Clark County Educational and Operational Efficiency Assessment Study

The Clark County School District (CCSD) requested AIR and Gibson Consulting Group conduct an educational and operational efficiency study. The study identified areas that the district should focus on to increase efficiency and effectiveness in its programs and services through district-level interviews, extant data review, and a comparative district analysis.
 

Findings

The results of this study show that although CCSD is a low-cost provider of public education and is efficient in several areas, the district could better meet student needs through repurposing its spending in academic areas, implementing cost reduction opportunities (primarily in operational areas), and improving management practices.
 

Methods

AIR conducted a comparative analysis of CCSD and other similar districts. By examining performance in similar districts, AIR provided CCSD with valuable benchmarks for evaluating district performance as well as models of possible approaches that might be adopted as the district moves forward. AIR examined extant state and district data for comparison.

AIR also conducted an academic program review. The program review investigated the extent and quality of the evidence of effectiveness for an identified set of key district programs. District document review, research literature review, and interviews with district staff provided the data for this task.

The academic program review was combined with the results of the comparative analysis. Findings from the two approaches served as the basis for recommendations to CCSD about which programs they should expand or abandon