Since the break up of the USSR, its former republics have seen the emergence and rapid expansion of an examinations industry that was, to all intents and purposes, unknown in Soviet times. New national assessment agencies have been established and been charged with, amongst other things, developing high-stakes exams to replace the diverse and…

During the last two decades, many higher education systems in the world have attempted to evaluate and improve the quality of education, research and services at the university and higher education level. Countries which have been successful in these attempts have initiated continuous evaluation and applied internal evaluation as a basis for…

Central Arizona College (CAC) has leveraged EMSI to design the most effective regional strategies for academic/economic prediction analysis. Accessing current and reliable data on occupations, skills requirements, and demographics, CAC can extract, analyze, and present this data to academic programs, advisory boards, economic development councils,…

This study was designed to illuminate the state of education in Taiwan by constructing Educational Indicator Systems. The study, sponsored by the National Science Council between 1998 and 2000, was the first comprehensive indicator project to cover all educational levels in Taiwan. Various research methods were used, including panel discussion,…

Discusses shaping educational accountability systems in the context of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Suggests ways in which evaluation can contribute to improving and changing accountability systems, especially through the development of standards. (SLD)

American indicator systems of educational accountability generally focus on student outcomes. The next generation of indicator systems must address wider issues, such as social context and values, curriculum assessment, structure of schooling, and individual student differences. Administrative, technical, political, and financial issues in…

Highlights the development of a data management system to facilitate service delivery by the career planning and placement department at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Recounts the development of the system, providing the context for data management and describing the issues associated with building and implementing a data model, and the…

The Department of Education has begun a project to redesign the information systems used to deliver student financial aid funds to students, postsecondary institutions, lenders, and state guarantee agencies. The implications of this strategy are considered. (MLW)

Outlines the author's participation in several programs designed to effect change in educational institutions. Observations regarding school decentralization, community participation, and staff development programs are presented. (APM)

Whether there are reasonable concerns about liberty raised by standards-driven educational reform is explored, focusing on students' interests in autonomy and authenticity, academic freedom, and pluralism. A view of standards and accountability that is narrowly focused on clear public interests is crucial for educational reform. (SLD)

Describes a study of the culture of collaboration in the accounting industry. Topics include previous research on collaboration in organic organizational contexts, information gathering collaboration, knowledge giving and getting, accountability sharing, trust sharing, transboundary communication, information technology, and implications for…

The Educational Quality Indicators initiative, a 3-year collaboration between Alberta Education and 12 school districts, generated 10 action research projects that developed educational indicator systems with a broad range of student outcomes, methods of data collection and interpretation, and outcomes reporting. Field testing of these systems…

This paper describes an educational accountability system that provides needed accountability along with the data necessary for school improvement. The accountability system, which is being implemented in the Dallas (Texas) schools, is a three-tier system moving from the school level through district improvement plans to school improvement…

Reviews the historical and political context of school reform, examining its problems and ambiguities as a policy and offering suggestions to minimize the risks of reform in urban schools. Concludes that state takeovers are detrimental because they do not address systemic problems in the affected school systems. Contains 51 references. (Author/SLD)

Information systems are becoming more than computer systems, with new equipment and techniques combining with data processing to form a new field called information technology. The emerging discipline of systems engineering is discussed along with nine systems engineering techniques. An organization chart of an information services department is…