Search

The recent demand for schools to respond to external accountability measures challenges school leaders to create school instructional systems that use data to guide the practices of teaching and learning. This paper considers how local school leaders build data-driven instructional systems (DDIS) by developing new programs and using existing school functions to create an information flow through a school. The paper considers how leaders work with teachers and students to create DDIS to intentionally and systematically improve student learning. The paper begins by presenting a theoretical and analytical framework for understanding the systems that local school leaders create to develop a DDIS to facilitate an information flow about student achievement in schools. The DDIS is presented as six component functions involving (1) data acquisition, (2) data reflection, (3) program alignment and integration, (4) program design, (5) formative feedback, and (6) test preparation. The second part of the paper reviews data collected in a year-long study of four schools, using the DDIS cycle as a framework for describing how school leaders structure opportunities to engage in data-driven decision making. The data provide rich examples of how schools facilitate and impede the flow of student achievement information, and call into question any simple definition of data-based decision making in schools. The following are appended: (1) DDIS Interview Protocol; and (2) DDIS Coding Scheme. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure, and 2 footnotes.) [This paper was prepared for the Annual meeting of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (Washington, DC, July 2005).]

This paper describes the success one institution achieved by placing a faculty committee at the heart of its effort to create an electronic institutional portfolio for accreditation, accountability, and assessment. Working in partnership with the institutional research office, the committee provided faculty opportunities to think about and discuss the larger questions of institutional priorities, faculty roles, and assessment of student learning in a cross-disciplinary environment. This collaborative approach to developing the portfolio drew institutional research to the center of campus planning and decision making and marked a change in the perception of institutional research on the campus. (Author/SLD)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of Alberta's Principal Quality Practice Standard as a framework for the roles and responsibilities of school principals. Methodology: Three principals participated in the study, and each principal had more than 25 years of teaching and school administration experience. Each principal was interviewed about preparation for their role as school administrator, and asked about job-embedded supports for each of the dimensions included in the Principal Quality Practice Standard. Participants in the study self-reported in two questionnaires framed on a five-point Likert scale, and each was personally interviewed to preserve their "voice" intact toward reporting. Results: Results indicate that principals regard site-based leadership as practical for engaging leadership candidates toward administrative roles. Site-based leadership programs that offer university credit are also highly regarded to satisfy qualifications for principals to continue their professional educational growth in academics. Master's-level university courses provide a necessary understanding of leadership change, growth and development for principals to be effective instructional leaders. Conclusions: Results show that principals with classroom teaching experience present a "grassroots" approach to school leadership, that transforms their administrative role into a more active role as Instructional/Learning Leader(s). Recommendations: Educators who assume school administrator roles are responsible for developing leadership capacity in their staff members. The Alberta Principal Quality Practice Standard is a benchmark that highlights several dimensions of principalship that elucidate areas of professional responsibility in which leadership candidates must be engaged.

It is important to understand how students' changing belief structures influence their values and behaviors, including their ethical beliefs and decision-making patterns. As such, this study will address the following research questions: (1) what are students' ethical beliefs and their perceptions of students' ethical behaviors; and (2) how do students' personal values and perceptions of behaviors differ? Using data from the 2006 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES), survey items about ethical decisions are grouped according to their association with the following themes: academic integrity and honesty, social activities, and behaviors influenced by perceptions of convenience. When analyzing student responses to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) wildcard module within UCUES with these thematic constructs, it is possible to identify patterns of personal ethical belief, perceptions of ethics among peers, and differences between these two classes of variables. Our research indicates that students' perceptions of their peers' beliefs and behaviors are the best predictors of the respondents' own ethical behavior. Within academia, particularly in subject areas that engender greater competition such as science and engineering, it is important that institutions promote an explicit code of conduct. If students are taking cues from their peers as to what beliefs and behaviors are appropriate, a strong message from the institution, the faculty, and staff can intervene in this process in order to promote ethical decision-making skills and practices. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

The U.S. Department of Education recently held a competition for grants to support states in their efforts to build longitudinal data systems to track and analyze student and school performance. The Value-Added Research Center (VARC) at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, proposed a Tri-State Partnership in collaboration with the states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Fourteen states were funded, with the Tri-State Partnership proposal the only multi-state effort to win approval. This paper outlines the initial design and work plan of the partnership. It also presents several of the design concerns related to complex system development for educational improvement. (Contains 2 figures.)

