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Abstract
There is an unsettled debate about the nature of the relationships between educational inputs and measures of student achievement. The purpose of this study was to describe and to explain the relationships between educational inputs and measures of student achievement as outputs. Quantitative multivariate data on 10 educational inputs and 2 measures of student achievement, covering 2 academic school years in 71 highs schools across 6 school districts, were collected and analyzed as a matrix of vectors. Data for across-school-districts study were analyzed using multivariate statistical methods involving discriminant analysis, canonical correlation, and multivariate regression. Data on schools-within-districts study were analyzed using a combination of parametric and non-parametric statistical methods involving Pearsons product moment correlation, Kendalls Tau-b, and Sommers d. The findings of the study showed significant variations between school districts and school categories on all of the inputs and outputs. There were significant positive relationships between (1) teacher quality and per pupil expenditure as well as percentage of economically disadvantaged students, (2) percentage of students passing the science section of the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) and the percentage of students who qualified for Georgias HOPE scholarship. There were significant negative relationships between the percentage of economically disadvantaged students and the percentage of students passing the science section of the GHSGT, as well as the percentage of students who qualified for the HOPE scholarship. There were significantly positive correlations between principal stability and the percentage of students passing the science section of the GHSGT as well as the percentage of students who qualified for the HOPE scholarship. There were no significant relationships between expenditure per pupil and the measures of student achievement. However, when the percentage of economically disadvantaged students (PEDS) is considered as a monetary input, the relationships became significant. There were schools performing above expectation given their relatively high PEDS. There were schools performing according to expectation given their PEDS value. There were also schools performing below expectation, given their relatively low PEDS. These schools were categorized as positively discordant, concordant, and negatively discordant, respectively. Through the qualitative portion of the study, principals and Science Department heads offered important suggestions for improving science education.