Abstract
Cost-effectiveness analysis refers to evaluations that consider both the costs and consequences of alternatives. It is a decision-oriented tool that is designed to ascertain the most efficient means of attaining particular educational goals. For example, there are many alternative approaches for pursuing such goals as raising reading or mathematics achievement. These include the adoption of new materials or curriculum, teacher training, educational television, computer- assisted instruction, smaller class sizes, and so on. It is possible that all of these alternatives, when well-implemented, have a positive effect on student achievement. Often the one that is recommended is the one with the largest apparent effect.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Angrist, J., & Lavy, V. (1999). Using Maimonides’ rule to estimate the effect of class size on scholastic achievement. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(2), 533–576.
Barnett, W.S. (1985). Benefit-cost analysis of the Perry Preschool Program and its policy implications. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 7(4), 333–342.
Barnett, W.S. (1996a). Economics of school reform: Three promising models. In H.F. Ladd (Ed.), Holding schools accountable: Performance-based reform in education (pp. 299–326). Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
Barnett, W.S. (1996b). Lives in the balance: Age-27 benefit-cost analysis of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.
Barnett, W.S., & Escobar, C.M. (1987). The economics of early educational intervention: A review. Review of Educational Research, 57(4), 387–414.
Barnett, W.S., Escobar, C.M., & Ravsten, M.T. (1988). Parent and clinic early intervention for children with language handicaps: a cost-effectiveness analysis. Journal of the Division for Early Childhood, 12(4), 290–298.
Bartell, E. (1968). Costs and benefits of Catholic elementary and secondary schools. Notre Dame: Notre Dame Press.
Bedi, A.S., & Marshall, J.H. (1999). School attendance and student achievement: Evidence from rural Honduras. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 657–682.
Betts, J.R. (1996). Is there a link between school inputs and earnings? Fresh scrutiny of an old literature. In G. Burtless (Ed.), Does money matter? The effect of school resources on student achievement and adult success (pp. 141–191). Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
Black, S.E. (1998). Measuring the value of better schools. Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review, 87–94.
Black, S.E. (1999). Do better schools matter? Parental valuation of elementary education. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(2), 577–599.
Boardman, A.E., Greenberg, D.H., Vining, A.R., & Weimer, D.L. (1996). Cost-benefit analysis: Concepts and practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Boruch, R.F. (1997). Randomized experiments for planning and evaluation: A practical guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Brewer, D.J., Krop, C., Gill, B.P., & Reichardt, R. (1999). Estimating the cost of national class size reductions under different policy alternatives. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 21(2), 179–192.
Card, D., & Krueger, A.B. (1996). Labor market effects of school quality: Theory and evidence. In G. Burtless (Ed.), Does money matter?The effect of school resources on student achievement and adult success. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Chambers, J., & Parrish, T. (1994a). Developing a resource cost database. In W.S. Barnett (Ed.), Cost analysis for education decisions: Methods and examples (Vol. 4, pp. 23–44). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Chambers, J., & Parrish, T. (1994b). Modeling resource costs. In W.S. Barnett (Ed.), Cost analysis for education decisions: Methods and examples (Vol. 4, pp. 7–21). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Clemen, R.T. (1996). Making hard decisions: An introduction to decision analysis (2nd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Duxbury Press.
Clune, W.H. (2002). Methodological strength and policy usefulness of cost-effectiveness research. In H.M. Levin & P.J. McEwan (Eds.) Cost-effectiveness and educational policy (pp. 55–68). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.
Cook, T.D., & Campbell, D.T. (1979). Quasi-experimentation: Design and analysis for field studies. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Crone, T.M. (1998). House prices and the quality of public schools? What are we buying? Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Business Review, 3–14.
Cummings, R.G., Brookshire, D.S., & Schultze, W.D. (1986). Valuing environmental goods: An assessment of the contingent valuation method. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Allanheld.
Dalgaard, B.R., Lewis, D.R., & Boyer, CM. (1984). Cost and effectiveness considerations in the use of computer-assisted instruction in economics. Journal of Economic Education, 15(4), 309–323.
Drummond, M., Torrance, G., & Mason, J. (1993). Cost-effectiveness league tables: More harm than good? Social Science in Medicine, 37(1), 33–40.
Drummond, M.F., O’Brien, B., Stoddart, G.L., & Torrance, G.W. (1997). Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eddy, D.M. (1991). Oregon’s methods: Did cost-effectiveness analysis fail? Journal of the American Medical Association, 266(15), 2135–2141.
Eiserman, W.D., McCoun, M., & Escobar, CM. (1990). A cost-effectiveness analysis of two alternative program models for serving speech-disordered preschoolers. Journal of Early Intervention, 14(4), 297–317.
Escobar, CM., Barnett, W.S., & Keith, J.E. (1988). A contingent valuation approach to measuring the benefits of preschool education. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 10(1), 13–22.
Fletcher, J.D., Hawley, D.E., & Piele, P.K. (1990). Costs, effects, and utility of microcomputer assisted instruction in the classroom. American Educational Research Journal, 27(4), 783–806.