Student teaching has long been considered the most important component of an effective teacher education program. Recently, new research is finding links between these experiences and teacher candidates' future effectiveness, yet relatively little is known about the student teacher placement process and, in particular, the processes that lead to the matching of teacher candidates to the inservice teachers who supervise their student teaching ("cooperating teachers"). In this study, we examine the match process as well as the factors that influence these placement decisions. We also explore how, if at all, practices vary across teacher education programs (TEPs), districts, and schools. We find that, in broad terms, the process for matching student teachers to mentor teachers is similar across educational institutions, although TEPs and school systems sometimes face competing priorities when placing student teachers in classrooms. We also identify a problem of information asymmetry in the placement process, which leaves TEPs with questions about how cooperating teachers are selected and districts and schools with limited information with which to make thoughtful and intentional matches between candidates and cooperating teachers. Finally, we document the important role of social networks in placements and how they can advantage some TEPs, districts, and schools in this process.

Students who attend different colleges in the U.S. end up with vastly different economic outcomes. We study the role of relative value-added across colleges within student choice sets in producing these outcome disparities. Linking high school, college, and earnings registries spanning the state of Texas, we identify relative college value-added by comparing the outcomes of students who apply to and are admitted by the same set of institutions, as this approach strikingly balances observable student potential across college treatments and renders our extensive set of covariates irrelevant as controls. Methodologically, we develop a framework for identifying and interpreting value-added under varying assumptions about match effects and sorting gains. Empirically, we estimate a relatively tight, though non-degenerate, distribution of relative value-added across the wide diversity of Texas public universities. Selectivity poorly predicts value-added within student choice sets, with only a fleeting selectivity earnings premium fading to zero after a few years in the labor market. Non-peer college inputs like instructional spending more strongly predict value-added, especially conditional on selectivity. Colleges that boost BA completion, especially in STEM majors, also tend to boost earnings. Finally, we probe the potential for (mis)match effects by allowing value-added schedules to vary by student characteristics. [Additional financial support was received from the Robert H. Topel Faculty Research Fund at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.]

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically disrupted the functioning of U.S. public schools, potentially changing the relative appeal of alternatives such as homeschooling and private schools. Using longitudinal student-level administrative data from Michigan and nationally representative data from the Census Household Pulse Survey, we show how the pandemic affected families' choices of school sector. We document four central facts. First, public school enrollment declined noticeably in fall 2020, with about 3 percent of Michigan students and 10 percent of kindergartners using other options. Second, most of this was driven by homeschooling rates jumping substantially, driven largely by families with children in elementary school. Third, homeschooling increased more where schools provided in-person instruction while private schooling increased more where instruction was remote, suggesting heterogeneity in parental concerns about children's physical health and instructional quality. Fourth, kindergarten declines were highest among low income and Black families while declines in other grades were highest among higher income and White families, highlighting important heterogeneity by students' existing attachment to public schools. Our results shed light on how families make schooling decisions and imply potential longer-run disruptions to public schools in the form of decreased enrollment and funding, changed composition of the student body, and increased size of the next kindergarten cohort.

