Advocates further development of strategies for carrying out economic analyses of early childhood programs and identifies some emerging concepts and methodologies that might support the development of expertise for such evaluation. Draws on experience of a United Kingdom team of early childhood evaluators and their attempts to develop an economic…

A Wisconsin program aimed to amplify the achievement benefits of class-size reduction by requiring supplementary pupil services, a standards-based curriculum, and related staff development and accountability. In one urban school district implementing the program, the program's achievement gains were marginalized by high per-student costs and…

Uses qualitative methods to examine a peer-tutoring model from the perspective of the student tutor. Reports that students struggled with basic facilitation skills and had difficulty separating the role of student from that of tutor. (Author/YDS)

Provides a critique of research done by A. M. Dockery, R. Kelly, K. Norris, and T. Strombeck regarding the cost and value of hiring trainees. Discusses the perceived shortcomings in the method and looks at the implications of the research. Dockery et al. provide a rejoinder. (JOW)

Provides a brief overview of the current status of class-size reduction programs; summarizes research that has moved districts and states to seek class-size reduction; calls attention to the misapplication of the research in some contexts; discusses questions about smaller classes that remain unanswered; describes current research into the…

Assessed the effectiveness of a strategy for obtaining active written parental consent for the outcome evaluation of a drug abuse prevention program in 16 middle schools in 10 school districts. Discusses methodological and practical implications of the strategy, which was more cost effective than some previous approaches, but still involved 20% of…

Back in 1988, Emmett, Idaho, built the first monolithic dome school. Now, school boards in Arizona, Missouri, Florida, Minnesota, and New Mexico are among those that have voted to build domed school buildings. A monolithic dome is a steel- reinforced, concrete structure with a smooth, round surface that is inspired by the shape of an egg. (MLF)

Discusses the effects of electric power deregulation on an educational facility's planning and purchasing for future power needs. Highlights ways schools can take advantage of deregulation. Examines various chiller technologies and economically assessing these technologies on a life-cycle cost basis. (GR)

Describes the features of a new student resource-allocation model that analyzes resources for individual students, groups, or categories of students and allows the integration of cost analysis into school-district and building-level planning and evaluation. States that use of the model will assist school-district administrators in making more…

Argues that state school-finance reform efforts are focused on equalizing property-tax bases and per-pupil expenditures rather than on improving student performance to meet educational adequacy standards. Uses data from Wisconsin and Texas to measure cost differences, frequently substantial, among school districts. Demonstrates use of…

Much has been written and discussed about the importance of getting presidents' and chancellor's support, buy-in and committment regarding investment in information technology and the accompanying faculty assistance. We need to reframe the IT issue to emphasize what people do with the tangible stuff thereby focusing the issue on knowledge creation…

The purpose of unemployment insurance (UI) is to provide labor force members with partial wage replacements when they are unemployed even as this income maintenance measure prolongs the unemployment period. This UI benefit also forces the beneficiaries to make more active job searches. Reemployment bonuses were aimed to speed return to work,…

The use of accreditation has been widespread among medical care providers, but accreditation is relatively new to the drug abuse treatment field. This study presents estimates of the costs of pursuing accreditation for methadone treatment sites. Data are from 102 methadone treatment sites that underwent accreditation as part of the Center for…

This article proposes a framework that can help institutions break down and analyze the costs of online learning so they can make decisions about how to improve the cost-efficiencies of online education. The framework involves looking at costs across elements (which include the two stages of development and delivery plus administration of the…

This article presents a brief overview of the current forms of alternative dispute resolution available in educational settings, along with insight into their development and success. In this article, I assess the influence of early alternative dispute resolution procedures in terms of their relevance to the settlement of conflicts within schools…