Public school critics often point to rising expenditures and relatively flat test scores to justify their school reform agendas. The claims are flawed because their analyses fail to account for the difference in data types between dollars (ratio) and test scores (interval). A cost-benefit analysis using dollars as a common metric for both costs…

The study investigated the costs and benefits of international education to Zimbabwean students studying in South African Universities. The objectives of the study were to investigate the actual and perceived benefits of international education to students. The study also investigated the impact of international education on the lives of students,…

One of the standard labor practices of research universities is to hire, pay, and promote faculty members on the basis of the research they produce. In the humanities, professors write books and articles and universities reward them accordingly. The system amounts to a considerable expenditure for the institution and a significant portion of…

During the 2008-2009 academic year, there were nearly 1.8 million students enrolled at more than 2,800 for-profit institutions of higher learning in the United States. Students in for-profit colleges and universities accounted for over 9% of all students enrolled in postsecondary education. The numbers have continued to grow, and today (2010) the…

This study gives emphasis to two methodologies for both qualitative and quantitative aspects of home economics research. Strengths and weaknesses of benefit-cost analysis and cost effectiveness analysis are examined. Citation analysis and effort reporting are also discussed. (CT)

The author combined cost-benefit analysis with systems analysis, using the Optner model, to analyze the vocational education program in Danbury, Connecticut (a demonstration city), in 1969-70 and 1970-71. Background information on the community and the program's development are related; the analysis is presented in summary, illustrated by figures,…

There are basically four dimensions to a systems analysis that we find in current educational research: (1) Collecting information, (2) analyzing input-output relationships, (3) deriving models built upon these relationships to evaluate alternatives and to derive feasible solutions, and (4) attempting to derive the best solution consistent with…

This paper provides a summary of four projects currently funded through Australia's National Center for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), including what they propose to achieve and their preliminary findings to date. After an introduction, an overview of preliminary findings from the four projects is presented. The following barriers to…

Production function applications to improve the efficiency of educational programs require identification of inputs and outputs and the establishment of a data bank to provide information on input and output variables. This generalizable input identification model organizes inputs for systems analysis at various levels of inputs and provides a…

Describes a conceptual framework for cost-effectiveness analysis that attempts to determine the relative impact of the different input variables on the output measures. Applies the model to a school district. (Author/JM)

The objective of this study was to establish a criteria and model for comparative evaluation of manpower educational programs. The criteria developed deals with resource allocation in manpower education programs and how well those programs meet the needs of industry. In the proposed model, an occupation is reduced to its basic skills, which are…

This report explores some techniques that could assist educational managers in their attempts to arrive at more optimal input and output mixes. Following a review of the literature on input-output analyses in education and a description of the Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment Program (the basis of the present study), an empirical…

This monograph summarizes and evaluates "educational production function analyses"--studies of the relation between inputs and outputs in an education system--in order to aid in educational manpower policy making. In addition, data from New York state school districts and from a large national sample of high school students is subjected to…

Compares labor market outcomes for graduates of academic and vocational schools among 15,846 25-49-year-old male Israeli workers. Concludes that vocational schools are more efficient than academic schools in terms of worker earnings in relation to educational costs. Contains 18 references. (SV)

The movement toward school consolidation was triggered by James Bryant Conant's contention that larger schools are more efficient and offer more comprehensive programs. Many studies seem to support the claim that larger schools are cheaper to operate. Yet problems with these studies include wide variation in the minimum, optimum, and maximum sizes…