This guide is designed to help districts and schools evaluate reform efforts related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), including School Improvement Grants. It includes practical, how-to tips for conducting program evaluations, whether one takes a "do-it-yourself" approach or seeks outside assistance to evaluate reform…

Whether facing budget and staff cuts or event logistics, alumni associations can make good use of volunteers. Three important rules for volunteer program management include maintaining good volunteer relationships, knowing when to ask for help, and recruiting good veteran, novice, and even nonalumni volunteers. (MSE)

Personnel responsible for telecommunications systems need a way to ensure pursuit of the right technology at the right time does not lead them away from considerations of the right price. A three-step method of historical and monthly reviews offers a straightforward means of regaining control of expenditures and tracking costs. (MSE)

Applying a consumer satisfaction model to higher education program administration provides the manager with a systemic view of satisfaction, related variables, and postpurchase (alumni) actions. By manipulating the variables leading to consumer satisfaction, the institution can satisfy its consumers and increase the likelihood the consumer will…

Students can make valuable contributions to college alumni publications when involved in writing apprenticeships. Making the relationship work requires advance planning, flexibility, and an understanding of student limitations and the constraints under which they must work. (MSE)

A discussion of the relationship between the campus activities programing office and performers addresses the need for a contract, its essential and optional elements, sponsor and artist rights and responsibilities, ethical considerations, riders, potential conflicts, and the need to check legal issues with college counsel. (MSE)

Individuals tend to avoid situations they perceive as risky, but positive risk-taking experiences allow people to continue seeking challenge and growth. Campus activities programing may involve risk taking or leadership in group risk taking, either in the activities themselves or in program planning. Leaders must relate risks to group goals to…

It is proposed that an external audit of a college advancement program is analogous to a periodic physical examination that offers objectivity and expertise. Audits are appropriate at the time of administrative transitions, performance difficulties, and even periods of sustained success. Guidelines and expectations are discussed. (MSE)

The principles and common practices of enrollment management efforts in colleges and universities are outlined, and institutional conditions favoring effective enrollment management are discussed. (MSE)

The potential roles of department heads, deans, and faculty development directors in guiding and monitoring the effective delivery of faculty incentives are outlined, and key factors in facilitating and inhibiting vitality and signs of increased vitality are listed. (MSE)

Areas to analyze in any evaluation of a school bus pupil transportation program are the administrator's role, operations and administration of the program, maps and map system coordination, time schedules for all schools, the recordkeeping system, the reimbursement aid formula, and specifications and bidding on transportation equipment.…

Performance measures are discussed for assessing organizational effectiveness in nonprofit organizations including institutions of higher education. With hundreds of possible measures, ratios, and data available, the nonprofit manager must select measures that portray the institution's condition and performance. A process and rationale for…

Emory University (Georgia) has advanced its fundraising by leveraging a $2 million challenge from the Coca-Cola Foundation. The school publicized the challenge, made the case for an added incentive to give, and integrated advancement functions to get greater results. Challenge grants can come from industry, foundations, and alumni; and careful…

The concept of program life-cycle management is applied to college fund raising. Program life-cycle stages (introduction, take-off, maturation, saturation, decline) and fund-raising steps (identification of objectives, targeting of markets, estimate potential for contribution, organization, strategy development, fund-raising performance…

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) "risk contracts," under which HMOs cover Medicare-eligible individuals, are explained; and the costs, benefits, and coverage are compared with those of other managed care options. Employers with retiree medical plans are encouraged to consider using HMO risk contracts for both short- and long-term…