Minnesotans value education. Education is the largest financial investment in the state budget, and those investments place Minnesota students among the top performers in the nation. Still, substantial gaps in opportunity and performance persist. The three purposes of the needs assessment were to: (1) Describe infrastructure, capacity, and costs…

Higher-education institutions in Texas are increasingly exploring innovative approaches to structuring and delivering degree programs. Several institutions have developed competency-based degree programs, which aim to offer new pathways for students to obtain postsecondary credentials and to reduce higher-education costs for students by focusing…

This monograph describes a variety of approaches to understanding how cost and quality are related and offers analytical tools. The analyses focus on the direct cost of instruction for a course, a course of study, or an academic program and do not include related support services such as the library or academic computing. Following an introductory…

This book is the culmination of extensive discussion among a panel of economists led by Eric A. Hanushek. The panel argues that improvement of schools depends more on better uses of resources than on the provision of added funds. The book outlines a plan to improve school performance without increasing expenditures. Specifically, it calls for more…

This summary of the 1973-74 Michigan Cost-Effectiveness Study describes the results of an exploratory inquiry into compensatory education reading programs in forty-eight Michigan schools. The study is said to have as its purpose the development and implementation of evaluation techniques to determine what educational practices bring about changes…

This study examined State University of New York (SUNY) costs for support services to students, focusing particularly on why SUNY's costs are higher than those of similar states and where more efficiency might be achieved. The study involved the following elements: analysis of service costs for all SUNY campuses for fiscal year 1989-90; six visits…

Computer-based testing (CBT) is typically implemented using one of three general test delivery models: (1) multiple fixed testing (MFT); (2) computer-adaptive testing (CAT); or (3) multistage testing (MSTs). This article reviews some of the real cost drivers associated with CBT implementation--focusing on item production costs, the costs…