[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-585233-105":59,"doc-detail-585233-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","if-you-cant-measure-it-can-you-improve-it","If You Can’t Measure It, Can You Improve It?","","A February 2026 report from The Manhattan Institute examines how U.S. K–12 education funding—nearly $1 trillion in 2023—translates into real student outcomes. It argues that despite abundant spending data, limited empirical analysis and no shared evaluation methodology make it difficult to judge whether policies improve academic results and broader development. The report introduces an Educational Return on Investment (EROI) framework, applying it to New York State options and offering recommendations for its broader adoption.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/if-you-cant-measure-it-can-you-improve-it/585233/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/if-you-cant-measure-it-can-you-improve-it/585233.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Aria Callaghan","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What problem does the report highlight about evaluating K–12 education?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It states that, despite extensive data on spending, little public empirical analysis explains how funds and policies translate into academic outcomes and broader student development, and no commonly accepted methodology exists.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What is the Educational Return on Investment (EROI) framework?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"EROI is a new, easy-to-understand framework designed to evaluate which primary and secondary educational options provide the best return on K–12 investment for the public, students, and other stakeholders.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What are the report’s key findings about New York’s education spending and outcomes?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It finds New York public school systems have substantial resources, but outcomes make costs for producing graduates significantly higher when applying EROI, with similar disparities observed across New York State and comparisons to a private alternative for low-income families.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},585233,1792210195,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962084926284,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","Report  \nAbout Us  \nThe Manhattan Institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders committed to advancing economic opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in America and its great cities.  \nFebruary 2026  \nIf You Can’t Measure It, Can You Improve It?  \nWilliam Henson  \nExecutive Summary  \nIn 2023, the U.S. dedicated nearly $1 trillion in combined state, local, and federal funding to K–12 education, more than any other program aside from major entitlements.1 Across municipalities ranging from small villages to major cities, education spending dwarfs other essential services such as transportation, housing, sanitation, and law enforcement. Cumulatively, more taxpayer funds are spent on elementary and secondary education than on national defense.2  \nGiven the scale of our investment in education, a fierce debate is occurring about how the system should function. An enormous array of policies, programs, and perspectives exists on how best to prepare America’s young people for higher education and the rapidly evolving modern workplace, as well as their civic role in contemporary society. These practices often conflict and are sometimes mutually exclusive. Depending on what one reads or to whom one listens, the public is told the following:  \n• Charter schools are a striking success—or a failed and damaging experiment.3  \n• We spend not nearly enough on public education—or way too much.4  \n• School choice programs do—or don’t—result in fewer resources being available to public school students.5  \n If You Can’t Measure It, Can You Improve It?  \nSuch proclamations inevitably yield confused and frustrated parents, educators, and taxpayers. Precious resources are squandered; most significantly, opportunity is diminished for countless students. It is not easy to evaluate how much we are getting from this massive investment. Despite the abundance of data on K–12 education, little empirical analysis is publicly available about how well education funds are managed. Nor is there a commonly accepted methodology to evaluate how spending strategies or other policies translate into academic outcomes and broader student development.  \nThis report presents a new, easily understood, framework—Educational Return on Investment (EROI)—which can be used to evaluate which primary and secondary educational options offer the public, students, and other stakeholders the best return on their K–12 educational investment. Using the EROI framework, this report evaluates several existing K–12 systems in New York State, and it offers recommendations as to how this framework should be broadly and deeply deployed—and what is needed to do so.  \nKey Findings  \n• New York’s public school systems do not lack financial resources. From kindergarten through high school, New York City on average spent nearly $400,000 per student in current dollars, or approximately $30,000 per year for the 2013–17 traditional high school cohort examined in this report.  \n• This total, sizable as it is, pales when student outcomes are factored in by utilizing the EROI approach. To produce one high school graduate with a low-income socioeconomic status costs about $639,000 in today’s dollars. To yield an eventual single associate’[s or B.A. degree](s or B.A. degree)[ ](s or B.A. degree)[recipient from that same low-income cohort](recipient from that same low-income cohort), the NYC public school system expended approximately six times the amount spent per pupil, $2.2 million in constant 2025 dollars.  \n• The aforementioned is not strictly a NYC public school phenomenon. When examining New York State public schools, both with and without New York City students included, the same disturbing trends and disparities are observed.  \n• The value that is actually realized by New York public school taxpayers and students assumes greater salience when comparing New York public school systems with one NYC private school alternative, which, at the secondary l","cbCaij5DyTULmOP3","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaij5DyTULmOP3","pdf",519653,38,"English","# Executive Summary\n## Key Findings\n# Background: “Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics” or “To Measure Is to Know”?","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the report highlight about evaluating K–12 education?\",\"answer\":\"It states that, despite extensive data on spending, little public empirical analysis explains how funds and policies translate into academic outcomes and broader student development, and no commonly accepted methodology exists.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the Educational Return on Investment (EROI) framework?\",\"answer\":\"EROI is a new, easy-to-understand framework designed to evaluate which primary and secondary educational options provide the best return on K–12 investment for the public, students, and other stakeholders.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the report’s key findings about New York’s education spending and outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"It finds New York public school systems have substantial resources, but outcomes make costs for producing graduates significantly higher when applying EROI, with similar disparities observed across New York State and comparisons to a private alternative for low-income families.\"}]","If You Can’t Measure It, Can You Improve It? | PDF",1792054116,96]