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This chapter examines costs conceptually. We do so to make several key points for cost analysis.

The first point is that resources should be valued in terms of their opportunity cost. This simple idea is very powerful in two ways. First, it forces us to always think about the scarcity of resources: No teacher’s time is free, nor is any student’s time free. Second, it forces us to think about valuation in two steps: One is identifying each ingredient; the next is putting a value on that ingredient that reflects its opportunity cost. Thus, opportunity cost is the foundation of the ingredients method discussed in the next three chapters.

The second point is that the costs of an educational intervention are “all the resources needed to make the intervention work.” We emphasize all resources because educational programs typically draw on contributions from various sources: different levels of government; different tiers within a school system; a range of community resources; and, of course, changes in how students spend their time. A systematic and comprehensive way of thinking about costs—related to the theory of change—is needed to accurately value each program.

Third, we want to dispel the notion that cost analysis is a simple exercise using budgetary information. A cost analysis is an actual research endeavor in the same way that an impact evaluation is. As we illustrate in upcoming chapters, this necessitates a research design for data collection and analysis that is methodologically valid.

Finally, we hope we have encouraged the reader to devote more attention to cost analysis within the field of education research (see Chandra et al., 2011). A rigorous cost analysis generates a lot of information about each intervention, and this information can be useful in many different ways for educational decisionmakers.

In the next set of chapters (Chapters 4–6), we apply these concepts to cost analysis using the ingredients method.