About

Why did we create this tool?

Assessing Patterns of Resource Distribution (APRD) is designed to help district officials and other education stakeholders analyze how a district distributes resources among schools. The tool arises from the Annenberg Institute's vision for a "smart district" – a high-performing community of schools that ensures both equity of opportunity and high-level achievement across all groups of students.

Our research has shown that most districts distribute resources unevenly among schools and types of students. Many inequities are buried in complicated accounting procedures, antiquated staffing-based budgeting policies, and multiple funding streams for programs such as bilingual or special education.

Some spending differences make sense, such as additional dollars for disabled children, but others are not systematic and may even conflict with the district's stated goals.

If a district wants to make sure it is investing resources strategically to accomplish its goals, the first step is to clarify how resources are currently allocated. Most district accounting procedures break down spending by function (e.g., instruction, facilities) and items (e.g., core teachers, administrators, utilities), but not by student and school characteristics. This makes it hard to determine whether each school's funding level is justifiable.

The APRD online tool will help a district take this first step of analyzing its spending patterns and identifying inequities.

Once spending patterns are clarified, a district will be prepared to create a new budgeting process such as student-based budgeting and address any inequities.

Who created the tool?

Created by:
  School Communities that Work
  An initiative of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform

Based on the analysis, measures, and tools developed by:
  Marguerite Roza, University of Washington
  Karen Hawley Miles, Education Resource Management Strategies

Designed by:
  Fulcrum Technologies for the Annenberg Institute
  Amy Rittenhouse, Information Analyst/Web Designer, Annenberg Institute

Edited by:
  Margaret Balch-Gonzalez, Staff Editor, Annenberg Institute

Questions or feedback about this tool:
  E-mail Ellen Foley at Ellen_Foley@brown.edu

What would you like to do next?

» Learn more about what the tool can do.

» See the list of what you will need to get started before using the tool.

» If you have all the data you need, or are a returning or experienced user,
   log in and start using the tool.

» Go back to the Welcome page.

» This tool stores and analyzes your data on our server. To analyze data on your
   own computer, see text version of tool.