Compares pedagogical practices in an eighth-grade middle school classroom with those a of one-room Amish school studied in an earlier work. Taken together, the two settings suggest that one must seek "the present status and performance of the U.S. education system" not in the usual indicators, but in the contradictory beliefs and…

Effect of administrative rules concerning scheduling on college faculty's productivity is examined. Three potential effects are that rules interact with other rules to produce rigidity; scheduling changes cause greater disruption as rules and rigidity increase; and at some point, rules prohibit creation of a workable schedule for teaching facility…

Presents an overview of the second Text Retrieval Conference (TREC-2), an opinion paper about the program, and nine papers by participants that show a range of techniques used in TREC. Topics include traditional text retrieval and information technology, efficiency, the use of language processing techniques, unusual approaches to text retrieval,…

Criteria, not uniform standards, are appropriate for schools, since neither available resources nor socioeconomic levels are uniform. Education's aim is not to train an army marching to the same drummer. Teachers' challenge is to provide conditions fostering the growth of personal characteristics that are socially important and personally…

Summarizes a New York State Board of Regents study group's findings in four sections: an overview and critique of the real property tax; proposals for reforming this tax; proposals for shifting away from real property; and proposals for freeing resources by improving management of educational systems. Progress could be made on all fronts…

Analyzes the effects of information systems and telecommunications on worker productivity. Discovered difficulty in measuring benefits, but determined that long term productivity benefits include higher efficiency and reduced costs. Describes three stages of technologically induced change. Tables show benefits and applications of…

This case study examines how the University of Florida personnel office coped with reduced staff and increased responsibilities. Key strategies included systematic goal setting, staff involvement, streamlining of routine tasks, and increasing computer literacy. Increased efficiency has resulted. (DB)

A college's administrative services and support units must give attention to improving quality and service just as instructional units do. Greater efficiency and productivity among noninstructional units can have a significant impact on institutional feasibility. Cost reduction is most effective when there is a common understanding of core…

Analysis of Swedish higher education according to a variety of efficiency and quality criteria and in comparison with other systems shows this liberal, unified system with open enrollment reaches an internationally acceptable standard of output relative to cost, indicating that democratization has not resulted in lowered quality as critics…

At Oregon State University, an investigation into physical plant administration in response to complaints found significant problems with customer service. Adopting an approach called Total Quality Management, the staff identified and resolved problems, improved quality, and reduced cost. Administrators feel the principles could be applied in all…

Describes a project that was designed to study the effectiveness and efficiency of editing procedures within an online bibliographic system at a large research university library. A comprehensive statistical overview of editing commands available is presented, frequency of their use is studied, and questions for further research are suggested.…

Practical time management and task management advice is offered to small college communications office personnel. Workers must know how to establish priorities and stick to them, what their limits are and how to leverage time, how to promote themselves and their work, when to tap outside resources, and how to network. (MSE)

Research suggests four different metaphors of schools as organizations: (1) factory; (2) family; (3) jungle; and (4) cathedral. Each implies a leadership role and an ethical responsibility for board members. Integrating all four images might help provide a better map of the board's governance task and improve the board's ability to make wise…

Critiques two recent White Papers representing future policy directions for British post-16 education and training. The higher education White Paper exemplifies the government's quest to enhance efficiency in pubic-sector organizations by introducing commercial-sector models. By prompting higher student enrollment without increased funding and…

Describes technology-based systems that offer performance support, called online performance support systems (OPSS), that help increase productivity and efficiency. Changes in information-related, organization-related, and learning-related factors in corporations are considered; OPSS components are explained, including user-centered design; and…