John Marks, Centre for Policy Studies
January 2002
British education gadfly John Marks is at it again with this 50-page report from the London-based Centre for Policy Studies challenging "the dogma that higher overall spending will inevitably translate into better standards. Our findings suggest that the [British] Government should consider how the existing budget might deliver better value for money and a high quality of schooling before it spends billions more pounds of taxpayers' money on state education." Marks offers much evidence that high achievement in British schools does not correlate with high spending (or small classes). His public-private comparison may come as a greater surprise: "While pupils at independent schools get better results, state schools may provide better value for money." He also plunges into the bramble patch of international comparisons and concludes that country-level achievement differences cannot be explained by differing levels of financial support for schooling. Marks's advice: go slow on simply boosting school expenditures and seek higher-productivity strategies such as rigorous performance-based pay for teachers. If you would like to obtain a (hard) copy, you'll find an order form at http://www.cps.org.uk/sands.htm.