Policymakers and professional educators attempt to be good stewards of public funds while simultaneously raising expectations for student outcomes that reflect academic excellence in the public school system. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of Texas public school districts and the factors influencing the inefficiency of…

This paper employs a stochastic production frontier model to assess the efficiency of the senior secondary schools in the Gambia. It examines their efficiency in using and mixing the educational inputs of average teacher salary, average teacher education, average teacher experience and students-to-teacher ratio in producing the number of students…

There is growing interest in leveraging Title IV student aid to improve college completion. Advocates have proposed linking funding in the Pell and Campus-Based Programs to measures of college performance. However, to do so in an equitable and efficient manner, raw measures of college output, such as rates of graduation and academic progress, must…

This study aimed to identify the classroom and school characteristics that are associated with student achievement in mathematics and Serbian language in primary schools in Serbia. The study sample consisted of 119 public primary schools, 253 classrooms, and 4,857 third-grade students. Variables from 3 past research paradigms--input-output,…

The first section of this paper reviews research in which student achievement was not included as a correlate of principal attributes, or principal attributes were not included as correlates of student achievement. The second section focuses on the study of the linkage between the school principal and overall student achievement. (BW)

Suggests that evaluations of educational input-output studies frequently overlook some basic characteristics of the nation's schools as a whole, which, when conjoined with economic theory, permit viewing the results of these studies as neither counter intuitive nor damaging to the education profession. (Author/DN)

The relationship of teachers' allocation of time to individual student achievement was studied. It was concluded that teachers prefer to increase students' average achievement rather than to decrease the variance in achievement within the classroom. (MH)

Current attempts to identify and quantify different variables relating to school performance are surveyed. The "input-process-output" model is examined through an overview of major studies, such as Project Talent and the Coleman Report, and others generally supportive of this approach. The limitations of this research are suggested as:…

This report discusses the findings of a study that examined the participation and performance of students with disabilities in the 1996 Minnesota Basic Standards Tests in reading and mathematics. Results indicated that approximately 70 percent of Minnesota's 8th grade students with disabilities participated in the Basic Standards Tests during the…

Eighth grade students, randomly assigned to three criterion performance levels, studied matrix algebra in three programed lessons. Student achievement, ability, time spent, and other measures were obtained; and minimal variance criterion performance levels, analogous to production isoquants, were attained. A Cobb-Douglas (log-linear) function was…

This background paper is a result of a literature review conducted under Project FORUM that identifies research-based inputs and processes related to student outcomes. It was intended to provide background information for the participants attending the Wingspread Conference on Inputs and Processes in October, 1998. In addition, the report is…