Page 183 - DEDU503_EDUCATIONAL_MANAGEMENT_ENGLISH

Unit 14: Cost–Benefit and Cost–Efficiency Analysis in Education

• The most common measure of cost-effectiveness is the cost-effectiveness ratio, namely, the Notes
effectiveness of an alternative divided by its cost.
• Finally, it is important to mention the issue of scale, In general, those alternatives with high
fixed costs such as those with large investments in facilities and equipment will require a high
enrollment or utilization to reach their best cost-effectiveness ratios.
• Cost-effectiveness studies have been carried out on teacher training, teacher selection, educational
television and radio, choice of a mathematics curriculum, computer-assisted instruction and
also increasing the school day, reducing class size, an cross-age tutoring. Among studies and
interventions should be viewed cautiously given that the studies were done.
• Curriculum is an area that is very appropriate for cost-effectiveness analysis. In the quest for
educational improvement, schools face numerous ways in which they can organize the pace,
• content, and method of instruction.
• Their evaluation compared two approaches to teaching mathematics, a traditional curriculum
and an alternative one. Using the ingredients method, the researchers found that the alternative
mathematics program cost about 50 percent more than the traditional mathematics program.
• A study of teacher training in Sri Lanka compared the cost-effectiveness of training in colleges
of education and in teacher colleges as well as through distance education. Teacher performance
and pupil achievement were used as measures of effectiveness.
• Cost-effectiveness analysis consists of three steps : (a) The costs of the alternatives must be
carefully measured, for example expenditure on teacher salaries, books and learning materials
in each type of school; (b) the outcomes or educational effectiveness of the alternatives must be
measured, for example by standardized test scores of pupils in each school; finally, (c) costs and
effectiveness measures are combined to calculate a cost-effectiveness ratio.

14.7 Keywords

• Analysis : The detailed study or examination of something in order to understand
more about it.
• Productivity : The rate at which a worker, company or a country produces goods and the
amount produced.
• Unemployment : The fact of a number of people not having a job.
• Benefit : The advantage that something gives you, a helpful and useful effect.

14.8 Review Questions
1. What is Cost benefit analysis
2. What is the purpose of Cost benefit analysis
3. Explain the meaning of Cost efficiency
4. What is Cost estimations. Explain.

Answers : Self Assessment
1. (i) Systematic Comparison (ii) Measure
(iii) Cost benefit analysis (iv) Salaries
2. (i) T (ii) T (iii) F

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