Most states have a commission charged with modernizing statewide telecommunications. College trustees can be active in assuring that the educational potential of technology is tapped. Efforts in Maine, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Carolina to link universities with telephone systems and public television illustrate the opportunities and benefits.…

Planning for a computer use "help desk" at Kenyon College (Ohio) was constrained by very limited resources. However, careful and thorough planning resulted in a low-budget, homegrown, but highly effective facility. Staffing, training, staff communication, and marketing the service were essential elements in its success. (MSE)

Current developments in Dutch higher education finance are described, including changes in teacher supply and demand in some disciplines, government emphasis on efficiency, policy concerning student financial aid and student costs, and policy restricting access to higher education through constraints on enrollment and financial aid eligibility.…

Sixteen articles describe the status of program evaluation in the federal government by showing how evaluation is organized in the government. A review of evaluation in the legislative and executive branches is followed by a review of the major organizations producing evaluation work. (SLD)

Touchtone telephone registration and related computer student information system technologies can provide more efficient use of faculty, curriculum, and classroom space. Faculty, departments, and students all gain a degree of control. More in-depth and precise research must be undertaken and shared among institutions. (MSE)

Computerized-adaptive (CAT) and self-adapted (SAT) music listening tests were compared for efficiency, reliability, validity, and motivational benefits with 53 junior high school students. Results demonstrate trade-offs, with greater potential motivational benefits for SAT and greater efficiency for CAT. SAT elicited more favorable responses from…

Research has established that small schools create intimate learning communities where students can be encouraged by caring adults, reduce student alienation, reduce negative effects of low socioeconomic status, and encourage teachers to help students succeed. Strategies for creating small learning communities within large schools and findings on…

This evaluative report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) summarizes Department of Education actions made through April 1996 in response to 205 recommendations to improve the management of federal student financial aid programs. The report concludes that the Department had completed actions or had actions in progress or planned for 186 of the…

Two of the largest World Bank investment projects in Bangladesh are the general education project and the female secondary scholarship and assistance project. This paper evaluates the expected results of these educational projects using the household and school survey data recently collected in rural Bangladesh. Bangladesh spends only 2 percent of…

This report describes a study to investigate the improved efficiency and effectiveness of prison library provision in England and Wales, through the development and validation of relevant performance indicators to be used as part of quality assurance programs. Prison libraries perform important educational, rehabilitative, and recreational…

This report concerns the use of benchmarking as a strategy for assessing and improving efficiency and productivity of administrative processes and instructional models in colleges and universities. The introductory chapter addresses the need for new tools and strategies to meet the increased competition and the higher demand for accountability…

The Education Council Act of 1991 Established the National Education Commission on Time and Learning as an independent advisory body and called for a comprehensive review of the relationship between time and learning in American schools. The commission's report, released in May 1994, found that school reform is destined to founder unless programs…

This volume addresses new and enduring challenges of university management and proposes ways that will help university members achieve their academic and institutional goals. Part 1 covers the basics of university organization. Chapter 1 introduces ways to organize for management. Chapter 2 discusses the values of the university. Chapter 3, on…

This advisory report investigates the possible simplification of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and considers the issue of federal direct lending. The evaluation indicates that complexity in the FFELP is due to multiple, overlapping loan programs with conflicting terms and conditions. Nonstandard policies, procedures, forms, and…

Fifty-three supervisors in private sector firms and public sector organizations in central Ohio responded to questions about 16 aspects of productivity in the workplace. The firms and organizations with which these supervisors were associated had a history of hiring vocational-technical education graduates as well as those who had pursued other…