"The SEA of the Future" is an education publication series examining how state education agencies can shift from a compliance to a performance-oriented organization through strategic planning and performance management tools to meet growing demands to support education reform while improving productivity. This volume, the third in the…

Technical and allocative efficiencies of 26 academic departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University are computed using Data Envelopment Analysis over 2004/05. Allocations of faculty time between teaching, research, and extension vary by department and are used as unique prices in calculating allocative…

Analytic support mechanisms that support institutional planning at the Medical University of South Carolina are described. The focus is productivity on "return on investment" of academic departments. The literature dealing with productivity and the inherent problems with productivity assessment in the academy is reviewed. In addition,…

Changes in costs and returns for academic departments at the State University of New York at Oswego were studied over the three academic years and corresponding fiscal years of 1972-73 through 1974-75. The following questions were addressed: how much was spent within each department; what was the cost per student semester hour generated in each…

This report proposes 25 guidelines that should be considered in making productivity improvements in the following five key areas: (1) instruction, (2) research and public service, (3) overall academic functions, (4) administrative functions, and (5) state policies affecting higher education. In some cases, data are presented that illustrate the…

The flexibility of an educational program, institution, or system can be described as the ability of the unit to absorb negative responses, such as reductions in funding or enrollments, and continue to function in a viable manner. One approach to adjustment to such reductions is to effect cuts in personnel, current, and equipment spending. This…

Limitations on governmental taxing and/or spending, exemplified by the "Proposition 13" initiative in California, have been instituted or proposed in a large number of states. As the movement spreads, state education agencies (SEAs) and, especially, chief state school officers have fundamental policy decisions to make. Areas where the…

Key features of the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan in 1976 and actions that were taken in light of these features over the subsequent two-year period are considered by the College's dean, who began the appointment in 1976. Three major objectives established by the dean were to: increase the institution's productivity in all…