Fuller, B., Hua, H., & Snyder, C.W. (1994). When girls learn more than boys: The influence of time in school and pedagogy in Botswana. Comparative Education Review, 38(3), 347–376.
Gerard, K. (1992). Cost-utility in practice: A policy maker’s guide to the state of the art. Health Policy, 21, 249–279.
Glewwe, P. (1999). The economics of school quality investments in developing countries: An empirical study of Ghana. London: St. Martins Press.
Gold, M.R., Patrick, D.L., Torrance, G.W., Fryback, D.G., Hadorn, D.C., Kamlet, M.S., et al. (1996). Identifying and valuing outcomes. In M.R. Gold, L.B. Russell, J.E. Siegel, & M.C Weinstein (Eds.), Cost-effectiveness in health and medicine (pp. 82–134). New York: Oxford University Press.
Harbison, R.W., & Hanushek, E.A. (1992). Educational performance of the poor: Lessons from rural northeast Brazil. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jamison, D.T., Mosley, W.H., Measham, A.R., & Bobadilla, J.L. (Eds.). (1993). Disease control priorities in developing countries. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Johannesson, M. (1996). Theory and methods of economic evaluation of health care. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Jones-Lee, M.W. (1989). The economics of safety and risk. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Kaplan, R.M. (1995). Utility assessment for estimating quality-adjusted life years. In F.A. Sloan (Ed.), Valuing health care: Costs, benefits, and effectiveness of Pharmaceuticals and other medical technologies (pp. 31–60). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Keeler, E.B., & Cretin, S. (1983). Discounting of life-saving and other nonmonetary effects. Management Science, 29, 300–306.
Keeney, R.L., & Raiffa, H. (1976). Decisions with multiple objectives. New York: Wiley.
King, J.A. (1994). Meeting the educational needs of at-risk students: A cost analysis of three models. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 16(1), 1–19.
Krueger, A. (1999). Experimental estimates of education production functions. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(2), 497–532.
Levin, H.M. (1975). Cost-effectiveness in evaluation research. In M. Guttentag & E. Struening (Eds.), Handbook of evaluation research (Vol. 2). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Levin, H.M. (1988). Cost-effectiveness and educational policy. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 10(1), 51–69.
Levin, H.M. (1991). Cost-effectiveness at quarter century. In M.W. McLaughlin & D.C. Phillips (Eds.), Evaluation and education at quartery century (pp. 188–209). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Levin, H.M. (1995). Cost-effectiveness analysis. In M. Carnoy (Ed.), International encyclopedia of economics of education (2nd ed., pp. 381–386). Oxford: Pergamon.
Levin, H.M. (2002). Issues in designing cost-effectiveness comparisons of whole-school reforms. In H.M. Levin & P.J. McEwan (Eds.), Cost-effectiveness and educational policy (pp. 71–96). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.
Levin, H.M., Glass, G.V., & Meister, G.R. (1987). Cost-effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction. Evaluation Review, 11(1), 50–72.
Levin, H.M., Leitner, D., & Meister, G.R. (1986). Cost-effectiveness of alternative approaches to computer-assisted instruction (87-CERAS-1). Stanford, CA: Center for Educational Research at Stanford.
Levin, H.M., & McEwan, P.J. (2000). Cost-effectiveness analysis: Methods and applications (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lewis, D.R. (1989). Use of cost-utility decision models in business education. Journal of Education for Business, 64(6), 275–278.
Lewis, D.R., Johnson, D.R., Erickson, R.N., & Bruininks, R.H. (1994). Multiattribute evaluation of program alternatives within special education. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 5(1), 77–112.
Lewis, D.R., & Kallsen, L.A. (1995). Multiattribute evaluations: An aid in reallocation decisions in higher education. The Review of Higher Education, 18(4), 437–465.
Lewis, D.R., Stockdill, S.J., & Turner, T.C. (1990). Cost-effectiveness of micro-computers in adult basic reading. Adult Literacy and Basic Education, 14(2), 136–149.
Light, R.J., Singer, J.D., & Willett, J.B. (1990). By design: Planning research on higher education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lipscomb, J., Weinstein, M.C., & Torrance, G.W. (1996). Time preference. In M.R. Gold, L.B. Russell, J.E. Siegel, & M.C. Weinstein (Eds.), Cost-effectiveness in health and medicine (pp. 214–246). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lockheed, M.E., & Hanushek, E. (1988). Improving educational efficiency in developing countries: What do we know? Compare, 18(1), 21–37.
Manning, W.G., Fryback, D.G., & Weinstein, M.C. (1996). Reflecting uncertainty in cost-effectiveness analysis. In M.R. Gold, L.B. Russell, J.E. Siegel, & M.C. Weinstein (Eds.), Cost-effectiveness in health and medicine (pp. 247–275). New York: Oxford University Press.
McEwan, P.J. (2000). The potential impact of large-scale voucher programs. Review of Educational Research, 70(2), 103–49.
