As resources become more constrained in the library community, many organizations are finding that they need to have a better understanding of their costs. To this end, this article will present one approach to conducting a cost analysis (including questions to ask yourself, project team makeup, organizational support, and data organization). We…

To understand how much or how little progress is made in democratising higher education, an examination of transformation in the sector needs to be undertaken. Such an examination will reveal best practice, the sharing of which can move the process of transformation forward by inspiring those further beyond in the process. This article serves to…

Processes are a series of actions, changes, or functions that bring about a desired result. Processes are the way educators work. However, few of them think in these terms. Instead, educators tend to describe their work in terms of functions, like maintaining the online teacher application system, or outcomes, like positive test results. Still…

The Pittsburgh Public School district is one of many urban school systems across the country that is struggling to boost student performance and regain the respect of its community. Achievement gaps are wide; student achievement is low; and public confidence is fragile. To begin addressing these issues, the Council of the Great City Schools…

In March 1997, all State, Territory and Commonwealth education ministers agreed on the national goal: that every child leaving primary school should be numerate and able to read, write and spell at an appropriate level. To provide focus for this goal, ministers also agreed to a sub-goal: that every child commencing school from 1998 will achieve a…

This report examines the development and implementation of performance indicators in higher education, focusing on the factors driving increased demand for accountability in higher education and the use of performance indicators in the United States and other countries. It discusses the public and political concern for increased productivity,…

This document contains conference papers, other speeches, and supplementary material from the first International Conference on Total Quality Management (TQM) and Academic Libraries, held in 1994. The conference was comprised of four sessions, and the introductory remarks of each are included, along with transcriptions of each session's…

Hospitals--the most costly segment of the health care system--are beginning to use benchmarking to discover how other hospitals and businesses have developed cost-cutting and time-saving ways of doing things. Benchmarking is a sophisticated, multifaceted procedure, usually conducted by teams, for identifying and adapting best-in-class practices.…

This curriculum was developed to assist adult education teachers (especially in Kentucky) to prepare adults to function in today's society and that of the next century. Materials in the guide go beyond preparing adults to pass the General Educational Development (GED) test to preparing them with life skills. The curriculum includes traditional…

This digest discusses the use of benchmarking as a strategy for assessing and improving efficiency and productivity of administrative processes and instructional models in colleges and universities. Benchmarking, developed by the Xerox Corporation in the 1980s, is defined as an ongoing, systematic process for measuring and comparing the work…

This book offers ideas or benchmarks about how to improve the postsecondary learning environment, based on interviews with academic leaders at four universities in the United States. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 32 academic leaders from four research universities: Northwestern University (Illinois); Pennsylvania State…

This update addresses major issues surrounding educational standards for all subject areas. It provides a review and analysis of standards and benchmarks in the content areas of science, mathematics, history, geography, reading, and writing. Also included is an analysis and description of the knowledge and skills considered important for the…

The report was issued as a statutory requirement of the Colorado State Board of Education. The report was directed to include, but not be limited to: (1) Whether student scores have improved since the accountability reports were issued in 2001; (2) Data on safety incidents involving students; (3) Whether the format of the School Accountability…

ACT Information Brief 2004-1 showed that retention and cumulative first-year college GPA are related to ACT Composite scores. Overall achievement, as measured by cumulative first-year college GPA, is strongly related to high school preparation, as measured by ACT Composite score, for students who return for a second year of college. This brief…

This report compares actual performance with the projected levels of performance set out in National Council on Disability's (NCD) annual performance plan. The report shows a positive link between the allocated resources and NCD's performance. NCD's assessment review showed that it was successful in meeting its goals and achieving its intended…