This article discusses the uses of production function models and describes the role of inferential statistics for making predictions in school finance. Specifically, the analysis evaluates types, suggests uses, explains the advantages and disadvantages, and lists the statistical complexities of production functions. (JAM)

This study sought to identify important antecedents of principals' self-efficacy (PSE) beliefs among 558 principals in Virginia. Analysis of variance demonstrated that the school context variables of school level, school setting, and the proportion of low-income students had no significant relationship to PSE. Multiple regression revealed that, by…

The public school superintendency is the most powerful position in U.S. schools. Yet research has shown that women who hold the position have difficulty talking about power (Brunner, 2000). I designed a mixed methods study to investigate how women school superintendents viewed their uses of power. A survey was sent to all women superintendents…

Examines determinants of tuition at American private colleges using 1982-83 data. Hedonic regression analysis involving over 20 quality measures shows that private college tuition responds in economically sensible ways to changes in public tuition and in quantity and quality of the faculties, facilities, and student bodies at private colleges.…

Using logarithmic and statistical data, this study analyzes teacher quality as a determinant of student performance on standardized tests. The most startling finding: a 1 percent increase in teacher competency, as measured by standardiazed test scores, is accompanied by a 5 percent decline in student failure rate on high school competency…

Salary, salary increase, and fringe benefit statistics for elementary school principals are compared with other school system positions, geographic regions, enrollment groups, and per-pupil expenditure groups. (DCS)

Statistical modeling provides a method for colleges to use alumni-development information to create an equation predicting who is likely to respond positively to fund-raising appeals. This can make fund raising more cost-effective, provide higher returns on minimal investment, provide results quickly, and improve competitiveness. Resources…

Examines the advantages of geodemography (the study of population characteristics within a geographic context) and predictive statistical modeling for college student recruitment, and describes a new College Board service combining the strengths of the two approaches with its education-specific data collected from college-bound students. (MSE)

Using data for school reform is like painting a series of pictures--pictures that are subtle and capture the nuances of the subject. This is a far cry from drawing stick figures or paint-by-numbers. Imagine the experiences of the French painter Claude Monet as he wandered through his garden at Giverny at different times of the day and year,…

Providing administrators and policy makers with reliable comparative data, this 1983-84 survey of salaries and wages of school employees focuses on 23 professional positions in 1,217 school systems, reporting separate figures for large, medium, small, and very small school systems. Data are also reported on five levels of per pupil expenditures…

Attrition statistics were analyzed for the entire teaching population in Wisconsin from 1984-1988. Teachers with provisional certification were more likely to leave teaching than were fully certified teachers during the first 2 years of the study, but during the third year of the study, attrition rates were comparable. Attrition rates of special…

A simple approach to cost-benefit analysis of industrial training is presented that uses easily obtainable data. Results regarding the social rate of return to company training suggest a shift of resources from individuals to companies. Comparisons between returns to company training and to institutional training are also presented. (MD)

This is part 3 of a 3-part report on a survey conducted in Fall 1999 of salaries and wages in public schools. The purpose of the survey is to provide school administrators and others concerned with the determination of salaries and wages for public-school personnel with data useful in comparing employee compensation in school systems of similar…

Discusses effects on graduate sociology education of trends emphasizing quantitative methods and the positivist tradition at the expense of social theory and interpretive sociology. Argues that failure to develop sociology's interpretive tradition has allowed the style and intellectual creativity of sociological work to suffer. Urges greater…

A study testing many hypotheses from recent literature on college tuition determination is reported. The persistence of hypothesized relationships through several decades of varying environmental conditions and institutional circumstances serves as a basis for recommendations regarding the control of tuition increases in U.S. colleges and…