This study approaches the issue of quality in the teaching force using a microeconomic framework that applies the concept of "opportunity cost." As teaching is a low-paid profession, accepting a teaching position may be associated with high opportunity costs (foregone benefits) for more academically talented college students because they could…

Based on results from a sample of the entire Montana public high school system and 5 Montana teacher training institutions, followed by a telephone survey of 15 superintendents/curriculum directors and directors of placement from the 5 institutions used in the original study, there were indeed definite hiring preferences shown toward applicant…

The way that department heads learn the chair role was studied through interviews with 39 department heads randomly selected from nine colleges within a single university. Four types of roles were identified. Faculty-oriented department heads described their primary responsibilities as recruiting, developing, and evaluating faculty members;…

This study was conducted to examine the differences between teacher education graduates who entered teaching the year following graduation and those who did not. A career path model was developed and tested in order to examine the influence of various factors on the career paths of teacher education graduates at various stages. The model provided…

Since 1977, school budgetary problems have been created by a decline in state and federal tax revenues combined with a greater demand for services and declining student enrollment. The serious erosion in the fiscal health of the 50 states over the last few years means that competition for tax dollars will increase, leaving government with the…

Differences in instructional workload between men and women college faculty were studied at a large, land-grant university. The following variables were investigated: number of weighted student credit hours, number of sections taught, number of different courses taught, and didactic hours by level of course. Because the faculty members varied in…

A study of the impact of Proposition 13 on the part-time faculty at California universities and colleges is hampered by: (1) the invisibility of part-time instructors in institutional reports and statements; (2) the confusion of Proposition 13 with other factors, such as declining enrollments; and (3) the fact that the full impact of Proposition…

This paper focuses on the perceptions of all administrators (N=24) and teachers (N=165) in a school district regarding the success of a merit pay program in providing a motivational climate for teachers. In 1984 a school district in New Hampshire instituted a Performance Based Salary Program (PBSP). This paper addresses the following research…

The development and implementation of an information system concerning full-time faculty are described. The system originated as a direct result of the need to complete the full-time faculty salaries, tenure, and fringe benefits section of the annual Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) report. This approach uses computer analysis…

The supply-demand imbalance in teacher education is described and a theory of institutional response to the general imbalance problem is discussed. The theory postulates that as market demand for new graduates in a given field declines, the quality of the student body entering that field of study will also decline. The theory assumes the…

The way that inflation has created pressure points on quantity of resouces and quality of outcomes in postsecondary education is examined, along with the situation of the chemistry department of the University of Montreal. Data from the chemistry department for 1971-80 are used to assess the impact of inflation on various objects of expenditures…

School boards, administrators, and representatives of the community should develop long-range plans that not only consider the present state of schools but attempt to project 10 years hence. Demographic changes in communities indicate that managing decline will require a willingness to pare expenditures and an attempt to win back citizens'…

Annual reports submitted to the federal government by eight states for 1975 and 1977 in compliance with criteria established by the Adams case were examined. Employment data from 232 formerly all-white institutions in the 8 states were evaluated, with emphasis on the public institutions in Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, and Maryland. The other states…

Age, sex, and ethnic trade-offs in faculty employment in higher education give rise to dilemmas--situations requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives. When an over-age-65 faculty member retains a full time position, someone else--probably a woman, ethnic minority, and/or young person--is deprived of a position. The problem of age…

Five papers presented at the conference on "Higher Education: The Law and the 1980s in Perspective," held under the sponsorship of the Institute of Higher Education and the Center for Continuing Education of the University of Georgia, are reproduced in this document. Richard Thigpen discusses differences between legal factors affecting…