McEwan, P.J. (2002). Are cost-effectiveness methods used correctly? In H.M. Levin & P.J. McEwan (Eds.), Cost-effectiveness and educational policy (pp. 37–53). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.
McMahon, W.W (1998). Conceptual framework for the analysis of the social benefits of lifelong learning. Education Economics, 6(3), 309–346.
Mitchell, R.C., & Carson, R.T. (1989). Using surveys to value public goods: The contingent valuation method. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.
Monk, D.H., & King, J.A. (1993). Cost analysis as a tool for education reform. In S.L. Jacobson & R. Berne (Eds.), Reforming education: The emerging systemic approach (pp. 131–150). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Morrall, J.F. (1986). A review of the record. Regulation, 25–34.
Orr, L.L. (1999). Social Experiments. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Orr, L.L., Bloom, H.S., Bell, S.H., Doolittle, F., Lin, W, & Cave, G. (1996). Does job training for the disadvantaged work?Evidence from the National JTPA Study. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
Psacharopoulos, G. (1994). Returns to investment in education: A global update. World Development, 22(9), 1325–1343.
Quinn, B., Van Mondfrans, A., & Worthen, B.R. (1984). Cost-effectiveness of two math programs as moderated by pupil SES. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 6(1), 39–52.
Rice, J.K. (1997). Cost analysis in education: Paradox and possibility. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 19(4), 309–317.
Rossi, P.H., & Freeman, H.E. (1993). Evaluation: A systematic approach. (5th ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Rouse, C.E. (1998). Schools and student achievement: More evidence from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review, 4(1), 61–76.
Saint, S., Veenstra, D.L., & Sullivan, S.D. (1999). The use of meta-analysis in cost-effectiveness analysis. Pharmacoeconomics, 15(1), 1–8.
Shadish, W.R., Cook, T.D., & Campbell, D.T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
Sloan, F.A., & Conover, C.J. (1995). The use of cost-effectiveness/cost-benefit analysis in actual decision making: Current status and prospects. In F.A. Sloan (Ed.), Valuing health care: Costs, benefits, and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals and other medical technologies (pp. 207–232). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Smith, M.L., & Glass, G.V. (1987). Research and evaluation in education and the social sciences. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Smith, N.L., & Smith, J.K. (1985). State-level evaluation uses of cost analysis: A national descriptive survey. In J.S. Catterall (Ed.), Economic evaluation of public programs (pp. 83–97). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Stern, D., Dayton, C., Paik, I.-W, & Weisberg, A. (1989). Benefits and costs of dropout prevention in a high school program combining academic and vocational education: third-year results from replications of the California Peninsula Academies. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 11(4), 405–416.
Stiefel, L., Iatarola, P., Frachter, N., & Berne, R. (1998). The effects of size of student body on school costs and performance in New York City high schools. New York: Institute for Education and Social Policy, New York University.
Tan, J.-P, Lane, J., & Coustere, P. (1997). Putting inputs to work in elementary schools: What can be done in the Philippines? Economic Development and Cultural Change, 45(4), 857–879.
Tsang, M.C. (1988). Cost analysis for educational policymaking: A review of cost studies in education in developing countries. Review of Educational Research, 58(2), 181–230.
Udvarhelyi, I.S., Colditz, G.A., Rai, A., & Epstein, A.M. (1992). Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses in the medical literature: Are the methods being used correctly? Annals of Internal Medicine, 116, 238–244.
Viscusi, K.P. (1992). Fatal trade-offs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Viscusi, W.K. (1995). Discounting health effects for medical decisions. In F.A. Sloan (Ed.), Valuing health care: Costs, benefits, and effectiveness of pharmaceutkals and other medical technologies (pp. 125–147). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
von Winterfeldt, D., & Edwards, W. (1986). Decision analysis and behavioral research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Warfield, M.E. (1994). A cost-effectiveness analysis of early intervention services in Massachusetts: implications for policy. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 16(1), 87–99.
Wasley, P.A., Fine, M., Gladden, M., Holland, N.E., King, S.P., Mosak, E., & Powell, L. (2000). Small schools: Great strides. New York: Bank Street College of Education.
Weinstein, M.C., Siegel, J.E., Gold, M.R., Kamlet, M.S. & Russell, L.B. (1996). Recommendations of the panel on cost-effectiveness in health and medicine. Journal of the American Medical Association, 276(15), 1253–1258.
Weiss, C.H. (1998). Evaluation. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
World Bank (1993). World Development Report 1993: Investing in health. New York: Oxford University Press.
World Bank (1996). India: Primary education achievement and challenges (Report No. 15756-IN). Washington, DC: World Bank.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Levin, H.M., McEwan, P.J. (2003). Cost-Effectiveness Analysis as an Evaluation Tool. In: Kellaghan, T., Stufflebeam, D.L. (eds) International Handbook of Educational Evaluation. Kluwer International Handbooks of Education, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0309-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0309-4_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-0849-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-0309-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive