2008 Arts Education Performance Indicators Report

The 2008 Arts Education Performance Indicators Report shows an increase in the number of school districts that are building infrastructure in this area, demonstrating a long-term commitment to improving arts education. The report is issued periodically by the Arts Commission as part of the county's regional Arts for All initiative to return quality, sequential arts education to the county's 81 school districts. Overall progress includes: 64 percent of districts report having an arts education policy, compared to 37 percent in 2005. 61 percent of districts report a board-adopted arts education plan or indicated they are developing one, compared to 35 percent in 2005. 39 percent of districts report having an arts coordinator, compared to 12 percent in 2005. 16 percent report having a 400 to 1 ratio of students to credentialed arts teachers, compared to 10 percent reporting that ratio in 2005. 98 percent of districts report using general fund budgets to support arts education programs (sources of arts ed budgets were not included in previous surveys). The 2008 AEPI Report is based on self-reported data from superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of curriculum and/or district arts coordinators. Of the 81 school districts, 72 responded

System-level key performance indicators for building performance evaluation

Quantifying building energy performance through the development and use of key performance indicators (KPIs) is an essential step in achieving energy saving goals in both new and existing buildings. Current methods used to evaluate improvements, however, are not well represented at the system-level (e.g., lighting, plug-loads, HVAC, service water heating). Instead, they are typically only either measured at the whole building level (e.g., energy use intensity) or at the equipment level (e.g., chiller efficiency coefficient of performance (COP)) with limited insights for benchmarking and diagnosing deviations in performance of aggregated equipment that delivers a specific service to a building (e.g., space heating, lighting). The increasing installation of sensors and meters in buildings makes the evaluation of building performance at the system level more feasible through improved data collection. Leveraging this opportunity, this study introduces a set of system-level KPIs, which cover four major end-use systems in buildings: lighting, MELs (Miscellaneous Electric Loads, aka plug loads), HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning), and SWH (service water heating), and their eleven subsystems. The system KPIs are formulated in a new context to represent various types of performance, including energy use, peak demand, load shape, occupant thermal comfort and visual comfort, ventilation, and water use. This paper also presents a database of system KPIs using the EnergyPlus simulation results of 16 USDOE prototype commercial building models across four vintages and five climate zones. These system KPIs, although originally developed for office buildings, can be applied to other building types with some adjustment or extension. Potential applications of system KPIs for system performance benchmarking and diagnostics, code compliance, and measurement and verification are discussed

New performance indicators for industrial symbiosis: an ecosystem approach

This paper proposes new performance indicators for industrial symbiosis networks (ISNs) based on the ecosystem approach. ISNs are framed as ecosystems where the firms correspond to the organisms and perform specific functions, i.e., recovering wastes and saving inputs. Two kinds of indicators are designed: 1) indicators assessing the performance of each waste exchange; 2) indicators assessing how each firm is contributing to these exchanges. The designed indicators can be useful in backing up decision-making tools for ISNs

Performance indicators and health promition targets

This paper discusses the usefulness of performance indicators in health promotion. Health promotion and target-setting in health have both risen to the fore in the light of the Health of the Nation White Paper. This coupled with increasing pressure on all sectors of health care to demonstrate their “value-for-money” have meant that health promotion activities are being scrutinised as never before. Performance indicators have been one suggested means of ensuring movement towards Health of the Nation targets and value-for-money in health promotion. The paper outlines the uses to which performance indicators have been put elsewhere in the NHS and argues that they are unlikely to be directly transferrable to health promotion. Criteria for successful performance indicators in health promotion are outlined. However, it is doubtful whether these criteria will be fulfilled to any useful extent at present. The theory of health promotion is characterised by many different views of what is an appropriate outcome measure of any health promotion intervention and therefore what will be an appropriate performance indicator. Consensus in theory is needed before any consensus on what is most suitable to measure is reached. In addition, any outcomes from health promotion, by its very nature, are likely to become apparent only over long periods of time, if at all. This reduces the likelihood of attribution and the feasibility of assigning responsibility for meeting targets. Nonetheless, there is some scope for performance indicators in health promotion and their use as an internal management tool and as mechanisms for reaching external micro and macro level health-related targets is discussed. A collection of suggested macro performance indicators from the Health Education Authority are evaluated according to the criteria developed earlier. It is argued that at present these do not qualify as performance indicators, although they are certainly useful as monitoring tools. The paper concludes with priorities for further research in this area. Despite the emphasis on target-setting brought about by the Health of the Nation, knowledge and expertise in performance indicators for health promotion is lacking. This is a matter of urgent concern. There are many complex conceptual and practical problems which will influence the future role and choice of performance indicators in health promotion. These range from the fundamental, differing views about the definition of health education and health promotion, to the practical, a lack of knowledge at the community level about how to start looking for indicators, and the technical, a lack of clear responsibility for meeting macro-level targets.performance indicators, targets

The Impact of Routing Option on Tangerang Bus Lane Corridor

The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of re-routing bus lane corridor on some performance indicators. The Tangerang Bus Lane is taken as a case study. The discussion is focused on comparison of service planning performance indicators such ridership, passenger-km, and bus-km. A primary survey on bus operational characteristics and user attitude is conducted. Prior to the analysis, some basic formula is derivedand modified and, then, performance indicators for both route option are estimated. The analysis is conducted by comparing the estimated indicators. The result shows that the alternative route gives better performance and yields to a need of re-evaluating the originally proposed route