The college choice process has taken on new levels of complexity as the Web has grown in both importance and pervasiveness. Admissions offices struggle to balance their resource investment in the Web and traditional publications. Using both qualitative and quantitative analyses, researchers examined the "persuasion" and "information" dimensions of these two ways to reach prospective students. Through focus groups and individual interviews, students expressed their opinions of Web and traditional publications, contrasting Web sites with "viewbooks." Students were also asked to "build" a Web site or viewbook. Findings support the hypothesis that prospective students perceive a college's materials differently depending on the vehicle used to present them, and that, in fact, they look to different methods of presentation for specific kinds of material. Web pages are more likely to be a source of information consulted early in the decision-making process to narrow the field or late in the process after a decision has been made. Web sites are used by students to find answers to questions they have already formulated. Viewbooks are more likely to be a vehicle of persuasion and the sources that narrows a prospective student's choices. Viewbooks are also absorbed by students in ways that lead to affective change. Viewbooks seem to work best as an individual experience. (SLD)

This paper explores the application of a mathematical optimization model to the problem of optimal enrollments. The general model, which can be applied to any institution, seeks to enroll the "best" class of students (as defined by the institution) subject to constraints imposed on the institution (e.g., capacity, quality). Topics explored include how the model was applied to actual data and the results of that application. The presentation touches on how well the model mimics "real life," insights that can be gained from the output, the model's limitations, and the modifications that might be warranted to improve performance. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/SLD)

This timely report focuses on accountability -- the current lingua franca of higher education -- and the question of the public trust as a reflection of the respect and confidence of the people that are served by the nation's colleges and universities. Designed to assist policymakers and educational leaders, the report identifies the components of a state-level higher education accountability system: acting on a public agenda, maintaining the public trust of the people served by higher education, instituting well-conceived and meaningful performance indicators, and enabling data-driven decision making are each considered essential for engaging all stakeholders in a state's higher education accountability system. Elected officials, members of the higher education system, and stakeholders all must work in partnership with one another to carry out their respective roles. The report also highlights public trust and its import as it relates to policymaking and higher education. Appended are: (1) Illustrative State Programs; (2) Performance indicators used in several states; (3) Selected performance measures in other countries; and (4) Definitions. (Contains 1 figure and 158 footnotes.)

In the fall of 2004, following a series of conversations with the accreditation community on the topic of providing additional information to the public, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) contracted with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) to conduct a survey of accrediting organizations on this matter. The purpose of this survey was to identify practices used by accrediting organizations to inform the public about what they do: How these organizations operate, their decision-making practices and the results of their scrutiny of higher education institutions and programs. A questionnaire was developed by NCHEMS in consultation with CHEA staff to address information to the public about five main topics: (1) the accreditation process and how it works; (2) activities undertaken by accrediting organizations (e.g. numbers of visits, types of actions, etc.); (3) characteristics of accredited institutions and programs; (4) results of individual reviews beyond accredited status; and (5) institutional and program performance and student academic achievement. At the November 2004 meeting, a sixth topic arose, and it was also included in the survey: The role that public members of decision-making commissions have in the accrediting process. In addition to asking about current practices in each of these areas, the survey also asked respondents to provide examples and to describe future plans. The target population for the survey were the 81 CHEA- or United States Department of Education (USDE)-recognized accrediting organizations. Results of the survey were compiled by NCHEMS, with statistical responses broken down by the three major types of accreditation organizations. Results are reported by main topic in the sections provided herein. Two appendices present: (1) Survey Questionnaire; and (2) Survey Participants. (Contains 5 footnotes and 3 charts.) [This report was produced by CHEA (Council for Higher Education Accreditation) Institute for Research and Study of Accreditation and Quality Assurance.]

The Community College Student Success Think Tank, part of the Community College Student Success Project, funded by Lumina Foundation for Education, brings student and academic affairs officers together with institutional researchers to reflect on trends and issues surrounding data-driven decision making in community colleges. Participants consider various forms of accountability data, processes and analyses to bring about institutional transformation. At a recent meeting, Think Tank members discussed ways to create a culture of inquiry at community colleges.

