Explains how a team cleaning approach can be cost-effective and efficient means of school maintenance. Assigning staffing responsibilities and work schedules are addressed and the advantages of using a team system are explained. (GR)

Explores four factors determining the success or failure of the 1911-12 polar expeditions. These factors, with implications for planning in general and curriculum planning in particular, are: a clear focus on priorities, efficient use of funds, expertise developed through training and consulting lead scholars, and reliance on meticulous planning,…

This study compared instruction in three social skills (giving positive feedback, contributing to discussion, and accepting negative feedback) by either a special-education teacher or peers with learning disabilities. Both groups improved in all three skills. Results suggest that social skill instruction by peers may be as effective and more…

Often classified as efficiency-minded, Bobbitt changed his position in his final book, "Curriculum of Modern Education." This article examines four later ideas: the importance of general education, schools' inability to predetermine students' future lives and roles, schools' need to develop students' intellect, and Bobbitt's respect for…

Examines the relationship between efficacy and productivity and stakeholders' attitudes about the school-based council's usefulness as a decision-making body. A survey of participating and nonparticipating staff and parents indicates that school councils' efficacy and productivity are related to noninstructional, but not student-achievement…

Accurate transactional financial data are necessary for governmental compliance; transformational information is crucial for measuring and improving school performance. Some districts are shifting from a systems to a service, focus, from partial to full-cost accounting, from centralized to decentralized reporting procedures and facilities, and…

Decentralization of adult education administration in the Netherlands had the desired effect of empowering local governments for community education and development. However, an undesired effect was loss of efficiency in funding allocation and decision making. (Contains 21 references.) (SK)

Education is challenged to use technology efficiently, since few software programs can share data. Users' applications and data are isolated from one another. The Schools Interoperability Framework enables applications to communicate through a common interface and standard data formats regardless of the host platform. Costs, advantages, and…

Continues a discussion of how library media specialists can become more organized. Topics include reducing the time spent dealing with paperwork by having someone else sort the mail; organizing paperwork by the use of folders and files; and desk space and other appropriate furniture, including space for computers. (LRW)

Presents cleaning profiles for educational facilities that help clarify and quantify the cleaning process, thus aiding labor allocation and addressing contract specifications as well as verifying standards through quality assurance. Strategies cover various cleaning levels from overall spotlessness to constantly utilized areas only affording…

Examines whether the technicist-rational approach to school development planning, advocated in England's Office for Standards in Education guidelines, is appropriate for primary schools, based on case studies of nine schools. School staff remain unconvinced that technicist-rational planning is key to implementing change. (Contains 39 references.)…

In the last decade, consensus around equality and efficiency in New Zealand adult education shifted to a focus on autonomy and accountability, economic rationalism, and vocational skills. Adult educators seeking change should emphasize participative democracy, connectedness, and valuing and advancing groups with diverse identities and interests.…

Uses simulated data to assess the adequacy of two econometric and linear-programming techniques (data-envelopment analysis and corrected ordinary least squares) for measuring performance-based school reform. In complex data sets (simulated to contain measurement error and endogeneity), these methods are inadequate efficiency measures. (Contains 40…

Fundamental tax reform is examined in an overlapping-generations model in which heterogeneous agents face idiosyncratic wage shocks and longevity uncertainty. A progressive income tax is replaced with a flat consumption tax. If idiosyncratic wage shocks are insurable (i.e., no risk), this reform improves (interim) efficiency, a result consistent…

Purpose: Laboratories typically consume 4-5 times more energy than similarly-sized commercial space. This paper adds to a growing dialogue about how to "green" a laboratory's design and operations. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is divided into three sections. The first section reviews the background and theoretical issues. A…