A framework is described for economic evaluation of substance abuse interventions, describing addiction and treatment dynamics and highlighting therapeutic and economic endpoints. Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses are discussed. In conjunction with a decision-tree model, economic evaluation is presented as a tool for informed resource…

Points out that, contrary to the British Government's argument in the White Paper that services can be changed with no additional funding, the commitment of substantial financial and human resources are needed to provide adequate postadoption services. (SW)

This article describes activity-based costing (ABC) and how this tool may help management understand the costs of major activities and identify possible alternatives. Also discussed are the traditional costing systems used by higher education and ways of applying ABC to higher education. (GLR)

Medical Research conducted in the patient care setting is facing a new financial barrier, the prospective payment system. Both university and hospitals must rethink clinical research resource use. This may result in better accountability for research costs and affect the hospitals' willingness to conduct experimental or innovative treatments. (MSE)

Shows how a former high school principal (with no doctorate, central office experience, or big-city political savvy) pulled the Cincinnati (Ohio) schools out of a $76 million debt and implemented reforms recommended by the Buenger Commission. The new superintendent slashed central office positions, reorganized 86 schools into 9 minidistricts, and…

District-level supervisors perform critical functions for enhancing teaching and learning systemwide. This case study found that district supervisors divided their time among the district, district departments, and the school. At all three levels, central office administrators were engaged in two focal activities: resource management and problem…

To implement school-based management successfully, the decision makers must reach consensus about degrees and levels of school and school district control of allocating human, financial, curricular, instructional, equipment, and school plant resources. This article sketches three different decision-making scenarios related to hiring teachers and…

Anecdotal evidence from interviews with some program managers gives evidence that unintended negative consequences of evaluations are more than a theoretical concern; they are a real problem deserving an evaluator's attention and energy. Negative consequences usually include: (1) wasted resources; (2) demotivation; and (3) program destruction and…

Reviews prior research on homelessness and describes what remains to be done. Calls for greater attention to the socioeconomic causes of homelessness, its image in the media, and public attitudes toward the problem. (DM)

The Australian government has formulated policies for welding the country's higher education into a unified national system as an efficiency measure. Actually, the system will not be unified; institutions will achieve standing through intense competition over scarce resources. The sectoral rivalry and institutional imitation rampant under the…

The Soviet Union's planned development of Russia resulted in a high degree of forced uniformity in schools that has dampened students' curiosity and teachers' enthusiasm for improving education. Russia would like to emulate some well-developed U.S. practices, including K-12 testing systems, guidance counseling, student-motivation strategies,…

Focuses on the fiscal implications that revenue-centered budgeting can have for programs in speech communication and related disciplines. Discusses implementation at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, in terms of service courses, equipment, class size, cocurricular programing, and off-campus offerings. (SR)

Discusses the role of the library director as entrepreneur, defined as one who shifts economic resources from areas of lower productivity to areas of greater yield. The importance of this role during a time of austerity is highlighted, and six examples of directors acting as entrepreneurs are presented. (Contains 12 references.) (KRN)

Higher education must look to itself, not just government, to improve teaching, training, and learning. It must empower individuals to achieve their goals better within society's context, explore how it can do that more effectively, and go outside academe to assure public interest, resources, and programs supportive of its work. (MSE)

Uses Michigan school district data and canonical regression analysis to investigate the effects of communities' socioeconomic characteristics in the production of high school education. Although socioeconomic characteristics have significant effects independent of school resources, these effects are difficult to ascertain. Parent educational…