Logistic regression was used to develop appropriate weights for an academic admission index. A combined sample of 3-year freshman cohorts (fall 1996 through fall 1998) was used to develop the index. The weights in several logistic regression analyses for high school class percentile and ACT composite score predicting different college outcomes were taken into consideration to compose a simplified academic admission index. The effectiveness of the index was examined by several outcome measures in the original sample of 6,412 and a validation sample of 2,323. Difference in weights of the composite index existed among academic colleges, suggesting different weights of the composite index should be used in different colleges for recruiting purposes. Results suggest using different weights to compose the index for particular colleges might be more appropriate. (Contains 3 figures, 7 tables, and 17 references.) (Author/SLD)

Systemic efforts to implement data-based decision making at the school and classroom level face several challenges. First, most data available within district information systems are limited to what has been deemed important for the operational needs of schools and the district. Second, educational organizations have little experience integrating complex data into their decision-making processes. Third, although large-scale assessment and accountability data are more generally available for gauging the performance of educational systems, there are major differences between the evidence used for external accountability systems and the data needed for making instructional decisions on a daily basis in the classroom. (Contains 2 figures, 1 table, and 6 notes.) [The research reported in this paper is also sponsored by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, School of Education, University of Wisconsin--Madison.]

As a response to the problems of nontraditional student attrition at two-year and four-year urban colleges, this paper introduces the constructs of career decision-making self-efficacy, perceived stress, and financial difficulty into a model built on the synthesis of Cabrera (1993). A questionnaire was administered to adult nontraditional (age 24 and over) full- and part-time undergraduate students (n=469) at a private urban research university during the fall 1995 semester. Variables included: career decision-making self-efficacy; family encouragement; perceived stress; financial attitudes satisfaction and difficulty; academic integration; social integration; cumulative GPA; institutional commitment; goal commitment and intent to persist; as well as measures of student background. The study found that the variables subsumed within career decision-making self-efficacy had the greatest influence on intent to persist and persistence. (Contains 81 references.) (RH)

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 member and the department head allotted the faculty member's time for the following academic year using the 14 identified activities. Funding allocation decisions at the department level were based on these staff assignments. Two reports were derived from the process. The first report showed the state dollar amount allocated for each of the four areas for each department. The second report provided data on faculty time utilization within the four general activity areas. Finally, university data were compared to national norms based on results from a triennial national survey. Evaluation of the process after three years determined that training and better provisions of information to departments and units was needed. (Contains 11 references.) (DB)

This paper presents the rationale, research design, analytical approaches, and results of a graduate admission study which examined the motivation and enrollment decision processes of students accepted to a newly redesigned Master of Business Administration (MBA) Program. The study was developed collaboratively by the institution's Office of Institutional Research, the Graduate School Dean, and the Admissions Director. A mail survey drew a response from 228 (of 334) students accepted into the program. Analysis identified three factors as the strongest influence on students' degree choice: career advancement, personal fulfillment, and career change. Statistically significant differences were found between students enrolling in the program and those not enrolling on the importance of three graduate school characteristics: program structure, school size, and opportunities for friendship. Discriminant analysis identified student ratings on program characteristics as the strongest predictor of enrollment. Nine recommendations for encouraging program enrollment by accepted students are offered including: (1) encourage prospective students to visit the campus; (2) focus financial aid decisions on increasing the quality of students; (3) document and promote the value of the school's degree for post-graduate employment; and (4) emphasize the value of the school's international student body and study programs for successful employment in the international economy. (Contains 14 references.) (DB)

Institutional researchers play a key role in an environment where data warehouses are used to store and retrieve vast amounts of data. Along with the benefits of increased access for more users, improved reporting capabilities, and less reliance on centralized information, come questions of appropriate data usage, data access and security, training, and on-going support. This paper discusses the development of a student decision support system at a university and the role played by the institutional research staff. Following the successful implementation of a data warehouse serving an employee and financial decision support system, development of a student decision support system was begun in January 1996. The paper outlines each step in the process, beginning with the decision model for the data to be included and a brief description of the technology. The following sections discuss implementation of the system, which included determining who should have access, security guidelines, and training potential users. Also discussed are data usage, analysis and reporting, on-going support, the student steering committee, standard queries, data validation, other support services, and metadata. Issues still to be resolved include an issue log, adding new data, software upgrades, and who organizationally will be responsible for on-going maintenance and enhancements. A user survey is appended. (Contains 6 references.) (CH)

