Fordham Professor Dr. Bruce Cooper Provides School Funding Insights on District Leader's Podcast

NEW YORK Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- What are some winning strategies for superintendents as school budgets continue to shrink and the demands for accountability continue to grow? Dr. Bruce S. Cooper, professor of educational leadership and policy at Fordham University and well-known expert in school finance, shares his thoughts on the latest edition of DistrictLeadersPodcast.com, the only national podcast Web site created expressly for district leaders and other educational leaders.

In the field of educational administration, policy, and finance, Dr. Cooper is a trendsetter and prolific author, researcher and mentor of school leaders and superintendents around the globe. In 2009, he received the Scribner Award for Mentoring from the University Continuing Education Association.

Guest host Dr. Kathleen P. King, professor of adult education at Fordham University, discusses with Dr. Cooper:

  --  How the stimulus funding money can be allocated and distributed
      equitably to schools.
  --  How superintendents can efficiently distribute monies across schools
      to best serve the district's children including those with special
      needs.

  --  How school effectiveness can be measured.

Dr. Cooper explains, "Several solutions districts are using to ensure equitable funding include the Finance Analysis Model and Weighted Student Funding. The Finance Analysis Model tracks the dollar that is dedicated to the child, and this has helped us increase the money that directly goes to classroom activity. Weighted Student Funding allows the district to determine the base cost of educating an average child and how much you need to add on for special needs. When those special needs children move between schools, the money follows them."

About Dr. Bruce S. Cooper

Bruce S. Cooper, Ph.D., is professor in the Division of Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy (ELAP) in the Graduate School of Education at Fordham University. A graduate of the University of Chicago (Ph.D. '74 and M.S. '72), Dr. Cooper has done extensive research on school finance, organization, policy, and reform, working at Coopers & Lybrand in the development of the In$ite finance model, with former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on analysis on school-site funding in New York City public schools, and the decentralization of governance in the nation's most centralized school system (no local districts, boards, or superintendents).

Dr. Cooper recently received a $1 million grant to analyze organization and funding in six North American districts looking at the relationship between funding, management, and student achievement.

He also co-edited Better Policies, Better Schools with (Allyn & Bacon, 2004) and Handbook on Education Politics and Politics for Lawrence Erlbaum (Drs. Lance Fusarelli and Jim Cibulka). His newest work is The Rising State: How State Authority is Changing our Schools.

About DistrictLeadersPodcast.com

The District Leader's Podcast team is passionate about education and deeply committed to student success. The site serves as a valuable tool for anyone interested in improving America's schools. District Leader's Podcast is sponsored by McGraw-Hill Education's Urban Advisory Resource comprising former education leaders and other experts with extensive experience in managing large school districts. It is produced by TeachersPodcast.org, a professional development resource for educators with an audience of more than 4.3 million listeners. The podcast is currently listed on iTunes as "New and Notable" for K-12 Education. Visit www.DistrictLeadersPodcast.com for more information.

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SOURCE: DistrictLeadersPodcast.com; McGraw-Hill Education

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Web Site: http://www.districtleaderspodcast.com/