With today's relatively flat budgets, research libraries are finding their buying power further diminished by the hyperinflationary costs of library materials. Yet technology innovation, coupled with organizational restructuring, is enabling libraries not only to provide more high-quality information services but also to achieve unparalleled…

In recent years, two "paradoxes" have emerged in the "seller's market" of Chinese higher education. One is a strong demand for buying educational services and a weak demand for consumption; a second is the coexistence of an entry to the seller's market and an exit point from the buyer's market. These two "paradoxes"…

In this article, the author offers his views on downsizing the public schools in the US. To be efficient, American industries are redesigning themselves to stay competitive. Likewise, America's public schools are being prompted to do the same. The author contends that downsizing public schools may only cause adverse impact. Since education is…

In this paper, we address the often contentious debate over state and local recycling policy by carefully estimating the social net benefit of curbside recycling. Benefits are estimated using household survey data from over 4,000 households across 40 western U.S. cities. We calibrate household willingness to pay for hypothetical bias using an…

Efficiency scores are determined for Canadian universities using both data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier methods for selected specifications. The outcomes are compared. There is considerable divergence in the efficiency scores and their rankings among methods and specifications. An analysis of rankings, however, reveals that the…

This study applied the maximum expected information (MEI) and the maximum posterior-weighted information (MPI) approaches of computer adaptive testing item selection to the case of a test using polytomous items following the partial credit model. The MEI and MPI approaches are described. A simulation study compared the efficiency of ability…

Mixed methods research has increased in popularity over the past 20 years. Literature reveals that exploratory qualitative analysis followed by confirmatory survey research is common and concurrent studies outnumber longitudinal design. Longitudinal studies using quantitative and qualitative methods in sequence for exploratory purposes are rare,…

The direction quality assurance and its ancillary practices is taking in the transformation process in South Africa is discussed in this article. The article argues that it is incorrect to suggest that the higher education system has been captured by managerialism. While efficiency is an important driver of the system, the imperatives of redress…

The Presidential Address delivered at the 55th Annual Meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies in Atlanta is presented. Jean Claugus calls for a reassessment of the Council stressing the reality of being a professional organization; increasing professional visibility; and developing strong goals for the organization. (Author/JR)

Adopts a descriptive and normative theory of planning to explore some of the differences in assumptions, methodologies, and intended outcomes of the process of planning as it seems to be applied to public and private sector planning. (Author/WM)

Results of a study of small short-stay profit and nonprofit hospitals show significant differences in organizational relationships. It is suggested that the profit making orientation of hospitals is a significant contextual property which influences the relationships of hospital structure and community wealth to hospital efficiency and…

Western Michigan University has completed a one-year energy conservation project in which a campus-wide steam trap survey and maintenance program was implemented. The university uses purchased steam energy generated from coal to provide heating and other system requirements to approximately 6 million square feet of campus buildings through a…

Data were obtained from Department of Defense (DOD) officials and installations having experience with gainsharing programs. (Gainsharing programs measure gains in employee productivity and share the resulting savings between employees and the organization.) Analysis of private sector studies on gainsharing efforts identified three major trends in…

This chapter discusses the foundations of instructional development and analyzes the development of various models, paradigms, archetypes, and themata used to describe instructional development. Two key strands in the literature of instructional development--instructional efficiency ("doing the right things") and instructional…

The MacArthur/Spencer special project on Illinois school finance is dedicated to the exploration of three central concepts in Illinois school finance: equity, adequacy, and efficiency. While most reports on the project have dealt directly with equity and adequacy, this report confronts the issue of efficiency by discussing the policy and legal…