This paper reports on a project to create and integrate an institutional research function into the executive-level policy decision making process at a private university. The paper identifies ten problems that needed to be overcome; they include: timeliness, consideration of qualitative factors, the limited scope of institutional research analysis, data privacy, data and processes that are subject to manipulation, a bad track record, an orientation to outside agencies, the need for extensive use of information technology, use of jargon, and old data. Recommendations offered include: becoming competent in policy debate, developing a power base, basing research agendas on issues faced by policy makers, increasing the level of environmental scanning, participating in the strategic planning process, establishing collegial linkages with faculty, watching for warning signs of institutional ineffectiveness, and developing ways to make tough choices. The paper sees institutional research as a way to help policy makers concentrate on areas of strength and high student demand, forge multidisciplinary networks to streamline and restructure curriculum, assure a viable admissions policy, make sure academic programs meet changing demands, maintain adequate financial reserves, and examine internal process for efficiency and effectiveness. (Contains 22 references.) (CH)

This paper describes a methodology for helping institutional research assess its roles and its effectiveness in supporting decision-making at all institutional levels. The paper discusses how to meet this goal by planning, doing, checking, and acting. Planning requires the understanding of the roles of the data custodian, the broker, and the information user. Doing involves performing these roles through five sequential steps. Checking requires understanding and overcoming barriers to effectiveness. Acting involves using strategies to integrate and interpret information in order to enhance its value to the institution. Individual sections of the paper define the term institutional research, establish the framework of the model, and discuss management of the various institutional research functions. Recommendations and suggestions for overcoming barriers are discussed. A table listing barriers to effective institutional research is appended. (Contains 15 references.) (CH)

The characteristics and attitudes of students and their reasons for enrolling were studied at a new institute of technology being established in Malaysia. The Swinburne University of Australia, in cooperation with Yayasan Sarawak, has established the Swinburne Sarawak Institute of Technology to provide industry training and trade/skills development programs and opportunities for Association Degree studies and certificate and diploma studies in Engineering and Business. A draft questionnaire was developed based on market research techniques. Questions were framed to relate to student experience while addressing the key issues targeted by the questionnaire. Responses were received from 81 students. Of these, only 15% spoke English at home, although the standard of spoken English in Sarawak is higher than that of the rest of Malaysia. Slightly more than half (53.1%) of the respondents indicated that the institution was their first choice for higher education, and 30.9% indicated that it was a second choice. Students ranked institutional factors in terms of their importance for the decision to enroll. The higher ranked factors included library facilities, availability of computed facilities, career training, international qualifications they could earn, the reputation of the faculty, and the programs offered. Factors of least importance in the enrollment decision were also identified. (SLD)

Scholars of higher education have long recognized that existing reward systems and structures in academic communities do not weight faculty professional service as they do teaching and research. This paper examines how four colleges and universities with exemplary programs for assessing service as scholarship implemented these policies within colleges of education. Case studies suggest that policies to assess service as scholarship can increase consistency among an institution's service mission, faculty workload, and reward system; expand faculty's views of scholarship; boost faculty satisfaction; and strengthen the quality of an institution's service culture.

