Cost-Effective Decision-Making for California's School System

California's school system is under tremendous long-run fiscal pressure; allocating resources efficiently is therefore paramount. Economic analysis--making sure districts and schools are spending their budgets wisely--is the method used to identify effectiveness and efficiency. This method responds to the question educational professionals face: "Am I making the most efficient decisions given the resources I have and the goals I need to meet for my students?" In this report, the authors look at the role of economic analysis in decision-making in California's school system. The goal is to show how economic evaluations can be more straightforward, more useful, and more influential for decision-making. The authors describe cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), one of the primary methods for economic evaluation. They provide a summary of this method, along with templates for framing the research analysis. The authors include a worked-through example to illustrate the key steps in performing CEA. They also describe case studies where such analyses have been performed that show the broad applicability of the method. [This report was written in partnership with Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.]