The most common time-wasters for principals (poor filing system, priorities, open-door policy, untrained secretaries, numerous meetings, telephone interruptions, and delegation problems) are easily corrected. Negative working environment, heavy staff turnover, and student discipline problems present greater obstacles. (seven references) (MLH)

New postal rates are structured in such a way that colleges can save money on both individual letters and large mailings if they do some planning and some extra work. Letter size, accurate addresses, ZIP+4 codes, prebarcoding, and presorting are important components of a cost-effective mailing system. (MSE)

Argues that instructors may mislead students when they credit efficient performance as flowing entirely from competition. Distinguishes between competitive behavior and market structure; refines the implications of opportunity cost and profit; and derives useful conclusions about the nature and sources of productive and allocative efficiency. (DB)

Focuses on the methods being used to examine processes of innovation development that pertain to the selection of cases and concepts, observing change, coding and analyzing event data to identify process patterns, and developing theories to explain observed innovation processes. (42 references) (MLF)

Key adult education management functions (planning, directing personnel, organizing work, staffing, and evaluating) can be enhanced through appropriate technologies. Of particular interest to administrators are computer-based communications, management information systems, and desktop application software such as spreadsheets, groupware, and…

School districts are constantly seeking alternative purchasing methods to ease paperwork, lost time, storage problems, and overstocking. A study showed that in large districts, fast-track electronic requisition and online purchasing were most commonly used alternative electronic purchasing methods. Most common nonelectronic methods were direct and…

Clearly established procedures for sending, receiving, and responding to e-mail begin with planning and scheduling its use. Administrators should make appropriate choices of communication methods; use the address-book feature for individual and group e-mail addresses; use word-processing software to prepare lengthy documents and the attachment…

Faced by a tax revolt, Kingston (New York) City Schools reduced subsequent tax levies and maintained small budget increases while adding several programs. They returned money to taxpayers, settled outstanding contracts, tightened operations, froze hiring, controlled budgets, invested and spent wisely, sought grants, and got feedback. (MLH)

Offers hints for managing a classroom: (1) think about yourself as well as the students; (2) set the stage to start the class; (3) start on time; (4) help--do not enable; (5) make things easier for you and your students; (6) make the students responsible for turning in their work; and (7) share the schedule with students. (JOW)

Considers benefits of distance learning for various organizations including educational institutions, corporations, and government agencies. Topics include usefulness; measurable value added; the organizational elements model (OEM); an evaluation of distance education, from conventional instruction to future possibilities; and guidelines for…

Describes new theories of teacher professional development, identifies known costs of conventional professional development, discusses how new approaches (like collaborative problem solving and mentoring relationships) affect costs (for teacher time and supportive infrastructure), examines efficiency considerations, and highlights fiscal and…

Describes a methodology used by the Texas A&M University system to monitor the efficiency with which resources are employed. This participatory method of institutional choice can be used to plan for financial setbacks. (EV)

Discusses how handheld pen computing devices and specialized software systems can make educational facility assessment more efficient. Explores how these tools can be used for information management and for developing short and long term maintenance and capital improvement plans. (GR)

Defines a virtual team as a group of people who are working on the same business issue but are located at different geographic sites and rely mainly on some form of technology to facilitate the work discussion. Discusses benefits of virtual teams, including reduced travel costs and organizational efficiency; defining roles; selecting technology…

Part one of this article described the first two stages that schools move through as they learn to link data to higher student achievement. In stage one, schools make initial efforts to contextualize the many data sources available, but their data analysis is mostly for its own sake. In stage two--using data to improve educational efficiency--the…