A MODEL FOR ERADICATING SPURIOUS SCALE-LEVEL DIFFERENCES IN INSTRUCTOR QUALITY AND REPLACING TEACHERS WITH ONLINE LEARNING TO ATTAIN SUPERIOR ACADEMIC

Abstract

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average expenditure per public school pupil in the United States has increased by an average of 43% every decade for the past 80 years (2010c). The state of New Jersey, in particular, has seen dramatic expenditure growth, including a real increase in its education budget from $1.3 billion in 1969 to over $23 billion in 2010 (2010a). As the real price of education continues to rise nationally and in New Jersey, American lawmakers ought utilize technology to educate students in a more pedagogically effective and financially efficient manner. This thesis outlines the way online education tools can be best leveraged to improve the quality while lowering the cost of education at the K-12 level. The paper uses data on teacher salaries’ expected impact on educational outcomes coupled with financial and academic data from a blended-learning charter school to demonstrate that both teacher quantities and prices are currently unnecessarily inflated. Ultimately, this thesis proposes a new model for New Jersey education which employs the benefits of online learning to reduce costs and improve quality of K-12 education.