Resource Reallocation
Resource reallocation is the process by which schools reexamine their existing resources--such as personnel, services, time, equipment and supplies, and money--and redirect them in more effective and productive ways to support teaching and learning. It is based on the premise that schools should have more flexibility in the way they organize resources to improve student achievement.
Resource reallocation calls for a fundamental shift in the way districts spend and distribute resources. In many school districts, the needed dollars exist but may have to be pulled out of many layers of district programs and school-level specialists; then the money can be reintegrated to better support comprehensive school strategies that help all students meet academic standards. At the district level, some staff positions that are specific to programs and funds may be eliminated or restructured into roles that are focused on a few initiatives. At the school level, this rethinking of resources emphasizes a keener focus on students' academic needs and less automatic use of specialized programs and specialists to respond to differences in student needs.
Miles and Darling-Hammond (1997) suggest that resource reallocation can be implemented in the following ways: reducing specialized programs and creating more generalized roles for teachers, developing flexible student groupings that are targeted to students' needs, restructuring the school schedule and student groupings to encourage personal relationships between students and teachers, creating longer and more varied blocks of instructional time, providing more common planning time and professional development activities for teachers, and redefining staff roles and the work day.
