Smart Investments in Minnesota's Students
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If there were $1 billion dollars on the table, could a group of reasonable people come to consensus on how to best invest those dollars in reaching measurable educational outcomes?
Better, if there was a published report on the table that provided evidence-based research that suggests where Minnesota could get the best bang for the $1 billion, could stakeholders agree on a statewide proposal?
Growth & Justice aims to answer these questions with Smart Investments in Minnesota's Students. It's Growth & Justice's next step in building on the Invest for Real Prosperity proposal.
Education investment drives prosperity
In Invest for Real Prosperity, we argued that investing in human capital in Minnesota is a driver of economic prosperity, and investing in education pays off twice. A well-educated populace strengthens the economy by enhancing productivity, and it puts all Minnesotans in a better position to benefit from that growth.
We aim to maximize the impact of our investments in education by focusing on a singular measure of success: increasing by 50 percent the number of Minnesota students who complete a post-secondary degree (one, two or four year degrees).
We know from a growing body of evidence that early childhood investments, for example, realize a rate of return ranging from $3 to $9 for every dollar invested (Grunewald & Rolnick, 2003; Heckman and Mastarov, 2004). But research also tells us that positive early learning experiences alone are not sufficient to ensure that children perform well throughout their lives. Smart Investments in Minnesota's Students applies benefit-cost ratio analyses to investment decisions in key measurable educational outcomes, from early learning to post-secondary learning, to understand fully where Minnesota should invest its next education dollar.
Goals of the project
- Develop a progressive policy agenda that defines successful education outcomes, identifies who should be accountable for those outcomes, and shows how to improve educational results for Minnesotans, from early childhood through post-secondary study.
- Build community consensus around the agenda by developing effective messages and communicating our conclusions widely.
Expected outcomes
- Broad consensus about how to define success, and who is accountable for that success.
- Innovative strategies that can be realistically implemented within the next 10 years.
- Improved educational outcomes for Minnesotans at all levels.
- Substantial majority support among Minnesotans for the agenda, with confidence around built-in accountability measures.
- Improved state economic growth and economic justice, because of greater educational attainment.
- Wide use of our proposals by candidates for office, current office holders, and their constituents.
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