Re-thinking Adequacy: From Educational Minimums to Educational Justice

Educational adequacy studies have emerged as valuable tools for determining the costs associated with meeting state constitutional duties for K-12 public education. However, approaches used to conduct these studies—including evidence-based methods, professional judgment panels, successful schools approaches, and cost function analysis—have remained largely unchanged in recent decades. While legal precedent has settled on educational minimums as the remedy for adequacy claims and proficiency on standardized tests as the primary indicator of success, we argue that the process of conducting adequacy studies can be reimagined within these legal constraints. Drawing on advancements in K-12 learning analytics, educational justice, design-based research, and systemic approaches to education, we present four principles for improving adequacy study methodologies: (1) expanding indicators of educational opportunity and outcomes beyond test scores, (2) centering justice in adequacy analyses, (3) expanding expertise in determining educational resource needs, and (4) broadening the scope of systems considered in adequacy studies. We conclude by discussing how applying these principles may lead to more accurate estimations of the costs and identification of programs, personnel, and system needs that better reflect what constitutes an adequate education for all children.