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…

A systematic methodology is proposed for the evaluation of curriculum. Four domains are identified, including the evaluation of: (1) curriculum planning; (2) curriculum development; (3) curriculum implementation; and (4) curriculum effects. Evaluating curriculum planning must include determining the legality of the curriculum and must consider the…

Planning-programming-budgeting systems (PPBS) have been looked on by public-sector organizations as a mechanism to improve the decision process in resource allocation. PPBS requires (1) selecting the overall long-range objectives of the organization and the systematic analysis of various courses of action leading to their attainment; (2) deciding…

This document consists of the papers presented at a meeting of experts who examined and evaluated systems analysis and management technique applications to practical educational planning. The papers focus primarily on the integration of shortrun and longrun aspects of educational planning and the relationship between objectives and implementation.…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS SHOULD BE APPLIED TO SCHOOL PLANNING TO PROVIDE A GENERAL FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED IN THE MOST REASONABLE MANNER. SYSTEMS ANALYSIS METHODS INTEGRATE THE DIFFERING VALUES OF EDUCATORS INTO COMMON OBJECTIVES. SUCCESSFUL USE OF PROGRAM BUDGETING DEPENDS ON (1) PLANNING, STRUCTURAL DESIGN, AND…

The IRC Model for Input-Output Analysis of Student Personnel Services is designed to provide information to support program planning-evaluation-budget systems of participating colleges. The instruments of the model have been constructed to allow the application of systems analysis techniques to a wide variety of student personnel settings. 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…

The systems approach is a technique that can be applied to assist in problem solving and planning, but in itself does not solve problems. (Author)

To assist the Delaware Department of Public Instruction in designing and implementing a modern strategy for coordinating educational planning in the State, this report reviews techniques employed by other State educational agencies and offers a proposal for developing a planning unit within the department. Some specific recommendations for…

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…

Institutional research and the role of information systems are examined and three types of information provided by institutional research offices are discussed: institutional studies, management analyses, and periodic management reports. The varying characteristics of research offices are described and the role of the institutional research office…

Where research activities operate under "fixed" budgetary and resource conditions, allocations of funds must be carefully planned for effective program implementation. Although relatively little information is available on how small research units could use the principles of programed budgeting, a technique for ascertaining program…

This ESEA Title III report describes fault tree analysis and assesses its applicability to education. Fault tree analysis is an operations research tool which is designed to increase the probability of success in any system by analyzing the most likely modes of failure that could occur. A graphic portrayal, which has the form of a tree, is…

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:…