An EconTalk Podcast Listening Guide

Hanushek on Test-Based Accountability, Federal Funding, and School Finance

Listen to the EconTalk podcast Hanushek on Test-Based Accountability, Federal Funding, and School Finance and consider these questions.

1. Interviewer Roberts begins this conversation with Hanushek by discussing the changes relevant to test-based accountability wrought by the “No Child Left Behind” legislation. What are these changes they mention?

2. What political prognosis does Hanushek offer for N.C.L.B.?

3. What has recent research shown about the increasing presence of the federal government in educational policy?

4. Both Roberts and Hanushek note the difficulties in utilizing test scores to measure student achievement. What are these challenges?

5. How does Hanushek describe the influence of charter schools and home schooling on public schools?

6. What role does Hanushek think technology will play on both school instruction and politics?

7. Roberts summarizes a previous EconTalk conversation with Hanushek on the role of the courts in determining school finance. What does Hanushek suggest about the relationship between school spending and student achievement? What does Hanushek suggest as the most potent combination for increasing achievement?

8. Roberts closes by asking Hanushek how to best make student outcomes relevant to school funding. What measures does Hanushek suggest?