In the mid 1990s, the National Center on Educational Outcomes worked with stakeholder groups to establish a set of criteria for use in large-scale assessments. The criteria addressed issues of the participation of students with disabilities in the assessments, assessment accommodations, and the reporting of results for students with disabilities.…

Data for this evaluation of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) School Library Resources Program as operated during the 1983-84 school year were collected via surveys of library media specialists and teachers. The stated objectives of the program scheduled for attainment by June 1984 called for planning a pilot program for…

Measures of school achievement over a 4 year lag period in Virginia's 95 school districts were used to investigate the relationship of investment in education to student achievement since variations in spending among counties would have four years to affect student achievement levels. Because educational output is a function of selected…

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…

Research of 25 Michigan elementary and secondary public schools is used to test a model relating organizations' problem-solving adequacy to their available inputs or resources and to the appropriateness of their structures. Problems that all organizations must solve, to avoid disorganization or entropy, include (1) getting inputs and producing…

Reading and mathematics achievement and student self-concept were studied in 28 IGE elementary schools (schools using the system of Individually Guided Education). The data comprised 134 variables--input variables (student characteristics, teacher background, and expenditures for instruction); process variables (teaching time and school…

The logic of the system presented in this report is divided into six parts for computer processing and manipulation. They are: (1) processing of Library of Congress copy, (2) editing of input into standard format, (3) processing of information into and out from the authority files, (4) creation of the catalog records, (5) production of the…

The creative management of change in a time of economic contraction requires planning reforms. Organizing for effective planning requires a total conceptual framework beginning with a stated mission and ending with a systematic approach to operations. Goals should be based on a market analysis of community educational needs and its translation…

At a time when planning becomes more and more essential for American colleges and universities, precise and accurate information about them becomes critical. This document reports on some sophisticated statistical measurements of certain aspects of the supply and demand for students, places for them to attend college, and faculty members to teach…

This paper describes informally a comprehensive systems model that could aid school program decision makers. The model, a multistage input-output scheme, permits descriptions of social, political, economic, and educational interactions in an urban school system for the purpose of defining the school system performance and its amenability to change…

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:…

This study brings together and develops further methods of analyzing financial outlay on educational institutions. The main theme is the methodology of calculating unit outlay, i.e., examining and relating costs to a unit in nonmonetary terms. Unit outlay calculations have a dual aim: (1) to assess unit outlays and demonstrate outlay differentials…

This document reports the Center's current thinking about PPBS and data-based educational planning. In the introduction, PPBS is defined, the usual conceptualization of PPBS is outlined, current pressure to adopt PPBS in public education is discussed, and current efforts at such implementation are reviewed. The second part deals with basic…

A method was developed for doing a computer simulation of elementary school activities for different school organizations, with traditional and multiunit schools being observed for significant factors relating to the use of space. Analysis of the collected data showed that group size varied significantly as a function of school program and…

This is a working paper which seeks to examine how information about approximately 900 occupations might be utilized and kept up to date. The discussion centers on a modular system for information treatment. The paper elaborates on: (1) how and what kinds of information will be put into the system; and (2) five different modes of operation for…