An anonymous survey was used to assess high school counselors' ratings of the importance of various college choice factors they advise students to consider when selecting a college. Counselors were also asked to rate a Carnegie Research I institution relative to other colleges in the state with respect to these college choice factors. The findings from the 138 respondents from a western state indicate that counselors considered quality of undergraduate education, quality of faculty, tuition, accessibility, helpfulness of faculty and staff, and class size to be the most important college choice factors. The Carnegie Research I institution was ranked favorably on variety of majors, prestige of the degree, extracurricular activities, diversity of students, and undergraduate research opportunities. Overall, counselors rated the flagship institution more favorably on factors they considered of lesser importance and less favorably on those factors they deemed to be of greater significance as they advised students. Collectively, these findings raise concerns for this state's flagship university, concerns that are likely to apply to other flagships, given their nature (i.e., research focus, large size). Counselors may well be steering prospective undergraduate students away from Research I institutions, which they perceive as large and unresponsive. This highlights the need for Research I institutions to think about their image in two markets with conflicting values. On one hand, these institutions must focus their attentions on research issues, such as attracting prolific faculty, attracting research grants, and building endowments. Simultaneously, however, they must regard prospective undergraduate students and the groups that influence them as an equally important market, especially given the increasing alignment of state allocations with student enrollments. (Contains 2 tables and 16 references.) (Author/SLD)

At the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Ontario, a course entitled Developing and Leading High Performing Teams: Theory and Practice is experimenting with a design that surfaces the action/reflection paradox for the purpose of learning how to manage this polarity. Whether the product is defined as services or goods, the general tendency is to view time spent on specific task completion as the only legitimate form of work. In the workplace, an opportunity for reflection on a lived experience increases productive capacity and individual knowledge and skill and results in personal and, sometimes, organizational learning that is transformative. The paradoxical outcome for an organization is a case of slowing down in order to speed up. The course teaches the skills required to engage in reflection during 7 full-day sessions over 13 weeks. In the mornings, theory is introduced experientially and covers the following: phases of team development; team goal-setting, problem-solving, decision-making, communication and conflict management; managing difference; and dealing with intractable problems as polarities. In the afternoons, an almost two-hour meeting of class groups as working teams is followed by a team debrief--a structured reflective opportunity to examine the team's behavior and provide feedback. Stages in learning to engage in quality conversations are lack of awareness; awareness without action; ability to act on awareness, with effort; and ability to hold the polarities and maintain the communication. (Contains 23 references) (YLB)

This study explores the ability of shared governance systems to make institutional hard decisions, focusing particularly on discontinuance of academic programs. A case study method examined shared governance processes at four research institutions to identify themes and patterns across the institutional decision-making process. Between 11 and 16 individuals at each institution were interviewed using structured, open-ended questions; additionally, meeting minutes, institutional reports, other relevant documents, and newspaper accounts were reviewed. Data was analyzed within and across the four cases. The study found that: (1) in all cases, central administrators initiated and led the process; (2) while faculty at all four institutions were involved in the process, both through and outside formal governance structures, at each institution one group actively participated in determining which programs to close while the other tried to dissuade decision makers from closing specific units; and (3) in three of the four institutions, trustees played only a peripheral role approving the decision of the institution. The findings point to legitimacy of the process as the centerpiece of shared governance; despite variations in the degree in which the process was shared, no faculty at any institution complained about lack of involvement nor did administrators complain that faculty were too involved. (Contains 38 references.) (CH)

This study aimed to provide systematic empirical evidence for how postsecondary institutions support and promote the use of assessment information in academic decision making. A survey instrument, Institutional Support for Student Assessment, was developed as an inventory of external influences on student assessment; institutional approaches to student assessment; patterns of organizational and administrative support for student assessment; assessment management policies and practices; and the uses and impacts of assessment information. Linear regression analysis of completed surveys from 1,393 postsecondary institutions was used to identify which institutional variables related to the use of student assessment data for academic decision making. Significant predictor variables were the number of institutional studies relating students' performance to their interactions with the institution; use of student assessment data to improve internal institutional performance; involvement of student affairs personnel in student assessment; the extent of student assessment; and the extent of professional development related to student assessment offered to faculty and staff. These findings varied by institutional type. The study concluded, however, that many institutions are not using student assessment data when making academic decisions and that many are unaware of how influential this data can be. (Contains 55 references.) (Author/DB)

