There is almost nothing more frustrating to an institutional researcher than seeing university leaders ignore data. The case study in this article examines how an institutional research office was able to put data to work in enrollment services and produce record-setting numbers of applications, admissions, and confirmations within a nine-month…

As a demonstration of the application of heuristic devices to decision-theoretical techniques, an interactive computer program known as MAUD (Multiattribute Utility Decomposition) has been designed to support decision or choice problems that can be decomposed into component factors, or to act as a tool for investigating the microstructure of a…

Utilizing nine schools located in the San Francisco Bay area, a study was conducted to examine the patterns by which microcomputers are accepted and implemented in high schools. Rather than the educational or social effects of this new academic resource, the study focused on: (1) the process of the behaviors and decisions leading to the…

Describes changes in the instructional designer's role with the development of intelligent computer assisted instruction (ICAI). A shift in decision-making from the design to the implementation phase of instruction is emphasized, as the designer writes rules that allow systems to select methods once instruction has begun. Seventy-nine references…

Planning to meet the needs of the future is a critical concern of an Arizona school district. The Mesa Action Planning System (MAPS) provides a framework for community involvement with a 200-member community-based planning committee, selected from constituent groups, and a 12-member steering committee. The planning committee will receive a summary…

Congress, using Public Law 94-482 entitled Education Amendments of 1976, instructed the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to develop, implement, and operate the Vocational Education Data System (VEDS). As mandated by legislation, the primary purpose of VEDS is to provide a national reporting system to generate uniform data from the…

This publication builds a conceptual framework that categorizes alternative policy instruments for educational reform into actions. It defines four categories of policy instruments and hypothesizes how each will operate in addressing different policy problems in different political and organizational contexts. Subsequent research will assess…

A summary of the Outcomes Structure developed by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) is presented. The Outcomes Structure consists of three dimensions: those affected by the outcome (the audience); the type of outcome; and when the outcome occurs or is expected to occur (time). Potential uses of the Outcomes…

The way that planning tools can be used to evaluate the economic consequences of implementing new academic programs at Grambling State University (GSU) is considered. The focus is projecting cost behavior for planning and decision making. The following planning tools are examined: cost-volume-revenue analysis, cost behavior analysis and least…

This report summarizes recent Cincinnati (Ohio) Public Schools efforts to develop systematic approaches to generating information for school and district administrators. The result of these efforts is a School-Based Information System (SIS) that provides the district's 57 elementary and 22 secondary schools with information in such areas as…

Observes the preponderance of heavily marketed drug prevention programs (Project DARE, QUEST Skills for Life) over the more effective psychosocial-based programs. Reviews the literature on determinants of diffusion and recent research on strategies to increase diffusion of these programs. Considers implications for policy and future research. (MJP)

This paper reports the results of a study of the implementation of multicultural education policy initiatives in Australia. An outline of the study's methods follows brief discussions of the emergence of multicultural education as a policy issue and the context of multicultural education in Australia. To assess the impact of multicultural…

In contrast to the problems and policies of school boards of the 1950's and 1960's, when school enrollments increased at an unprecedented rate, the problems of school boards in the 1970's became those of retrenchment. Responding to the issues of declining enrollments and fiscal restraints, the Ontario Ministry of Education in 1981 required every…

This survey project of 129 randomly selected school systems in Ontario, Canada, investigates: (1) dominant patterns among secondary principals' practices and their effectiveness in the improvement of school processes and outcomes; (2) differences in practices between elementary and secondary school principals; (3) factors determining secondary…

Included in this summary analysis of three journal articles and two documents on teacher evaluation are reports that touch on difficulties facing school officials in developing a teacher evaluation system and suggestions for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of an evaluation system. The first article, by Susan S. Stodolsky, challenges…