This paper discusses a statistical analysis of the impact on student learning of socioeconomic characteristics, certain aspects of the school environment, and the amount of educational resources expanded on students. It is felt that the analysis is quite similar to what economists do when they estimate production functions for films; but that…

The purposes of this paper are to discuss the legal, economic and other implications of a 1971 landmark court ruling from a Black perspective; to advocate a position to which Black educators and others concerned with equity in educational opportunities of Black children might react; and to outline further needed research that ought to be…

On April 3, 1973, the New Jersey Supreme Court declared that the current method of financing the state's public school system violates the requirement of the New Jersey constitution that: The legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free and public schools for the instruction of all children…

This research, designed to analyze the process of educational policymaking in York State, focused on the role of the formal governmental structure, especially that of the State Legislature. A comparison between interest group leaders' and State legislators' perceptions of the legislature's role revealed some significant differences. Interest group…

Since the Universal PreKindergarten (UPK) legislation was passed in New York in 1997, the Early Childhood Strategic Group has worked to support full program implementation including providing information to community-based organizations on combining funds from different funding streams to extend UPK services to a full day and to enhance program…

This paper reviews the history of how trustees are selected to boards of public institutions of higher education and offers specific recommendations to improve the selection process. The paper notes a trend toward an overall decline in the effectiveness of boards and reports that the major factor identified in several recent analyses is the…

These proceedings contain reports of the plenary and working group sessions of a seminar to exchange information on such topics as the social dialogue on vocational education and training (VET) at the European level and involvement of social partners in development and implementation of European Community VET policy. Each report is introduced by a…

Obstacles to the reform of British higher education include central government ineffectiveness, internal institutional policies, the tradition of institutional autonomy, diffusion of power, strong conservative political ties within the faculty, and economic recession. Reform of higher education is impossible without reform of the entire…

An Ohio legislative plan that will keep Central State University open for two years but places substantial restrictions and conditions on the funding is criticized as threatening to cause the institution to fail completely. News of the restrictions is seen as adversely affecting recruitment and retention efforts and a presidential search, all…

A number of small countries face similar problems while organising external assessment of higher education institutions: how to select proper experts, how to prepare them and maintain? How to avoid bias or interest conflict between experts who evaluate the institution and the institution being evaluated? How to reduce the financial costs of…

The Recession, Retrenchment, and Recovery Project examined the effects of recessions on financial access to college during the 25-year period 1979-2004, identified states that have been relatively successful in maintaining financial access, and collected policy strategies used by these states. This study examined the similarities and differences…

In the past decade, based on a change in paradigms in university policy, performance funding on a cantonal and central state level has been introduced in Switzerland: the universities have been granted higher autonomy, combined with global budgets and contract management by the responsible authorities (cantonal authorities). At the same time, the…

In the Northwest, as across the rest of the United States, the basic characteristics of the U.S. household are changing. In demographic and economic terms, the Northwest is at the forefront of changes predicted for the entire country in the coming century. Urbanization is occurring in a region that was once defined by the relationship of human…

A seminar was held in Dakar (Senegal) to bring together African university presidents, vice-chancellors, rectors, and top-level administrators to discuss the following themes: policies and modalities of admissions, planning and allocation of resources, structures of postsecondary education, and new technologies and interuniversity cooperation.…

This paper explores the issue of "state policy" and the assessment process and how it can be applied to improving the teaching and learning process in undergraduate education. Three distinct policy questions are addressed: (1) how can assessment focus attention on what college graduates in a democratic society should know and be able to do? (2)…