Reallocating Resources - Reallocating Resources: How to Boost Student Achievement Without Asking for More - Review

School Administrator, Sept, 2001 by Joseph W. Rudnicki

Superintendent, Sunnyvale Elementary School District, Sunnyvale, Calif.

Reallocating Resources: How to Boost Student Achievement Without Asking for More by Allan Odden and Sarah Archibald serves as a fundamental resource on designing school funding allocations.

Their ideas for linking resources to quality instruction would most benefit principals seeking ways to gain greater student achievement. They also fit well into the federal government's hopes of combining categorical program funds into block grants and whole-school allocations of Title I funds.

Odden and Archibald apply their ideas to specific programs that will be well known to most readers. These include Success for All and the designs of the New American Schools.

Reallocating Resources promotes the use of research-based instructional practices to replace worn-out programs. Though admitting that many of the most successful programs are expensive, the authors provide a framework for building capacity. Implementation requires acknowledgement of the difficulties in the change process, they say.

Financial resources may be incrementally subtracted from "failed" activities in order to fund the research-based initiative. Odden and Archibald want decision makers to focus more closely on making funding allocations that will affect student achievement.

The book also may serve as a resource for a district administrative team's in-service program on developing positive change. Too often, they insist, administrative discussions view money as the key obstacle to getting improved outcomes. Reallocating Resources provides a sense of optimism that a vehicle exists for moving beyond these limiting thoughts.

(Reallocating Resources: How to Boost Student Achievement Without Asking for More by Allan Odden and Sarah Archibald, Corwin Press, 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, Calif. 91320, 2000,120 pp., $21.95 softcover)