CostOut

In 2015, CBCSE developed CostOut with support from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences (Award #R305U130001). The web-based tool was based on the ingredients method’s cost accounting approach of using linked spreadsheets to store and analyze data.

The tool was designed to facilitate the estimation of costs and cost-effectiveness of educational or other social programs. The tool provided researchers with a localized dataset of publicly available market prices from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and other sources. The tool also provided access to calculators to transform prices for inflation and amortization.

While the method and principles that drove the design of the tool remain the same, the value of a web-based tool was limited. Market fluctuations, particularly in the teacher labor market, vary across contexts and over time in ways that require careful consideration.

Rather than a “quick fix” tool, we instead recommend that researchers apply the economic concept of opportunity cost and the methods of economic evaluation to conduct high-quality research to contribute to policy in education and other social sectors.