Teachers should, and would, be held accountable for learning outcomes if those outcomes were assessed on a broader base than the mere testing of students. Instruction and Professional Development of the National Education Association suggests that at least six elements (established goals, students regularly assessed, varied and individualized…

Media for instruction can be characterized as big (expensive) or little (inexpensive), but research evidence suggests that whether a student learns more from one medium than another depends at least as much on how the medium is used as on what medium is used. Thus, this report discusses not only example programs and their results, but also…

This overview is intended to acquaint people with the concept and the features of such plans. The author begins with a discussion of the early development and implementation of various continuous learning plans and then focuses on the financial aspects of such a plan--capital outlay and debt service, school plant operation, and school bus and…

This report summarizes, evaluates, and synthesizes the data on the training value of training devices. The report discusses the issues of substitution of some operational training time by training devices and the relationship between training effectiveness and cost (fidelity of simulation). These general conclusions were made: 1) Experiments…

Presented in the principal article, "Planning, Starting, and Operating an Educational Incentives Project," is a summary of activities to date in an educational savings project in Taiwan. The incentive project is designed to reward those couples who limit their family size, by providing funds for their children's secondary and higher education. To…

The need for higher education programs is being challenged, and unit cost studies may become an integral part of the funding process for junior colleges. This paper describes the major tasks in a cost study and reviews the problems encountered in the unit costing efforts. The main tasks are: (1) identifying units of measurement (the language used…

While current information on the dynamics of a library is essential, some concern has been expressed about the efficiency of the statistical collecting procedures as well as the usefulness of the statistical data collected at the Purdue University Libraries. Task priorities based on objectives and the significant cost factor of staff time, dictate…

Systems of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) can be classified according to whether the author, student, or teacher controls the interaction between the student and the computer. Both author-controlled and student-controlled CAI have the advantages of individualized instruction, privacy for mistakes, and flexibility, but are tremendously…

The South Central Research Library Council was asked if the services of the Bibliographic and Reference Center, a subsidiary of the Council, located at the Cornell University Libraries could be extended to libraries outside its region. To date, the Center has been handling a limited number of requests from non-member libraries without interfering…

Two types of reports containing program cost information that can meet a variety of administrative needs are available--descriptive and comparative. The descriptive reports show program cost and Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) revenue information. The comparative reports show program costs as percentages of revenues, as percentages of…

A model is outlined that generates program costs and indicates the relative contribution of the various dimensions of a program to costs. The model says that there is no direct relationship between costs and learning, but that program (and school) parameters intervene. Some of these parameters have costs associated with them, but these are not…

Wise allocation of resources implies knowledge of which actions will yield the highest net benefit. Predicting benefit requires comparing objectives as to importance and setting priorities among them. This article discusses ways in which policy-makers can set priorities rationally. The advantages of ratios for comparing priorities are discussed.…

To investigate the information needs of managers making decisions regarding the use of data base technology, the National Bureau of Standards and the Association for Computing Machinery held a workshop with approximately 80 experts in five major areas: auditing, evolving technology, government regulation, standards, and user experience. Results of…

This short, two-page editorial discusses the relationship of formal education to the world of work--unemployment of college graduates, investment in attending college, and special college programs. (ND)

Because of the high cost per pupil of computer-assisted instruction, a study was undertaken to determine if the use of multiple simultaneous users at a single terminal could significantly decrease the costs of CAI without lowering the efficiency and effectiveness of the system. (Author)