Reliability

This special volume of Statistical Sciences presents some innovative, if not provocative, ideas in the area of reliability, or perhaps more appropriately named, integrated system assessment. In this age of exponential growth in science, engineering and technology, the capability to evaluate the performance, reliability and safety of complex systems presents new challenges. Today's methodology must respond to the ever-increasing demands for such evaluations to provide key information for decision and policy makers at all levels of government and industry--problems ranging from international security to space exploration. We, the co-editors of this volume and the authors, believe that scientific progress in reliability assessment requires the development of processes, methods and tools that combine diverse information types (e.g., experiments, computer simulations, expert knowledge) from diverse sources (e.g., scientists, engineers, business developers, technology integrators, decision makers) to assess quantitative performance metrics that can aid decision making under uncertainty. These are highly interdisciplinary problems. The principal role of statistical sciences is to bring statistical rigor, thinking and methodology to these problems.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/088342306000000664 in the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

School District Reorganization in Maine: Lessons Learned for Policy and Process

In 2007, Maine’s legislature enacted a law mandating school district consolidation with the goal of reducing the state’s 290 districts to approximately 80. Five years later the success of this policy is open to debate. Janet Fairman and Christine Donis-Keller examine what worked and what didn’t work in this effort to consolidate school districts and provide a list of “lessons learned,” with clear implications for the design and implementation of state educational policy

Condition of K-12 Public Education in Maine 2009

This twelfth edition of The Condition of K-12 Public Education in Maine is designed to provide Maine citizens, legislators, and educators a yearly report on the state of Maine public schools and education. This new edition updates educational information which appeared in earlier editions, and also provides information on several new topics. Education Indicators are facts and statistics that help to describe a public education system. They are tools which are useful in examining and measuring the effectiveness of the system. Examples include information such as the amount of local funds raised to support local schools, per pupil expenditures, pupil-teacher ratios, and student achievement results. This publication contains a series of indicators which will help interested citizens, policymakers, and legislators understand the many components of the K-12 Maine public education system. This edition is comprised of six categories of indicators: (1) Background Demographics; (2) Enrollment; (3) Staff; (4) Program; (5) Student Performance; and (6) Finance. While the categories have been changed recently from previous editions, the report still contains the same indicators. The Background Demographics section provides information on community and societal characteristics of the education environment which may have an impact on student learning. The Enrollment section highlights enrollment trends statewide and in some cases by county. The Staff section provides characteristics of Teachers and Administrators in schools statewide. The Program section provides information on the school district organizational structure and other specific programs within schools that enhance education in Maine. The Student Performance section provides a tool to assess the productivity and accomplishments of education in Maine. And finally, the Finance section provides financial information relevant to education in Maine. Appended are: (1) Statutory Language for the Maine Education Policy Research Institute Title 20-A Chapter 1 Section 10, MRSA; and (2) Recent Publications. (Contains 55 tables and 39 figures.