This article describes the nature and utility of fiscal analysis in evaluating complex community interventions. Using New York University's evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Urban Health Initiative as an example, the authors describe issues arising in defining and operationalizing constructs for fiscal analysis. The approachs…

Adequacy is a derived concept whose origins in the school finance literature probably stem from San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973), a landmark federal case. Although there is often a recycling of definitions, 3 decades later, there is still little consensus on how to operationalize that concept. The purpose of this article…

This review draws on William Massy's recent book--"Honoring the Trust: Quality and Cost Containment in Higher Education" (Anker Publishing, 2003)--to establish the case for change and to suggest some of the tools to better manage institutions. Also included are two disparate resources to help reach that goal--resources that are used by…

This paper discusses results from an evaluation of the UK-based Communities that Care programme. This "risk and protective" programme was set up in 1997 by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation with a central aim of exploring if such an approach could be successful in the UK context. Communities that Care puts into operation the "risk…

New Zealand's special funding system allows state schools a greater level of independence in managing their property compared to most other countries. Schools receive a fixed budget as an entitlement from the three "pots" of the educational property funding structure. The government's unique use of accrual accounting together with a new…

Two critical concerns with the rapid and ongoing expansion of charter schools are that they will segregate students and reduce the per-pupil resources available to conventional public schools. The contradictory prior evidence on such questions is based on potentially misleading cross-sectional comparisons. This study provides new evidence on these…

Through executive orders, legislative initiatives, referenda, or constitutional amendments, a number of states have proposed measures to require school districts to spend at least 65 percent of their operational budgets on "in-class instruction." The current national average for such expenditures, using accounting categories from the…

Performance measurement can be a difficult political as well as technical challenge for educational institutions at all levels. Performance-based budgeting can raise the stakes still higher by linking resource allocation to a public "report card." The 23-campus system of the California State University (CSU) accepted each of these…

The planning and implementation of institutional and programmatic assessment to ascertain what students have learned and how well they have learned it encompasses a number of challenges. Some of these major challenges are gaining institutional resources for assessment, designing faculty development plans, determining student learning outcomes and…

A simple and readily understandable visual display of quantitative measures of academic efficiency and productivity is demonstrated in this article. This graphical construction facilitates annual comparisons of unit efficiency and productivity as well as an analysis of temporal changes in unit activity. By establishing a common framework upon…

With the national average cost of diesel fuel hovering around $3 per gallon, school and university administrators face the challenge of compensating their budgets for money lost to the gas tank. Some are playing with numbers, looking at their budgets for ways to move money around and make things work. Others are scouring for places where cost…

The authors show how microeconomic concepts and principles are applicable to the study of terrorism. The utility maximization model provides insights into both terrorist resource allocation choices and government counterterrorism efforts, and basic game theory helps characterize the strategic interdependencies among terrorists and governments.…

State spending for higher education in the US grew at the fastest rate during the 2005-2006 fiscal year, allowing most colleges in the nation to regain their financial balance after a series of tight budgets for five years. A new analysis by the Center for the Study of Education Policy, at Illinois State University reported that the total…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Two Roads Diverged in a Hearing Room: Congressional Hearing on the Federal Education Budget Previews Two Possible…

This study sought to assess how college students spend their time communicating and what impact, if any, communications devices may be having on how that time is spent. Undergraduates (N = 696) at four southeastern colleges were surveyed. Results revealed that listening comprises 55.4% of the total average communication day followed by reading…