This case study describes a project to design a performance support system that incorporated an electronic performance tool, computer-based training, and paper-based deliverables that resulted in lower development costs and improved job performance. Highlights include audience analyses, cost analysis, creative resource allocation, and feedback…

Defines "equity" in terms of three concepts (horizontal equity, vertical equity, and fiscal neutrality), summarizes school finance litigation history, and presents alternative distribution formats to improve student achievement. Enhancing equity and efficiency requires reallocation of existing resources, incentives for improved performance, a more…

Increasingly, college and university development officers are using pay incentives to improve staff performance and motivation. Such efforts should include development of a statement of values, multiple evaluation measures, encouragement and reward for teamwork, realism and fairness, disciplined implementation of policy, investment of necessary…

Discusses expectations of public library reference service and the reality of what librarians can provide amid declining resources. Suggests reference librarians should define the gap between potential and reality in reference service, and inform the customers about how little money it would take to provide better service. Argues that librarians…

Examines the relationship between institutional spending patterns and performance funding standards at the 14 public community colleges in Tennessee. Analyses reveal a relationship between expenditure categories and performance standard scores, with higher scoring colleges spending a greater portion of funds on academic support and instruction…

This article describes a framework for building more inclusive, effective, and successful schools in poor rural and urban communities called "Whole Schooling". Multiple barriers to inclusive schools are identified, the commonalties and differences between poor rural and urban schools are explored, and specific strategies for utilizing available…

Discussion of funding for public colleges and universities in the United States looks at different mechanisms for measuring institutional performance, recent experiences with performance indicators for purposes of funding and the pitfalls and limitations of their use, the current status of performance-based funding in public colleges, and…

Reports findings from a national survey of 385 day support providers regarding conversion of resources from segregated services to supported employment. Approximately 23% of all agencies and 37% of agencies with both facility-based programs and supported employment indicate that they had converted resources to community-based employment.…

Uses data from four cities (Chicago, Fort Worth, New York, and Rochester) to explore schools' budgetary and personnel discretion under school-based budgeting; how resource-allocation decisions are made; and factors influencing expenditure decisions. A school-based-budgeting process may increase stakeholder involvement and satisfaction without…

Increasingly, professional schools are addressing the issue of whether a financially successful program has a responsibility to support other, less financially successful programs, and how university fund raisers can assure donors that their gifts will benefit specific programs and not be siphoned into others. Law and business schools, often…

Although most public-school teachers have undergraduate degrees, only 68% to 76% possess at least a bachelor's degree in their area. Do advanced degrees enhance teacher productivity? A recent study of 8th- and 10th-graders' math and science achievement suggest that only advanced degrees specific to the subjects taught should be rewarded. (12…

Contrasts the reactions of Swarthmore College and Pennsylvania State University as the endowments at both institutions topped the billion dollar mark in 2000. Swarthmore uses its endowment to assure that financial need is never considered in admissions decisions, but does not touch the principal. At Pennsylvania State, tuition is more affordable,…

Issues in funding adult higher education in Britain include (1) complexity of methodology; (2) discrimination against part-time study; (3) reward for teaching quality; (4) need for guidance services; (5) resources for innovation; (6) funding for noncredit programs; and (7) open and flexible delivery. A funding model based on input, process, and…

A survey of 23 college and university coordinators who conduct assessment activities and report findings in connection with Tennessee's 15-year performance funding initiative reveals strengths and weaknesses associated with 10 indicators of institutional performance. Reasons for the program's longevity, designed to serve accountability and…

Visually impaired persons (n=871) with developmental disabilities, in 42 states, were surveyed to determine effects of separate state blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation agencies on the receipt of services. Results suggest that clients in states with specialized agencies were less likely to receive services, except when the agency in…