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…

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…

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:…