What superintendents can do to help new board members. (Author)

Personal speculation is offered regarding the quality of administration apparent in colleges and universities. It is suggested that the real work of academe, acquiring and disseminating knowledge, is done by professors and students and that administrators today are more interested in toughness, efficiency, and prestige than knowledge. (LBH)

Examines the comparative efficiency of higher education institutions in the United Kingdom, responding to governmental concerns for accountability, value for money, and cost control. Tests concepts of cost and outcome efficiency, using data- development analysis, to gain further insights into universities' operations. Applying this methodology to…

Data collected in visits to 50 for-profit and 50 nonprofit day care centers showed no quality differences and little efficiency difference between the two sectors. Cost of increasing quality from mediocre to good was 12-16 cents per child-hour. (SK)

Offers research-based guidelines for making staff meetings more successful and productive. Principals should determine whether the meeting is necessary, define tasks and objectives, make necessary arrangements, decide who will chair the meeting, set an appropriate tone, and close the meeting after reaching consensus. A sidebar suggests…

Estimates frontier production functions for South Carolina's educational process, using data from 541 classes. Classes taught by teachers who received merit awards show greater mathematics and reading achievement gain scores, as do classes with fewer free-lunch students. There was a positive relationship between achievement and (larger) class…

A sequential-regimes job search model tested the effect of advanced notice on the duration of joblessness. Maximum likelihood estimates using data from the 1984 and 1986 Dislocated Worker Surveys demonstrated that advance knowledge significantly shortened joblessness for most labor force groups. (SK)

This rejoinder to K. K. Fung's critique of the authors' data-envelopment analysis (DEA) article argues that eliminating inefficiency by competition requires perfect information, not just freedom of entry and exit. DEA provides the necessary information, but is not intended as a mechanism to replace peer review. (MLH)

Responds to two arguments made by Walter Dick in the debate over instructional design and creativity: (1) "creativeness" should not dominate effectiveness and efficiency; and (2) systematic instructional design methods do result in "creative instruction" when they are used appropriately. Also lists respondent's assumptions and claims. (JMV)

Evaluates the success of efforts to federally legislate knowledge utilization in Hawaii. Programs in the fields of agriculture, energy, and education are described; examples of federally supported knowledge utilization strategies in the United States are given; and areas where improvement is needed are suggested, including timeliness,…

Most colleges are finding they must cut back spending and find ways to increase income, no longer relying on raising tuition. Although consolidating jobs, cutting academic programs, reducing financial aid, and delaying construction are already common among larger schools, small colleges fear the impact on their already limited budgets. (MSE)

Examines and critiques development of a set of performance indicators in New Zealand higher education introduced as a result of recent reforms. Outlines policy context and considers the indicators' role and significance within new mechanisms designed to improve accountability and efficiency. Reviews university opposition to the 1990 Education…

Carnegie reports have long envisioned U.S. schools as socially efficient mechanisms for sorting and socializing students for future positions in the existing social and economic structure. Although "Turning Points" proposes bottom-up reforms, it uses top-down methods--an elite panel, a glitzy report, and a big press conference aimed at…

The engineering technique of motion study was evaluated as a means to identify efficient movements and improve the productivity rates for three severely retarded adults performing a mailing task. After receiving training on the most efficient movements, subjects improved production rates and maintained the improved rates. (DB)

A realistic production schedule helps deliver college publications on time. This requires team effort and a spirit of cooperation, specific task scheduling, using tickler systems to keep staff on track, not allowing procrastination, and setting aside planning time. (MSE)