Minimal competency testing of students can be an effective tool for improving educational quality if applied appropriately with adequate safeguards. The failure of academic standards through grade inflation, a policy of social promotion rather than academic promotion, and weak curricula has reduced public confidence in education and encouraged…

This paper discusses the management information needs of state governing boards and higher educational institutions in their efforts to develop and implement management information systems designed to improve institutional accountability. Based on a literature review, the paper describes the need and the experiences that state governing boards and…

This hearing focuses on scientific and policy deficiencies in the area of drug-induced birth defects. Witnesses charge that (1) the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require the kinds of clinical studies that are necessary to actually determine the safety of drugs used in pregnancy, (2) the FDA does nothing to enable women to find out…

In November 1979 the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) published a list of assumptions about the business environment within which college and university administrators would operate during the 1980's. The assumptions were divided into two categories: general external economic assumptions, and those that…

The strengths and weaknesses of the traditional external quality controls exerted by government and accrediting bodies to monitor colleges and universities are examined, along with the importance of institutional self-regulation. Government involvement in American higher education is traced historically, showing that until recently the oversight…

The U.S. Department of Education's (ED) Special Services for Disadvantaged Students program was reviewed during 1977-1980 using a sample of 11 grantee institutions. Attention was directed to the management of the program, whether program goals were being met, and progress of students in the program. The program's goal is to increase postsecondary…

Given the fundamental program changes that have occurred in the nation's social programs since President Reagan took office, federal evaluation activities need to be rethought and redirected. It is critical that the utility of programs be documented, economical delivery services be developed, and redundancy of interventions be reduced to optimize…

Stewardship is the name given to a theory and model for educational leadership and administration developed by the Department of Educational Administration at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. In the stewardship theory, the job of the personnel administrator is to make it safe for others to find their own best ways of doing things to…

Sustained silent reading (SSR) is intended to promote reading growth through allowing students to have sustained encounters with self-selected reading material without interruption in the presence of positive peer and teacher role models. Recent research suggests that SSR is of significant value when combined with a regular program of reading.…

The history of institutional accreditation and the standards of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) are discussed. The societal and related economic and political reasons for the evolution of accreditation in its present form are addressed, since accreditation is related to prestige, political influences, consumer…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Association of American Universities are conducting an experiment in research grant administration designed to respond to the perceived needs of universities for more flexibility while assuring appropriate accountability for Federal research funds. The experiment delegates most grant administration…

A study was conducted in 1976 of applicants who submitted corrections or amendments to their Student Eligibility Reports (SERs) for the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) Program. The objective was to review the applications corrections process and to determine factors linked to applicants' use of correction procedures. Attention was…

The validity of information provided in applications to the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) program was studied, along with procedures used in recovering overpayments. The objective was to investigate misreporting and misuse of the BEOG program. A 1977-1978 study reviewed cases referred to the U.S. Office of Education by educational…

The use of estimated income to analyze financial need of applicants to the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) program was investigated. Attention was focused on: how well applicants estimate their income; reasons for errors in estimation, and whether applicants supplying income tax returns supply true versions. For 1,547 eligible BEOG…

Application forms for the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) Program for 1974-1975 were compared to Internal Revenue Service (IRA) tax forms to determine the scope of applicants' misreporting and to identify categories of applicants who tend to misreport. A total of 70,063 tax forms and BEOG records from eligible and ineligible applicants…