1994/04/01 by Larry V. Hedges, Richard D. Laine, Rob Greenwald · 830 citations
Mathematics · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Causal inference #Computer science #Differential (mechanical device) #Econometrics #Economics #Inference #Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies #Mathematics #Mathematics education #Meta-analysis #Meta-regression #Parental Involvement in Education #Psychology #Regression analysis #Relation (database) #Resource (disambiguation) #School Choice and Performance #Set (abstract data type) #Socioeconomic status #Sociology #Statistics #Warrant
paper · doi:10.3102/0013189x023003005
published in Educational Researcher 23(3), 5-14 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 1994/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26
Research on educational production functions attempts to model the relation between resource inputs and school outcomes such as educational achievement. Over the last decade a series of influential reviews of this literature have suggested that there is no systematic relation between resource inputs and school outcomes when controlling for student characteristics such as socioeconomic status. The inference procedure used in these reviews, vote counting, is known to be problematic. This study is a reanalysis of data from these earlier reviews, using more sophisticated synthesis methods. It shows systematic positive relations between resource inputs and school outcomes. Moreover, analyses of the magnitude of these relations suggest that the median relation (regression coefficient) is large enough to be of practical importance.While this reanalysis suggests that previous data do not support the conclusions that Hanushek and others derived from it, limitations of their data set warrant caution in using it for policy formation.