Alternative Perceptions of Cost and the Resource Allocation Behavior of Teachers

The impact of differences in the perception of costs on the resource allocating behaviors of teachers in classrooms is explored in this article. An economic model is developed which shows that administrators, teachers, students, and parents are likely to disagree over the criteria used to assign value to important educational resources such as students time. The administrative implications of these disagreements are explored, and the results of a preliminary attempt to test empirically the explanatory power of the model are included.