One of the ultimate goals of policy makers is to enable citizens to take advantage of a globalised world economy. This is leading them to focus on the improvement of education policies, ensuring the quality of service provision, a more equitable distribution of learning opportunities and stronger incentives for greater efficiency in schooling.…

Encouraging continuous improvement in the quality, scale and breadth of online education, the Sloan Consortium invites practitioners to share effective practices. This report synthesizes effective practices submitted by Sloan-C members to the online collection at http://www.sloanconsortium.org/effective as of November 2010. The synthesis includes…

"Policy and Performance in American Higher Education" presents a new approach to understanding how public policy influences institutional performance, with practical insight for those charged with crafting and implementing higher education policy. Public institutions of higher learning are called upon by state governments to provide…

The effects of five ability estimators, that is, maximum likelihood estimator, weighted likelihood estimator, maximum a posteriori, expected a posteriori, and Owen's sequential estimator, on the performances of the item response theory-based adaptive classification procedure on multiple categories were studied via simulations. The following…

Amid growing criticism of public universities, there is little discussion of what appropriate institutional evaluation would entail. Six-year graduation rates are commonly used, and public bachelors granting institutions have lower rates than private institutions, but with the growth in non-traditional college attendance, these can be misleading.…

Objectives: This study investigated the efficiency of a social work care coordination model for stroke patients. Care coordination addresses patient care and treatment resources across the health care system to reduce risk, improve clinical outcomes, and maximize efficiency. Method: A randomly assigned, pre-post experimental design measured…

This paper investigates urban-rural and size effects on public upper secondary school efficiency in Northern Thailand. Efficiency is assessed by a nonparametric technique, namely data envelopment analysis. Urban-rural and size effects are examined through a Mann-Whitney nonparametric statistical test and by Tobit regression analysis, respectively.…

In July of 2007, the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University was contracted to conduct an evaluation of the Indiana charter schools. The evaluation has been designed to ensure that all objectives of the provisions of HEA 1001-2007 are fulfilled. In addition, the framework of the study is based in IC 20-24-2-1,…

This paper assesses the impact on economic growth of increased efficiency of public spending in primary and lower-secondary education. Higher efficiency in public spending in schools can bolster growth through two main channels. On the one hand, it can allow a transfer of labour from the public sector to the business sector at unchanged…

This report describes a wide range of successful strategies that states can draw from to increase the educational attainment of their residents while holding down higher education costs. Part I offers examples of strategies, programs, and practices that the authors' research finds can raise educational productivity. Part II describes the levers…

One of the simplest definitions of cost-benefit analysis states "ultimately, it is nothing more than a logical attempt to weigh the pros and cons of a decision" (Gramlich 1981). This definition highlights two issues: practitioners should be clear about what decisions will be made as a result of this analysis, and they need to decide how…

The field of machine learning has developed a wide array of techniques for improving the effectiveness of performance elements. Ideally, a learning system would adapt its commitments to the demands of a particular learning situation, rather than relying on fixed commitments that impose tradeoffs between the efficiency and utility of a learning…

Implicitly repeating categories by presenting words not present in the original categorized list but logically members of previously studied categories significantly increased acquisition and retention relative to repeating category labels, repeating members of categories, and repeating neither labels nor members. The efficiency of repetition…

Emphasizing the importance of economy and efficiency in the production of computer animation, this master's thesis outlines methodologies that can be used to develop animated sequences with the highest quality images for the least expenditure. It is assumed that if computer animators are to be able to fully exploit the available resources, they…

Although technology is affecting the way organizations conduct business, there still remains a need to pay attention to good business meeting practices. Based on observations of the meeting practices of a business firm, a consultant found several areas in which meetings can be made more productive. The purpose of the meeting should be defined.…