Recent efforts to improve K-12 educational outcomes have had mixed success. One possible reason is that many students entering kindergarten lack the basic skills to succeed in school. In 2007, with support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Hawai'i launched its P-3 (preschool through third-grade) initiative, the early childhood component of the…

Good methods for assessing the comparative costs of various types of academic programs are badly needed. This report briefly describes a method for doing this used in 1970 at the University of South Florida. The method described has limitations, since the data are based on non-personnel costs only. A more useful analysis would be based on total…

Current school district organization fails to provide the environment necessary to develop and use analytical techniques in educational planning. Current organization often acts as a barrier to the acceptance of the results of analysis. A program-oriented management system enhances the environment for systems analysis and promotes both the…

Education and training systems are complex organizations of facilities, instructors, equipment, routines, and students. Because of this complexity, mathematical models can be used effectively to explain the behavior of educational systems and to assist in making decisions relative to better design and operation, and improved cost-effectiveness,…

Education is too complex, multidimensional, and poorly understood to lend itself to a single cost/effectiveness criterion. Rather, analysts in the educational field seek to rank alternatives by their effectiveness, report separately on the cost implications, and leave the tradeoffs to the decisionmaker's judgment. In this context, a program is any…

This conference paper discusses the role of the Planning, Programing, and Budgeting System (PPBS) in planning for educational programs. Proper PPBS analysis includes (1) correct problem definition, (2) consideration of alternative solutions, (3) ascertainment of peripheral effects of the alternatives, and (4) estimations of the cost and…

The Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Model for Competency Based Education (CBE) Assessment Programs is designed to assist state and institutional decision-makers in the cost analysis of alternative assessment strategies in CBE programs. The general model indicates stages of decision-making related to the use of various assessment strategies within the…

Recommendations, conclusions, and position papers based on the results of a diagnostic survey conducted six states and 11 communities are reported. They concern: (1) identification of the objectives and goals of occupational education; (2) structuring of alternative programs to achieve them; (3) cost-benefit analysis; and, (4) projections of…