Determining the Attributes of Efficient and Inefficient Schools through Data Development Analysis.

Abstract

Conventional methods for comparing the relative productivity of schools employ least squares regression to find expected achievement of schools with the same input characteristics. The result is that one typically contrasts the relative effects of 'predictor' variables on achievement rather than comparing school units with respect to their input/output efficiency. A non-linear method for comparing the efficiency of decision making units (school) is presented and is applied to elementary schools in an urban school district. The method is cross-validated by means of discriminant analysis and a rudimentary sensitivity test is made. The method is found to discriminate between efficient and inefficient schools and is relatively robust under changes in input measures. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1979
Accession Number
ADA074519

Entities

People

  • Authella Bessent
  • Wailand Bessent

Organizations

  • University of Texas at Austin

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Achievement Tests
  • California
  • Classification
  • Discriminant Analysis
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Instructions
  • Instructors
  • Mathematical Models
  • Mathematics
  • Minority Groups
  • Operations Research
  • Productivity
  • Schools
  • Social Sciences
  • Students
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Education

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Regression Analysis.