Educators have historically tried to limit the openness of the educational system by determining what factors from the society as a whole are allowed to influence decision-making. Other system components have been held to be more properly designed by professionals apart from societal impact. Change through time in the educational system occurs so…

From a systems analysis viewpoint, an evaluation system is a subsystem that is superimposed on the educational system to provide information for decisions related to its maintenance and goals. Educational outcomes, viewed as a much broader concept than the traditional view of changes in pupil behavior, represent the starting point for any…

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…

OPERATIONS RESEARCH CONCEPTS ARE POTENTIALLY USEFUL FOR STUDY OF SUCH LARGE URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT PROBLEMS AS INFORMATION FLOW, PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF THE DISTRICT, ADMINISTRATIVE DECISION MAKING BOARD POLICY FUNCTIONS, AND THE BUDGET STRUCTURE. OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS REQUIRES (1) IDENTIFICATION OF THE SYSTEM UNDER STUDY, (2) IDENTIFICATION OF…

The least understood of complex systems is that which produces educated people. Superficially, many key elements of a manufacturing organization are part of the system: a product, product tolerance limits, methods for assessing product deviation, and a feed-back system for making compensatory adjustments. In layman's terms these elements are:…

This pamphlet presents a general description of the systems approach as applied to education, and gives verbal and mathematical model examples of its application in educational administration. The basic aims of the systems approach are to (1) identify major objectives of a program plan, (2) define programs that can effect the planned goals, (3)…

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 document (1) describes current PPBS techniques and their limitations for planning and budgeting in public higher education; (2) presents suggestions for PPBS applications in higher education systems, with emphases on the problems of identifying objectives, evaluating effectiveness, and structuring the program budget; and (3) analyzes the…

The professional development process can be organized as a continuous, multifaceted, proactive, and integrated system that is futures-oriented and focused on adaptation as an essential organizational function. A systems model employing a university professional school as an example is presented. It focuses on professional schools because they lend…

Program budgeting is described as a means of enabling higher education to respond effectively to three major accountability concerns. They are (1) the long-term financial implications of a particular programmatic or policy decision, (2) determination of what is being paid for, and (3) understanding that the price being paid for a program is…

This book focuses on and utilizes the methodology and tools of systems analysis and operations research to demonstrate their use in planning for the future and meeting public demands for information on how tax money is being spent by educational administrators. The range of possible and relevant applications is demonstrated by a step-by-step…

This paper describes informally a comprehensive systems model that could aid school program decision makers. The model, a multistage input-output scheme, permits descriptions of social, political, economic, and educational interactions in an urban school system for the purpose of defining the school system performance and its amenability to change…

The authors describe an extension that has been made to and subsequently incorporated into the system known as Teacher Cost Models. This approach -- a dollar flow analysis -- identifies and quantifies the factors that contribute to dollar changes in the ON GRID teacher wage-bill from one year to the next. The methodology is applicable at both the…

The effectiveness of an organizations's adaptive behavior depends on the extent to which public relations concerns are considered in goal setting and program planning. The following five open systems propositions, based on a "functional" paradigm, address the complex relationship between public relations and organizational intelligence and do not…