This paper presents a case study of the initiation of a doctoral concentration in higher educational leadership at the University of Maine. The case study documents the perceptions of curricular needs defined by practitioners in the state, the resulting efforts to develop a field-sensitive curriculum, and the impact of the academic decision-making process on the appearance of innovation as the proposal progressed. It was found that there was a greater convergence in expectations for the focus of the program among external constituents, including employers and potential students, than among College of Education and Human Development faculty. It is concluded that the appearance of programmatic innovation may be compromised to academic form and tradition in the course of academic decision making, while innovation may nevertheless flourish under the autonomy of the faculty member in an individual case. Three appendixes contain integrated and consolidated responses from focus groups, a list of commitments for higher educational leadership faculty, and requirements for the doctor of education concentration in higher educational leadership. (Contains 10 references.) (MDM)

This paper, which focuses on shared governance in community colleges, is part of a series published by the Center for Community College Policy, designed to support state and local policymakers, as well as educational leaders who are interested in policy issues related to the two-year postsecondary sector. Shared governance, or "collegial decision making," entails distributing authority, power, and influence for academic decisions among campus constituencies. Campus constituencies may include faculty, students, administrators, staff, unions, faculty senate, and the board of trustees. Historically, community college governance flowed from the president at the top down through layers of other administrators and faculty. As community colleges are increasingly being expected to quickly deliver customer service and redesign curricula to meet community and industrial needs, shared governance will become more crucial. Presented in this document are the advantages and disadvantages of shared governance. The importance of establishing a clear definition of shared governance and how it fits into the college's mission is a prerequisite to designing appropriate training for faculty and staff. It is recommended that specific areas of action be outlined before decisions are made so that each constituent group is aware of the scope of its responsibilities and authority. (AF)

This paper examines the many facets of administrative information management on the college or university campus. It is argued that, depending on the situation, an effective information manager can adopt the outlook of an architect/designer, data administrator, editor, analyst, reporter, planner, broker, collaborator, interpreter, or marketer. These roles are discussed in the context of an information management model that begins with the campus office or department that supplies the raw data and moves from data base development and administration to the production of analyses and subsequent presentation of these analyses to the customer (the president, deans, committees, governing board, or legislature) who ultimately uses the information in implementing a policy or strategic decision. This model is discussed in relation to Sheehan's (1977) Three-Hat Theory (which focuses on the roles of decision maker, intermediary, and technician), and extends his theory by positing numerous personae who are integral to effective institutional research. One of these many faces--the evaluator--transcends Sheehan's three hats and suggests a further linkage with the Plan-Do-Check-Act sequence as detailed by McLaughlin and Snyder (1993). (Contains 18 references.) (MDM)

All of the financial aid decisions at Williams College (Williamstown, Massachusetts) for the past 14 years--nearly 14,000 of them--were reviewed to see how much students actually paid for tuition, room, board, and fees to go to that highly selective and expensive school, their net prices. Williams practices need-blind admission with full need-based financial aid and gives neither merit nor athletic scholarships. A family's economic circumstances are the only reason for a price adjustment. So these data can answer the motivating question of the study: "Can highly able low income students reasonably aspire to go to the best and most expensive colleges in the country?" Do need-blind admission and full need financial aid, in other words, really work to serve merit and equity at the same time? With income and net price data on all aided students and income data for families at the 95th and 99th percentiles of the U.S. income distribution who pay the full sticker price, the study could describe the net price pattern across the whole student population as pricing policies have evolved at Williams (and similarly at other highly selective schools). The end point, in the current academic year, sees a remarkable similarity in the shares of income paid for a year at Williams. Aided students across the 5 quintiles pay, on average, 11% to 19% of their pretax family incomes, with the lowest income quintile paying the smallest share, while those at the 95th and 99th percentiles, paying full price, spend 21% and 9% of their incomes, respectively, for a year at Williams. One usually concrete number is that the average student in the bottom 20% of the income distribution pays $1,693 while the full tuition is $32,470. An appendix discusses the study data. (Contains 8 tables, 7 figures, and 16 references.) (Author/SLD)

