Notes trends toward increased borrowing by colleges and universities and offers guidelines for institutions that are considering issuing bonds to raise money for capital projects. Discussion covers advantages of using bond financing, how use of bonds impacts on traditional fund raising, other cautions and concerns, and some troubling aspects of…

Compares two surveys of new community college presidents. Finds that most presidents serve in order to "make a difference," and that 56% of survey participants followed an academic pathway to community college presidency, rather than coming from administrative or student services. (NB)

Public colleges and universities are complex organizations that assert their institutional autonomy as they simultaneously operate in a context demanding response to public and political scrutiny. State boards and legislators, for example, enact programs, incentives, or regulations in many policy arenas designed to affect how colleges operate. One…

As state offers continue to shrink this year, there is less money for education and much of what is available is earmarked for mandates. Without deep pockets anywhere, districts have to think strategically and look for even more creative ways to fund their priorities. The money is out there for those who know how to look for it, create it, or…

The effects of class size on academic achievement have been studied for decades. Although the results of small-scale, randomized experiments and large-scale, econometric studies point to positive effects of small classes, some scholars see the evidence as ambiguous. Recent analyses from a 4-year, large-scale, randomized experiment on the effects…

The key challenge to academic leadership is to restructure the allocation of academic assets, particularly the organization of the faculty, in ways that better serve emerging societal and scholarly needs.

In 1990, Australia implemented an employer training levy, the Training Guarantee Scheme. The Training Guarantee was abolished by the incoming Coalition federal government in 1996 after much negative publicity about its impact, particularly on small business. Recently, there have been calls to revive the notion of an employer training levy as a…

The strategy for conversion to electronic cataloguing of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library has been to a large extent determined by circumstances--the size and variety of the manuscript collections, the existence of detailed published catalogues for the earlier collections, the availability of funds for specific purposes, and, above all,…

Accountability in Chicago in the 1990s derived from progressive reform legislation adopted in 1988 and 1995. The Illinois General Assembly in 1988 passed the Chicago School Reform Act (P.A. 85-1418), which included a set of goals, a redistribution of the school district's resources, and a decentralization of decisionmaking to the school level. The…

Balanced allocation of fundamental education teachers is one of the most important ways to achieve the highest quality of compulsory education. It also guarantees an accelerated achievement of a balanced development of fundamental education. In poverty-stricken areas of ethnic minorities, unbalanced teacher allocation is a major factor that…

Since 1999 the complex reform of the old-age pension system was introduced in Poland and the process of changes is still ongoing. The multi-pillar system replaced the pay-as-you-go system. Voluntary third pillar will guarantee higher pensions for those that decide to save more. However, the systemic changes were placed in the new market economy…

On Wednesday, April 18, 1906, an earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter magnitude scale and lasting 48 seconds, erupted along the San Andreas fault with a flash point originating in the San Francisco Bay area. The force of the earthquake tore apart buildings and roads, causing water and gas mains to twist and break. The resulting effects of the…

In the educational finance litigation context, recent actions have been premised on the argument that the aid distribution system is fiscally inadequate, thus drawing attention away from a concern for equity. The financing of public education in North Carolina and the constitutional provisions undergirding the same have been the subject of…

In the fall of 2007, Education Resource Strategies (ERS) was invited by Philadelphia's School Reform Commission to conduct a Strategic Professional Development Review for the School District of Philadelphia (SDP). ERS is a nonprofit organization that is nationally recognized for its extensive work in partnering with urban school districts to make…

Educators Linda Darling-Hammond and Diane Friedlaender share findings from their recent report highlighting five California high schools that have beaten the odds in supporting the success of low-income students of color. Animo Inglewood Charter High School, Stanley E. Foster Construction Tech Academy, June Jordan School for Equity, Leadership…