Business Leaders for Michigan retained Anderson Economic Group to review performance funding practices for K-12 school systems across the U.S. and to identify best practices and common metrics used to measure outcomes.
We conducted a literature review of performance funding practices for public school systems across the U.S. We identified three states that have implemented these practices – Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Arizona. We used official documents, statutes, and legislation, as well as stories from local newspapers to determine the characteristics of each of these states’ performance funding models. We also used white papers released by national think tanks on the subject in our literature review.
We found that these states had three common characteristics, which we summarized broadly into three best practices. These include allocating bonuses equitably across schools, providing multiple ways for schools to earn bonuses, and empowering local educators to address their own unique challenges.
We summarized our findings in a memorandum that was provided to the client.