In February 2011, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) convened a conference to help districts implementing school choice under the U.S. Department of Education's Voluntary Public School Choice program. The conference, sponsored by the Department of Education, provided grantees access to the most current knowledge from district and…

This study seeks to extend the literature on higher education enrollment patterns during times of recession by examining patterns of enrollment and successful course completion in one of the world's largest higher education systems--the California Community College system. The data are drawn from publicly available data sources on the web. CCC…

The purpose of this study is to examine resource allocation patterns and the predictive power of these resources in increasing the likelihood of four-year college enrollment among academically qualified, low-income students. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study, college choice decision-making is conceptualized in relation to an…

A practical, research-based theory about how colleges and universities allocate resources among budgetary units is proposed. The theory was developed from interview responses at six institutions as well as questionnaire results. In phase one, interviews were conducted with 26 key administrators centrally involved in budgetary decisions at the six…

The experiences of the University of Montreal in using a rational-analytic framework to allocate resources at a time of budget costs are discussed. The following characteristics for rational decision-making are identified and applied to the University of Montreal: whether goals were known, whether alternative methods of resource allocation were…

The development of theories to explain decision-making requires a model that identifies the factors relevant to decision-making. Seven sets of explanatory factors--called the "seven analytical A's"--should be analyzed. They include (1) axiological factors, or those related to values; (2) ten axiomatic factors comprising socioeconomic,…

This paper describes the activity-based costing approach used to report and capture the time spent by faculty for specified activities at one Midwestern university. For each department, four major areas (instruction, research, public service, and administration) and 14 activities were identified. During the annual goal-setting period, each faculty…

The numerous issues and problems facing college and university decisionmakers and the ever increasing information needs of external agency representatives place conflicting pressures on institutional research personnel, forcing them to make difficult decisions regarding the allocation of their resources. Outlined are several such pressures. It is…

The attractive features of various strategies for resolving a simulated commons dilemma (a paradox in which a long-term benefit requires the individual to forego immediate gain) were determined in conditions where 40 groups of college age participants (total number = 136) were acting as a world policy making body or local advisory group when there…

In times of scarce resources, college faculty consider the decision making process to be too time consuming in light of the potential pay-off, and in times of scarce human resources, universities frequently face the problem of overworking a few bright individuals. Speech faculty members' survival depends to a large extent upon their extensive…

Equity, the driving force of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, serves as the underpinning for an array of initiatives including the Kentucky Education Technology System (KETS). Sparse research exists on decision-making practices relative to equity measures associated with the distributions of KETS resources. The purpose of this…

Indexing is a tool that can be used with longitudinal, quantitative data for analysis of relative changes and for comparisons of changes among items. For greater accuracy, raw financial data should be deflated into constant dollars prior to indexing. This paper demonstrates the procedures for indexing, statistical deflation, and the use of…

The conflict between the interests of commercial outfitters and private boaters in the use of whitewater rivers is examined. A discussion is presented on the literature on scarcity, allocation, and conflict among groups. These concepts are applied to the allocation of public resources on whitewater rivers. The conflicting interest groups are…

Zero-base budgeting (ZBB), a systematically structured approach to budgeting, has the potential to improve policy attainment, resource reallocation, program review, and information systems. Some 300 businesses, a dozen states, one municipality, and one school district in the United States have operationalized the concept. Many private and public…

The educational administrator must often straddle the gap between empirically sound and politically expedient decisions, employing policy assessment as a hedge against adopting ill-conceived policies. The resource allocation model (RAM) attempts to remedy this dilemma by tying program evaluation and policy analysis into a single conceptual yet…