The insatiable institutional demands for computing cycles, network bandwidth, and storage clearly demonstrate that IT is a mission-critical function in nearly all areas of higher education. Not too long ago, the important issue for the central data center was physical size and floor space. As IT leaders struggle to meet relentlessly increasing…

Ortiz begins with research showing that safe, healthy, and uncrowded school facilities are a basic ingredient of a good educational program. When teachers work in well-designed and highly functional school buildings, they are able to be more effective than when they must teach in inadequate facilities. Ortiz sets these findings against the…

Building upon earlier work by Camp, Gibbs, and Masters II, (1988). "The Journal of Higher Education" 59(6): 652-667 and Wenger and Girard, (2000). "Research in Higher Education" 41(2):195-207, we present a model for allocating funds for salary increases to faculty lines within an academic unit at a public research university. The model first…

The search for more flexibility in financial management of public universities demands adjustments in budgeting strategies. International studies on this topic recommend wider financial autonomy for management units, the use of budgeting models based on performance, the implementation of formula systems for the determination of financial needs of…

The capital renewal and replacement of the nation's public higher education facilities has been a growing problem for several decades. While the need for new and improved facilities has increased over the years, many campuses simply have too many aging infrastructures that are too costly to replace. This, at a time when we have less than …

Purpose: Public schools in the USA face increased pressures for more accountability and improved performance. The objective of this study was to wed two previously separated theoretical strands of educational research--economic theory and organizational theory--by using variables from each theory base to develop, compare, and test a series of…

The immediate effects of the Asian crisis on the well-being of Indonesians are examined using the Indonesia Family Life Survey, an ongoing longitudinal household survey. There is tremendous diversity in the effect of the shock: for some households, it was devastating; for others it brought new opportunities. A wide array of mechanisms was adopted…

In this article, the author continues to develop the perspective of the improved school finance, an effort to move beyond the conventional framing of funding and resource issues, presented in the article by Grubb, Huerta, and Goe in this issue. Here, the author presents the results of use of the National Educational Longitudinal Survey of the…

Retirement savings decisions can be influenced by the fund composition of the retirement savings plan. In 2 experiments, strong composition effects were observed, with a larger percentage of resources being invested in stock funds when more stock than bond funds were offered. Although participants changed their allocations repeatedly, the…

This article focuses on methods of funding allocation and quality assurance as prominent levers of change in higher education reform today. It is their interplay which forms the main components of coordination frameworks. The arguments for more market or new forms of state intervention can only be understood in the context of such a framework.…

"From the Courtroom to the Classroom" examines recent developments pertaining to school desegregation in the United States. As the editors note, it comes at a time marked by a "general downplaying of race and ethnicity as criteria for the allocation of public resources, as well as a weakening of the political forces that support…

The Improving Literacy through School Libraries (LSL) program was established under Title I, Part B, Subpart 4 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The purpose of the program is to improve the literacy skills and academic achievement of students by providing them with increased…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) creates a unique opportunity for states, districts, and high schools to work in concert on behalf of high school students. Generally, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds are not intended to create new programs; rather, the majority of the funds are intended to fill gaps in existing…

This international study focuses on the funding systems in the area of higher education in the following countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Portugal and Slovak Republic. Each individual country study was designed and conducted within an overall common framework by a project partner from the respective…

Presented herein are data that describe collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 65 medical libraries at Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions throughout North America. In 2005-06, the reporting health sciences libraries held a median of 245,212 volumes, spent a total of $239,944,918, and employed 2,524 FTE…