Special education uses three types of computer-based instruction software: drill and practice, tutorials, and computer simulation. Assistive technology applications (electronic communication devices, voice-activated software, and print readers) are available for students whose disabilities do not allow them to perform functional tasks…

Both simultaneous prompting and antecedent prompt and test procedures were effective in teaching four adolescents with moderate mental retardation to read grocery sight words. However, the antecedent prompt and test procedure was more efficient on measures of acquisition and the simultaneous prompting procedure was more efficient on measures of…

Successful outsourcing is a learning process demanding careful planning, commitment, and heavy communication. The process also requires a strong leadership and a cohesive school board ready to weather a cultural change. Service employee options, contractors' managerial expertise, increased efficiency, and partnership opportunities are possible…

Studies 34 elementary school children's understanding of five aspects of energy waste and the ways in which these conceptions develop following teaching. Concludes that the children had good prior awareness of some behaviors that save energy, but their reasons for thinking this were based largely on everyday intuitive ideas that involved…

Applying a three-step methodology on a sample of Belgian college students, an econometric study discovered that students consider two dimensions of their prospective educational choice (economics and "a priori" chances of success) and that poorest students weigh the risk component heavily. Intervention would promote efficiency and…

The expertise and resources of contracted student transportation can free up school administrators' time and attention. When school boards are considering contracting student transportation, the school business official's role is crucial in taking an objective look at all the policy options. Cites three sources for additional information. (MLF)

This paper proposes that physicians' use of computerized medical information systems in the practice of medicine can assist delivery of cost-effective, high-quality patient care and help expand clinical research. However, benefits can be realized only if clinicians participate in system development and implementation and if senior institutional…

Examines how and why new roles are developing for paraprofessional copy catalogers in academic libraries, including new attitudes toward professional and nonprofessional work assignments, using staff resources differently to accomplish cataloging objectives, new cataloging practices and technologies, and workflow efficiency and productivity.…

Explains and advocates a reform package (SuperHECS) for financing Australian undergraduate education, designed to give institutions more autonomy and more incentives for efficiency, generate more student choice, enhance teaching quality, and be fair to all eligible Australians. The program should cost the government no more than current…

Studied the relative effectiveness and efficiency of private and public schools in Chile, which instituted a national voucher plan in 1980 using national achievement figures and financial data. Nonreligious voucher schools are marginally less effective than public schools in predicting academic achievement in fourth grade; Catholic voucher schools…

Explores whether state policies encouraging the consolidation of rural school districts to improve efficiency through economies of scale are substantiated in the research literature. Reviews three decades of research on education economies of scale involving cost and production-function studies. Finds little program-evaluation research on school…

Investigates effects of school-choice laws on U.S. teachers' work incentives, using 1993-94 Schools and Staffing Survey data. Examines whether school system competitiveness works to solve the principal-agent problem in education. Results are mixed, but suggest that one type of choice policy--intradistrict choice--enhances teacher motivation.…

Examines the inter-related issues of college curricular coherence, student mobility, and transferability of college credits among institutions. Urges agreement on intended outcomes of general education programs and suggests linking such outcomes to transfer agreements. Reports on two states Utah and Georgia which are developing new system-wide…

Educators can learn from business people accounting models that can be applied to managerial accounting, integrated information systems, focused/activity-based costing, decentralized information, and mission-driven costing. A sidebar discusses measuring technology's impact. (MLF)

The author reviews the evolution of the Circulation Department at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) Library and Information Center from 2001 to the present. It is shown how a traditional circulation department with poor customer relations transformed itself by adopting innovative policies and services leading to improved customer…