The cult of efficiency, comprised of leading lights in education early in this century, stressed the necessity of bringing more efficient industrial practices into schools. This article describes the efficiency movement and Ella Flagg Young's dissent. Young's career as teacher, professor, and superintendent of the Chicago schools is highlighted.…

This school's accounting staff got a handle on their workload through computerization, choosing the software and computer system and learning to use it with a minimum of help. (DCS)

Reviewing time-saving techniques and organizational tools, the author presents specific ways for principals to manage their schedules more effectively. (MD)

The United States spends a larger proportion of its Gross National Product (GNP) on educational services than does any other industrialized nation, and expenditures have grown faster than the GNP for 20 years. The author suggests a strategy for reversing this trend and seven prominent educators comment. (Author)

Arguing from a transaction costs perspective, this paper contends that local organizational cultures distinct from shared background cultures exist relatively infrequently. The relationship between local organizational culture and organizational efficiency is discussed, and it is concluded that changing organizations are more adaptive than is…

Defines various aspects of productivity and indicates appropriate ways of measuring them. The author explains how productivity ratios can be used to evaluate both the technical and allocative efficiency of economic systems. The use of productivity analysis in growth accounting is also examined. (Author/RM)

Presents 35 time-management techniques to help teachers efficiently organize their school duties, their paperwork, and their personal lives. (SJL)

The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul, produces 250,000 transcripts a year with five microfiche reader printers. (Author/MLF)

The transactions cost approach provides a framework for evaluating organizations on the basis of efficiency because it allows the identification of the conditions that give rise to the costs of mediating exchanges between individuals. The three basic mechanisms of mediation or control are markets, bureaucracies, and clans. (Author/IRT)

Describes the library renovation project of the MITRE Corporation's Washington Center Library in which limited space was stretched and made more efficient through the collaboration of library management, architect, and contractor. (Author/JD)

Rented remote computer terminals are being used in a pilot program that has reduced the amount of time school officials spend doing routine clerical duties. (Author/MLF)

Arguing that problems associated with the inter-relationships between money spent and educational effectiveness are not in surmountable, this paper addresses: setting goals and identifying measures of effectiveness; determining program effectiveness in relation to the goals of education; and determining cost effectiveness. Pennsylvania Department…

The results of running nine chemistry searches on SDC, BRS, and LRS indicated performance was not markedly different for general subject searches, but costs varied. (Author)

A model demonstrating how performance incentives may encourage cream skimming (selecting participants with a high likelihood of success) was applied to data from 16 Job Training Partnership Act training centers. Short-term performance measures were weakly and perversely related to long-term impacts, but efficiency gains/losses from skimming were…

Investigated efficiency of Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs). Calculated efficiency based on resources available and service units produced. Results demonstrated extent of inefficiency in agencies and how efficiency of individual AAAs can be improved relative to peer agencies. Analysis of organizational type, size, and rural-urban differences…