This article describes the cost-of-quality model used at El Camino College (California), which formally measures the costs associated with process improvement activities. A case study illustrates use of the model in evaluating a new process for reimbursing faculty and staff attending conferences. (DB)

A college's administrative services and support units must give attention to improving quality and service just as instructional units do. Greater efficiency and productivity among noninstructional units can have a significant impact on institutional feasibility. Cost reduction is most effective when there is a common understanding of core…

Describes 20/20 analysis procedures (which uses the 20th and 80th percentiles to identify students at the margins who need adapted instruction). Also examines cross-categorical programming, costs, needs for efficiency, accountability, and labeling. A methodology using computerized, multiyear 20/20 analyses to estimate school effectiveness…

The University of Nebraska Lincoln has developed a process for nonacademic program review based on the criteria used for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. This framework provides seven categories of specific criteria that can be applied in institutional self-study to determine the organization's ability to satisfy customers and remain…

This article discusses the use of incentives for higher education institutions to become more efficient, effective, and responsive to government policies and offers examples of positive and negative incentives, the nature of relevant incentives, and the relationship between incentives and professional preferences. Suggestions for using incentives…

Strategies for promoting efficient control of quality in colleges and universities are examined. It is proposed that integration of external review and institutional self-evaluation can be used to support the goals of accountability, efficiency, and institutional effectiveness. (MSE)

Most evaluations of technology-based instruction are poorly designed because of failure to control three common confounding variables: (1) use of different instructional methods in different treatments; (2) presentation of different content in different treatments; and (3) the novelty of new media, which tends to increase early motivation and…

Benchmarking is an ongoing, systematic process for measuring and comparing work processes of one organization to those of another to identify best practices. Higher education can gain much from this technique, as industry has. The method is objective, reduces resistance to change and can lead to dramatic innovation and rapid development. (MSE)

Internal institutional auditing can improve effectiveness and efficiency and protect an institution's assets. Many of the concepts and techniques used to analyze higher education institutions are qualitative in nature and suited to institutional research, including fiscal, operational, data-processing, investigative, management consulting,…

Discusses two approaches for evaluating distance education. One collects six categories of evaluation information (measures): activity, efficiency, outcomes, program aims, policy, and organization. The other identifies key questions needed for effective evaluation and methods for determining outcomes in five areas: accountability, effectiveness,…

This paper presents a complex, hybrid, method of cost analysis of online courses, which incorporates data on expenditures; student/course enrollment; departmental consumption/contribution; space utilization/opportunity costs; direct non-personnel costs; computing support; faculty/staff workload; administrative overhead at the department, dean, and…

To augment the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials in the establishment of the highest standards and practices in school business administration, this manual provides an evaluation instrument of school business functions. Each of the 18 self-evaluation chapters is structured to be used independently and may be utilized in any…