Project

Funding Versus Results Project

Much debate centers around funding for schools and the results that are produced because of that funding.  Many people think that funding has a direct correlation to school success.  This project will enlighten you about the situation and help you to determine if tax increases resulting in funding increases are necessary for schools to function at a high level.  Please follow instructions carefully.

The excel page link https://www.mdek12.org/sites/default/files/Offices/MDE/OFP/fy18-essa-allocation-summary-table-08-14-17.pdf (Links to an external site.) is titled Mississippi FY18 Allocations. Opening this link will give you information about the federal funding of school districts in the 2018 school year.  This spreadsheet is located on the Mississippi Department of Education website.  While viewing this information, find the school districts from the Pine Belt and total the amounts in their row.  This will give you a total amount of federal funding. Rank these districts in a chart from 1-18.  Number one should be the school receiving the most funds, etc. Only rank the schools in the Pine Belt.  The list of schools from the Pine Belt.

 Pine Belt School Districts:

Jefferson Davis County

Marion County

Columbia

 Lamar County

Lumberton

 Pearl River County

Poplarville

 Picayune

 Stone County

 Forrest County AHS

Forrest County

 Hattiesburg 

Petal

 Covington County

Jones County

Laurel

Perry County

Richton 

Continue and find the accountability results for those same districts by copying and pasting the link in your search bar:  http://msrc.mdek12.org/ (Links to an external site.). To find this information click on the listed link.  You will need to enter the school district in the search bar.  As you type the school district name in the search bar, that name will appear in the drop down.  Click on the dropdown name and the name will fill the search bar.  Click go.  The overall district score should appear at the top of the screen and the separate scores will appear below.  Do this for each school listed in the Pine Belt List given to you. Again, rank the Pine Belt districts listed in descending order according to their test score performance and place this information in a chart.

Do the schools that receive the most funding have the highest scores in the subject area tests?  Write a minimum 200-word discussion using proper grammar, capitalization, and punctuation summarizing your results in the first paragraph and discussing your thoughts about the results in the second paragraph.  For example, a certain district may rank 2nd in funding per pupil in the Pine Belt but may rank last in proficiency scores.  Where do these scores rank the district among the districts from the Pine Belt?  Does its rank in funding correlate with its rank in test scores?  Another district in the Pine Belt may rank 10th in funding per pupil, but the test score results for that district may be very high. Does its rank in funding correlate with its rank in test scores?  Upload all information including charts and your 200-word discussion.    Again, your 200-word discussion will examine the argument that more funding does or does not have a direct correlation to results (test scores).  In you discussion, note what you think is the factor that helps schools to perform better.