This report begins with an educational administrator's view of an information system (i.e., data processing applications) and his strategy for system improvement. The document then moves to a broadly defined view of a district's information system in terms of information system dimensions and the problems normally addressed by a system improvement…

The Communication Program of the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development is creating a self-contained training package on Instructional Planning for administrators, teachers, and others who plan, select, manage, and evaluate instructional programs. The training package consists of three sequential units: Problem Analysis, Goal…

This volume contains 11 papers focused on the problem of creating educational policies to equalize educational opportunities. Six papers in the first section analyze the social disparities in educational participation, the sociological factors in educational demand, the clientele of comprehensive secondary schools, and the trends in higher…

This report encourages the citizens of each State to seek the improvement of their education, and assists them in locating and utilizing effective and appropriate means for achieving a high level of educational quality. Six topics focus on State leadership in planning educational improvements: (1) forces and factors that affect planning, (2) State…

This paper presents a decision model based on microeconomic theory. The model utilizes a stepwise polynomial regression to derive a cost function and then constructs an average cost curve to identify an optimal school district size. An application of the model to the State of Oregon illustrates how economies of scale information for a State system…

The report of an international seminar on educational technology emphasized the distinction between learning and being taught. A change to active learning associated with the provision of resources to which the learner has direct access is seen as the new goal of education. These resources can take the form of "packages" consisting of texts,…

Proprietary schools fill an important gap in post-high school education. Because it is profit-oriented, the proprietary school is forced to provide new and unusual programs for the benefit of employers and students. The simple factor of specialization affords these schools an advantage over public schools. Other advantages, as reported by…

Evaluating alternatives provides both the reason for and the technique of program budgeting for educational planning. The activities demanded by the program budgeting system allow systematic choosing of a preferred course of action. Within this system, alternatives are considered in the context of all other programs. This document presents…

In these three lectures, the author approaches the study of the future with a respect for its intricacies and elusiveness, and discusses the schools of the future from social, economic, and political perspectives. The essays are entitled: The Purposes of Futurologic Studies in Education; The School in Contemporary Society: A Swedish Point of View;…

Three levels of evaluation that can be used in the assessment of educational products and processes are: 1) Unvalidated Form of Experience, 2) Validated Form of Experience, 3) Direct Performance Evaluation. Each of these evaluation models is described in detail, and factors involved in selection of the evaluation model are discussed. (MS)

This document is the third part of a 3-part report on the development of a generic State Educational Agency Data Analysis Plan (SDAP). It consists of a compendium of data available by program within the studied State education agencies. The compendium provides a direct comparison of the information elements that are available by program in the two…

This booklet defines and establishes guidelines for educational research in Colombia. Sections describe basic philosophy and objectives, types of research, policies for educational investigation, governmental role, and principle areas for educational research. A listing of current and proposed research projects is provided. The final section…

Nonformal education, though unsystematized, is of at least equal importance with formal schooling in developing countries. Nonformal education can be classified as follows: (1) activities oriented primarily to development of the employed manpower; (2) activities designed to facilitate access to employment; and (3) activities not specifically…

State and Federal Governments can provide aid to local school districts in many different forms, which, in general, will have different effects on school district spending. Policymakers, therefore, need to know what the impacts of alternative aid programs will be in order to best achieve their objectives. This report presents a method, based on a…

This report, the second segment of the first phase of the Indiana Education Facilities Comprehensive Planning Study, reviews the area of enrollment projections and facilities inventory-space utilization analysis for 1968 through 1985. Chapters cover introductory material, population data for Indiana, college enrollment in Indiana, and projections…