Describes a Principal Support Network in San Jose, California, that enables high school principals to become informed, effective leaders, create a collegial support group, and allow space for reading, reflection, and thoughtful discussion. The network is practically focused, has varied meeting agendas, and offers discourse and leadership…

When the four administrators at a Wisconsin high school indicated they would appreciate staff feedback about their performance, union representatives undertook the task of formalizing an evaluation agreement, developing an evaluation instrument, implementing the evaluation process, and reviewing assessment procedures. The instrument and written…

Universities can provide successful consultation to schools by learning to work effectively with administrators to remove roadblocks that prevent effective inservice. This article examines relevant issues, including types of consultation, targeting behaviors, commitment to change, prior interventions, intervention structure, time management, and…

The life stories of (North Carolina) principals in a graduate education class reveal vast changes over the past 20 years. "Good ol' boy" superintendents and principals have been replaced by self-interested political "sharks" concerned more with image than substance. Fortunately, principals with resiliency, caring values, and nonpolitical "can-do"…

Interviews with parents of 11th graders enrolled in a required, untracked American studies course reveal that parents' perspectives are not easily understood. Principals should beware of survey data and superficial feedback, resist focusing only on outcomes, and conceive of parents as learners. Principals can transform traditional meetings with…

In assessing sex-discrimination suit damages, debate rages over the type and number of variables included in a single-equation model of the salary-determination process. This article considers single- and multiple-equation models, providing 36 different damage calculations. For University of Minnesota data, equalization cost hinges on the…

Examines the college quality/overeducation relationship. If workers attending lower quality colleges receive less human capital per year of schooling, they may require more schooling than the typical person to be qualified for their job. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a negative relationship is found between college quality and the…

Analyzes pupil-specific public school data from the 1988 National Education Longitudinal Study. Applies instrumental-variable econometric methods to account for nonrandom allocation of students to different class sizes and the endogenous class-size variable. Improved data and statistical techniques indicate returns to investing in smaller classes…

Examines the performance of public school principals as rated by teachers they supervise. Work experience outside of education does not raise performance ratings, nor does administrative experience or graduate training. The only experience associated with higher performance ratings is teaching experience. Teachers tend to rate a principal of their…

Employs a simple economic model to analyze determinants of Dutch college students' expected study duration and weekly effort. Findings show that the duration/effort ratio is determined by the relative prices of these inputs into the learning process. A higher socioeconomic status increases the duration/effort ratio. Higher ability levels decrease…

Presents results of a detailed study of potential cost savings from consolidation of New York school districts. Develops a theoretical framework that distinguishes several economy-of-scale dimensions and defines an empirical cost function for schooling. Results indicate substantial cost savings from consolidating districts with fewer than 500…

Corrects 1972 National Longitudinal Study data used in two earlier papers on education effects in subbaccalaureate labor markets. Corrections confirm most earlier findings. However, for men, the effects of vocational associate degrees are insignificant, whereas the effects of vocational credits earned are significant. Economic benefits may accrue…

Uses data-envelopment analysis to investigate UK university economics departments' technical efficiency as producers of research, highlighting the role of external funding. The data set is an extended version of that employed by the 1989 Universities Funding Council peer review. DEA contributes positively to developing meaningful indicators of…

Johnes and Johnes demonstrate use of data-envelopment analysis to construct an efficiency frontier comparing different UK university economics departments' efficiency without having to assign uniform weights to inputs and outputs. Since desirability of departmental goals cannot be compared, DEA's usefulness is limited to comparing relative…

This rejoinder to K. K. Fung's critique of the authors' data-envelopment analysis (DEA) article argues that eliminating inefficiency by competition requires perfect information, not just freedom of entry and exit. DEA provides the necessary information, but is not intended as a mechanism to replace peer review. (MLH)