Categorizing and Understanding Facilities and Long-term (Capital) Investments

The school districts throughout Connecticut were allocated significant ARP-ESSER funds to spend on longer-term (capital) investments, including HVAC upgrades, purchasing of new technology, etc. This project is tasked with understanding the ways in which districts spent the allocations on long-term facilities and other physical investments and the impacts on student outcomes. This study will use a mixed methods approach, including coding capital investments under ARP-ESSER plans, descriptive data analysis of the ARP-ESSER capital investments, interviews with superintendents, school principals, or other staff in 8 districts, and quantitative analysis of the impact of the ARP-ESSER capital investments on student academic and behavioral outcomes.

Start Date: March 2023
End Date: January 2025

Research Team:

Principal Investigator: Jinhai Yu, University of Connecticut
Elizabeth Burland, University of Connecticut