Argues against the notion that all school districts should be the same size. Research on fiscal efficiency and school effectiveness does not express a consensus regarding the long-term effects or organizational implications of district size, and the country still has a range of district types. There should be more research on community identity.…

Reviews the controversial questions of the relationship between school/district size and cost, and size and quality. Discusses the relevance of instruction and scheduling as variables to be used in determining school size. (BJV)

Examines the size of a school by focusing on the differences in the curriculum. Parent involvement, faculty interaction, and educational innovation are the variables that should determine the size of the school. (BJV)

Reviews the articles in this special issue. The following conclusions emerged: (1) smaller districts, schools, and classes seem to be better; (2) the need for smaller class size is inversely proportional to student's socioeconomic status; and (3) instruction must be matched to the instructional needs of the students, rather than the organizational…

Institutional researchers and student financial aid officers can collaborate to construct the longitudinal data files needed to study students persistence and recommend persistence policy. (Author/MSE)

Describes a study that explored trends in the attention given by state coordinating agencies of higher education to academic libraries in terms of funding and statewide library cooperation. Factors related to the perceived success of state agency/library interactions are identified and a theory concerning such interactions is advanced. (Author/CLB)

A survey of 131 bachelor's level and 30 master's level programs in social work found that less than 20% of undergraduate and 50% of graduate programs offered practica in government relations, electoral politics, and policy advocacy and development, and that existing practica were almost exclusively in government relations. Recommendations for…

Discusses European Community policy relating to information technology and the information industry. Topics addressed include the information services industry; transborder information flow, including electronic mail, data owner responsibility, and software piracy; digital data networks; electronic data interchange; telecommunications; information…

A discussion of language policy formation and planning in Mexico focuses on its multilingual/multicultural character and covers the following: turn from national integration to ethnic revival; indigenous successes following the Declaration of Patzcuaro; some problems and solutions regarding the current bilingual/bicultural education policy.…

Nova Southeastern University, Florida, has implemented a variety of techniques of cost containment for campus credit card transactions. These include restricted card acceptance parameters, careful merchant rate negotiation, increased automation of transaction processing, and sophisticated processing techniques. The university has demonstrated…

Considers issues relating to the development of the National Information Infrastructure (NII). Highlights include higher education goals for NII; the government's role; preliminary organizational structure; the impact of the Internet; and major NII policy issues, including deregulation of telecommunications service providers, privacy issues, and…

School systems that plan to give their students open access to the Internet need to set up policies which explain and affirm the principles of freedom of speech, freedom to read, and free access to information. A set of Internet rights and responsibilities should be outlined, and the issues of privacy and ethics should be considered. (Author/AEF)

Explores the greater emphasis on the role of education in federal social and economic policy and how it came about. It is suggested that changes in the relationship between class, race, and the state in the 1930s and 1940s set in motion a dynamic that made education the chief instrument of social reform two decades later. (GR)

It is argued that well-conceived college and university mission statements can be useful in setting objectives for planning and for public information dissemination and marketing. The experience of the University of Calgary (Alberta) illustrates a successful process of drafting and reaching agreement on such a document. (MSE)

Based on a year-long cultural study, undertaken for the 1994 merger of Bethany Theological Seminary (Illinois) and Earlham School of Religion (Indiana), this essay describes distinctive aspects of the two institutional cultures, identifies potential cultural conflicts, and discusses the implications and benefits of using cultural research to guide…