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

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Agenda

1. Roll Call2. Overview of the Innovative Uses of Funds

Topical Call Series3. What is Cost-Benefit Analysis?4. Evidence-Based Public Policy in the Juvenile

Justice SystemGuest Speaker: Elizabeth Drake, Senior Research Associate, Washington State Institute for Public Policy

5. Implications for Title I, Part D

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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

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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

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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)

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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)

7Evidence-Based Public Policy in the Juvenile Justice System

Guest SpeakerElizabeth Drake

Senior Research AssociateWashington State Institute for Public Policy

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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?

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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)

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Implications for Title I, Part D

What inferences can be made with rudimentary tools and existing

resources to inform—but not drive—your decisionmaking?

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Sample Cost-Benefit Analysis

BASIC STEPS:1. Brainstorm Costs and Benefits2. Estimate a monetary value for each cost and benefit3. Total costs4. Total benefits5. 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

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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 A blended learning math intervention for middle school students

High School Completion Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Interventions that Improve H

igh School Completion

Literacy The Considerations of Costs in Improving Literacy

13Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education Resources

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

14Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education Resources 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)