Chapter 12: Conclusions and Recommendations

The purpose of this concluding chapter is to summarize the discussions by the conferees, which consisted of about 100 economists, school-finance specialists, litigating attorneys, teachers’ union representatives, and district, state, and federal education officials who achieved considerable consensus. Our summary, however, does not imply agreement of all groups and individuals on all points.

Aside from the recommendations reached individually by the chapter authors, the discussions evoked a number of conclusions and next-step recommendations. Nearly all these were related to the main conference theme of educational productivity and concerned accountability, markets, theory, improved data and analysis, and closer working relations among analysts, policymakers, and educators.