The Impact of the Court-Ordered Abbott Reforms on Academic Achievement in New Jersey

Abstract

In 1997, the New Jersey State Supreme Court declared the state's system of education funding unconstitutional as applied to the poorest school districts and ordered the state to provide them with per pupil funding equal to that of the high wealth suburban districts. Comprehensive school reform was ordered as well. This project seeks to evaluate the impact of these court mandates on the educational outcomes of New Jersey's minority students. Specifically, it attempts to determine whether the funding increases and program reforms targeted at poor urban school districts raised student achievement. The results from this analysis are suggestive that the Abbott reforms may have a positive effect on student achievement, especially at the elementary school level and perhaps more moderately at the middle school level. However, no effects were found at the high school level.