In response to changing management and budgetary strategies that have been driving decision making to the lowest administrative levels, institutional researchers have been attempting to identify indicators which can be used to evaluate institutional performance and progress. This paper reviews efforts to introduce departmental operational performance indicators at the University of Minnesota. A decision support schematic illustrates the instructional resource management tool that was developed. The diagram shows the relationships of the broad indicators, such as demand, fiscality, and productivity, to each other and to specific lower-level measures such as tuition revenue management, instructional cost management, curriculum management, enrollment and tuition management, and faculty course management. Two other programs, a "U2000 critical measures" process and incentives for managed growth, are also discussed. The former, an attempt to demonstrate to faculty how daily planning and operational decisions affect overall institutional goals, was judged to have failed. The initial attempts to establish an "incentives for managed growth" program (also termed responsibility-centered management), a financial strategy that emphasizes entrepreneurial activities and encourages decision making at the lowest administrative levels, were disappointing, and few of the university's departments were deemed able to use this strategy. (CH)

This paper describes a spreadsheet-based faculty flow model developed and implemented at the University of Calgary (Canada) to analyze faculty retirement, turnover, and salary issues. The study examined whether, given expected faculty turnover, the current salary increment system was sustainable in a stable or declining funding environment, and whether further early retirement incentives would be necessary. The model, called the Academic Staff Resource Projection Model, is based on the Markov chain approach to project faculty movement out four years. It was developed using Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet software. Nine alternative policies and assumptions were tested concerning: (1) retirements for ages 55 to 70; (2) resignation rates by years of service; (3) age distribution of newly hired staff; (4) annual attrition of one rank replaced by another rank; (5) overall attrition replacement ratio; (6) adjustments to allow for addition or elimination of academic programs; (7) starting salaries; (8) salary schedule information; and (9) rate of promotion to next rank. Six figures and flow charts illustrate the model and show the spreadsheet file structure and flows. Three appendixes include a policy variables worksheet, a salary schedule, and an age distribution schedule. (Contains 16 references.) (CH)

This paper presents a model of college choice that suggests that students' choice of college can be related to perceived "capital conversion" benefits. The model was tested on an evenly distributed sample (n=22,109) of students; one group attending elite colleges (with average freshman Scholastic Assessment Test scores of 1200 or higher) and the other attending less-selective colleges. Data for the 40 variables explored in the study were drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) 1994 Freshman Survey. Descriptive analyses provided a profile of elite college students, and regression analyses identified the variables most strongly associated with attendance at highly selective institutions. The study findings support a pattern suggesting that students attending elite schools base future expectations on cultural capital, while those at non-elite schools base expectations on economic capital. Table 1 lists student descriptive statistics, and Table 2 provides standardized regression coefficients for the four selective college choice models. Appendices list elite (non-military) colleges in the CIRP database and provide an outline of the Cultural Capital College Choice Multivariate Model used in the study. (Contains approximately 50 references.) (CH)

This report presents the results of a study of how emerging technologies can help educators deliver standards-based education to K-12 students. The first section of the report provides background on the new technology offerings and defines smart desktop systems. The second section lists critical questions for decisionmakers related to general policy, implementation issues, and vendor selection. The third section describes the components of a smart desktop system, including tools for standards, pedagogy/learning activities, resources, assessment and evaluation of student learning, professional development, classroom management, home-school connection, productivity, teacher education, local and global community, and grant writing. The fourth section describes vendor offerings in three categories: education portals/content providers; instruction/curriculum frameworks; and software manufacturers. The fifth section summarizes findings of an online survey of chief state school officers and organizations that provide smart desktop products/services related to audience, curriculum and teaching standards, instructional support, assessment of students, assessment of educators, professional development focus, professional development approach, access and reporting levels, data analysis, performance comparisons, World Wide Web-posted progress reports, Web-based delivery, implementation challenges, implementation-technical support, implementation challenges, teacher productivity tools, pricing models, hardware, and online tools. Tables of survey data, a copy of the questionnaire, a list of surveyed vendors, and scenarios of smart desktop applications are included. (MES)