Reviews the dismal state of Mali's educational system: extreme poverty, 95 percent adult illiteracy, low school enrollment rates, inefficiency, poor quality and inappropriate curricula at all educational levels, exclusive use of French, and top-heavy higher education that burdens the state and produces unemployed graduates. (SV)

A survey of 120 executives at eight United States organizations attempted to find out what executives thought about the meetings they attended, and to find out what an organization could do to make meetings more productive. Provides five tips for making meetings matter. (MLF)

Discusses conceptual frameworks for the designing process, including conclusion-oriented design and decision-oriented design; describes the systemic quality cube of design that incorporates process, product, efficiency, and effectiveness and considers total, global, and systemic quality; and discusses present applications, including computerized…

Discusses linear demand functions and constant marginal costs related to a monopoly in a market economy. Illustrates the demand function by using a curve. Includes an appendix with two figures and accompanying mathematical formulae illustrating the concepts presented in the article. (CFR)

Summarizes a pilot study examining departmental effectiveness in a small sample of British secondary schools. The subject departments were chosen because a previous study showed they significantly enhanced pupils' learning. Effective departments boasted a climate for change; vision; collegiality; sound organization, resource management, and…

Elementary school teachers can use a bicycle to teach students about force, gear ratios, and efficiency. Students can estimate the gear ratios of multispeed bicycles, measure the distance the wheels travel at each gear ratio, and measure the force necessary to pedal at each level. (MDM)

Possible changes in U.S. Postal Service rates and services, resulting from a planned restructuring, are discussed. College administrators are encouraged to review mail class use, available discounts, and even the design and quantity of materials mailed out. (MSE)

It is argued that efficient use of cognitive strategies also involves domain-specific knowledge, metacognition, and motivation. Issues concerning cognitive strategy instruction are explored, and it is concluded that a hybrid model representing a compromise between the notion of cognitive strategies and current connectionism may best portray human…

Examines departmental production and cost structures of a homogeneous sample of 18 research universities to estimate relative economies of scale and scope. Examines three departmental clusters (social, physical, and engineering sciences), using a four-output quadratic cost function. Average incremental and marginal costs are highest for research…

Speed and efficiency of elemental processing among the gifted were studied by comparing 55 gifted and 53 nongifted junior high school students on elementary cognitive tasks of different complexity. Results reveal that differences are related to requisite processing complexity, suggesting differences in speed and efficiency of lower-order cognitive…

Borg, Mason, and Shapiro in "The Economic Consequences of State Lotteries" (Praeger, 1991) argue that the Florida lottery creates an implicit tax that is inequitable and inefficient. These conclusions are unconvincing. Are lotteries really responsible for 35% reductions in pupil spending in lottery states? Additional work by Borg and…

Responding to critique of "The Economic Consequences of State Lotteries" (Praeger, 1991), coauthor praises reviewers' analysis and deplores their harsh criticism. Income coefficient used is justifiable, since, in Florida, number of children attending state-funded schools is positively associated with income. Would have received even…

Responding to a critique of the book "The Economic Consequences of State Lotteries" (Praeger, 1991), a coauthor thanks reviewers for an in-depth analysis and comments on their remarks about the book's efficiency section. Reviewers misread the original authors' observations concerning elasticity of demand, inefficient diversions of…

Motivated by peer pressure and the principle of least effort, middle schoolers often make poor choices--not to work, listen, or hand in assignments--that can lead to failure or underachievement. To avoid "social promotion," a Colorado middle school has initiated transition classes that give students a second chance to learn last…

Educators commonly compare their restructuring efforts to rebuilding a 747 while in flight. Working smarter means monitoring the efficiency of faculty work from two standpoints: productivity in reaching desired student outcomes and depletion of important resources, including human energy. This article presents a five-stage model of the progress…