Research methods are tools that can be variously applied - depending on the stage of knowledge in a particular area, the type of research question being asked, and the context of the research. The field of program evaluation, critical for social policy development, often has not adequately embraced the full range of methodological tools needed to…

Describes the practice of benchmarking and its use in staffing. Examines benchmarking's roots in quality control and how businesses can establish reference points in pursuing their goals. Includes suggestions on planning benchmarking efforts, strategies for data collection, data analysis, and taking action. Provides a benchmarking code of conduct…

A study of faculty published research output in Australia's university system in 1991 resulted in national benchmarks of faculty publications productivity (number of publications per 10 equivalent academic staff members), for each of 13 publication types, for the highest performing institution, and the highest performing units within any…

Hoachlander look at Perkins accountability requirements and suggests that they can lead to improved programs if they are used correctly. Rader and Quick discuss how to use spreadsheets to keep on top of student portfolios and program data. (JOW)

The approach taken by Virginia to analyze and establish policy for college and university administrator salaries, as they relate to other institutions and to the salaries of instructional faculty, is outlined. A methodology felt to be appropriate for this analysis, tested on eight institutions, is described and illustrated. (MSE)

A statistical technique is presented for developing performance standards based on benchmark groups. The benchmark groups are selected using a multivariate technique that relies on a squared Euclidean distance method. For each observation unit (a school district in the example), a unique comparison group is selected. (SLD)

Examines the British government's recent advice about target setting and compares it with evidence-based understanding of the technique. Although the official advice is deemed unhelpful and ideological, some use of target setting that involves all stakeholders' participation is recommended for raising student achievement. (Contains 29 references.)…

As organizations respond to competitive environments and strive to enhance performance, knowledge management (KM) has increasingly become a strategic activity. A KM strategy entails consciously helping people share and put knowledge into action. A key challenge is how to develop and implement KM solutions that provide performance support to…

There are now over 5,000 alliances between Chinese and foreign universities but there is little research on how managers from the two sides value the various aspects of their educational alliances. This research finds that both sides valued a range of alliance levels, types, activities, sizes and structures but there were significant differences.…

Last fall, the National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education published the results of a five-state demonstration project aimed at developing common state-level benchmarks for student learning for its fifty-state report card, "Measuring Up." One of the instruments used in this Pew-funded project was the Collegiate Learning…

In 2004 the Australian Flexible Learning Framework developed a suite of quantitative and qualitative indicators on the uptake, use and impact of e-learning in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. These indicators were used to design items for a survey to gather quantitative data for benchmarking. A series of four surveys gathered…

Researchers and policymakers are increasingly interested in the issue of school accountability. Despite this, program standards for afterschool programs are not as fully developed as they are in other fields. This study bridges that gap and presents the results from a study that identifies benchmarks and indicators for high quality afterschool…

This deliverable identifies key approaches for quality management in peer production by benchmarking peer production practices and processes in other areas. (Contains 29 footnotes, 13 figures and 2 tables.)[This report has been authored with contributions of: Kaisa Honkonen-Ratinen, Matti Auvinen, David Riley, Jose Pinzon, Thomas Fischer, Thomas…

The "TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics" summarizes fourth and eighth grade student achievement in each of the 63 countries and 14 benchmarking entities which participated in TIMSS 2011. The report includes trends in mathematics achievement over time for participants in the previous TIMSS 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007…

There are usually many testing activities going on in a school, with different tests serving different purposes, thus organization and planning are key in creating an efficient system in assessing the most important educational objectives. In the ideal case, an assessment system will be able to inform on student learning, instruction and…