for comparing the monetized benefits (or outcomes) of a particular intervention to its costs  Helps determine whether implementing a particular intervention is desirable (e.g., given scare funds, shifting student population, teacher attrition)

6 What is Cost-Benefit Analysis?  Cost-benefit analysis can support:  Staffing decisions (e.g., Should we hire a full-time paraprofessional, part-time tutors, or maintain the status quo?)  Evaluating a new program, practice, curriculum, or initiative  Determining the practicality of procuring new equipment and/or supplies  Revealing unexpected costs  Estimating program:  Replicability (e.g., implement a mobile science lab program in a rural area that was designed for an urban area)  Sustainability (e.g., as implementation costs appreciate overtime and access to specific funding sources declines)

7 Evidence-Based Public Policy in the Juvenile Justice System Guest Speaker Elizabeth Drake Senior Research Associate Washington State Institute for Public Policy

8 Implications for Title I, Part D  Discussion:  How has the current political and economic climate impacted the way SAs and LEAs seek to used Title I, Part D funds?  What are your most common challenges when trying to determine how best to use Title I, Part D funds?  In what areas do you struggle most to find the funds to support effective programming for N or D children and youth (e.g., staffing, equipment, instructional materials)?  As ND Coordinators, what have been your most peculiar— but potentially intriguing—use of funds requests?

9 Implications for Title I, Part D  Dearth of research on the cost-benefit of common interventions for N or D children and youth  Cost-benefit analysis is limited to educational outcomes that can be monetized  Estimating benefits is largely subjective  Risk undervaluing interventions that reap benefits that cannot be expressed easily in monetary terms (e.g., increased self-efficacy as a reader)

10 Implications for Title I, Part D What inferences can be made with rudimentary tools and existing resources to inform—but not drive—your decisionmaking?

11 Sample Cost-Benefit Analysis  BASIC STEPS: 1.Brainstorm Costs and Benefits 2.Estimate a monetary value for each cost and benefit 3.Total costs 4.Total benefits 5.Calculate the benefit/cost ratio:  Ratio > 1: Benefits outweigh costs; Action may be warranted  Ratio = 1: Benefits are equal to costs; Maintaining the status quo may be warranted  Ratio < 1: Costs exceed benefits; Action should be taken only if non-monetized benefits are compelling

12 Other Resources Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education Resources  Research and program evaluation studies:  Online and Blended Learning  Using Cost-effectiveness Analysis to Evaluate School of One Using Cost-effectiveness Analysis to Evaluate School of One A blended learning math intervention for middle school students  High School Completion  Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Interventions that Improve High School Completion Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Interventions that Improve High School Completion  Literacy  The Considerations of Costs in Improving Literacy The Considerations of Costs in Improving Literacy

13 Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education Resources  CBCSE Cost Tool Kit CBCSE Cost Tool Kit  Promotes the “ingredients method”: Determine all resources required to implement an intervention, such as personnel, facilities, equipment and materials  Supports the collection of cost data and cost- effectiveness analyses  Developed with the funding from ED’s Institute for Education Sciences  Alpha version currently available free of cost

14 Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education Resources  CBCSE Cost Tool Kit CBCSE Cost Tool Kit  Includes:  Users manual  Spreadsheets to list all ingredients required for an intervention and to make any necessary adjustments (e.g., inflation, geographical location, and time of investment)  Database of Educational Resource Prices (national prices for the most common ingredients used in educational interventions)  Amortization Calculator (spread the costs of certain items such as facilities and equipment over expected life-time use)  Wage Converter (translate annual salaries into hourly rates or vice versa)