An introduction to general systems theory and an overview of vocabulary and concepts are presented to introduce school business officials to systems thinking and to foster its use as an analytical tool. The theory is then used to analyze a sample problem: planning changes to a district's administrative computer system. (eight references) (MLF)

This paper provides a conceptual framework for addressing the issue of effectiveness and efficiency in education. It considers alternative criteria for identifying efficiency and discusses constraints on improving efficiency. The first section distinguishes efficiency from effectiveness, and also distinguishes "internal" from "external" efficiency…

The rationale for the Planning, Monitoring, and Implementation Model (PMI) is the subject of this paper. The Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools requested a model for systematic evaluation of educational programs to determine their effectiveness. The school system's emphasis on objective-referenced instruction and testing,…

All of the papers presented as part of a symposium concerned the application of the Planning, Monitoring, and Implementation Model (PMI) to the evaluation of the District of Columbia Public Schools' programs supported by the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title IV-C. PMI was developed to provide a model for systematic evaluation of…

Presents a model relating the adequacy of an organization's problem-solving to its resources and to the appropriateness of its structures. Describes a test of the model, on 25 public elementary and secondary schools in southeastern Michigan, which found that different organizational structures use money differently and produce different outputs.…

Studies done at five Canadian universities designed to test an analytic technique that enables the researcher to develop a utility function for each faculty in an institution are reported. A tool for the identification of two power indices--influence in budgetary allocation and academic policymaking--is provided. (MLW)

Each of the divisions of the Office of Educational Accountability in the District of Columbia Public Schools was required to submit an evaluation design that would be used to measure division accomplishments at the end of the school year. Since the Division of Research and Evaluation had already completed the development of the Planning,…

This paper presents a comprehensive framework for the evaluation of online bibliographic retrieval services and provides an example of its use with the Educational Information System for Ontario (EISO). A systems approach, incorporating traditional categories of input, output, process, and feedback, is used to develop the model; in its…

Experimental design has only limited utility inthe field of educational evaluation and, in general, the methodology of the former does not equal the methodology of the latter; in fact, experimental design plays a limited role in the total framework of educational evaluation. Experimental design does have potential utility in the areas of input and…

The construction cost estimate, often expressed as an absolute cost, leads to misunderstanding between client, designers, and builders. If estimates are to be used as adequate cost indicators, their probabilistic nature must be recognized and they must be expressed not as absolute numbers but in terms of a number with some indication of the…

Article describes a systems analysis model for large educational enterprises, which prominently employs instructional objectives. (Author)

Cognitive and noncognitive outputs are surveyed, as well as the effects of inputs on outputs. Groups of student inputs include background characteristics, school-related characteristics, and attitudes. School inputs include conditions and instructional personnel. The literature is surveyed by population samples, data aggregation, and statistical…

The design of the Planning, Monitoring, and Implementation Model (PMI) and the aspects of the model that make it useful in public schools are the topics of this paper. After the objectives of a program or operation have been identified, the model specifies three additional pieces of information that are needed for an evaluation: inputs, processes,…

The parameters of an evaluation design determine the use to which the evaluation is to be put, the ultimate user of the results, and the capabilities of the school information system. Evaluation supports decisionmaking in program adoption and program improvement, as well as research for a better understanding of the educative process. An…