ions concerning the proper, most efficient distribution of teacher resources across different programs and subject areas.Monk then distinguishes between two possible strategies. One assumes that there is no "tractable" production function for education, so that central authorities cannot improve outcomes through a standard set of practices. The second approach retains faith in the existence of a production-function, with "the outcomes-as-standards strategy as a new means of gaining insight into the function's properties" (p. 316). Monk's discussion of the policy implications of these two alternatives is interesting, but will not be recapitulated here. After examining the alternatives he concludes "...(a) it is premature to conclude that the production function lacks meaning within education contexts; (b) ...approaches to the outcomes-as-standards policy-making response have merit and involve increased efforts to monitor and make sense of the experimentation that occurs; and (c) the embrace of the outcomes-as-standards response ought not to crowd out alternative, more deductively driven strategies." (p. 320) Monk goes on to advocate the study of productivity through looking at the properties of classrooms. This proposal is based partly on the belief that teachers will use different instructional approaches with different classes of students. He discusses the ways in which these responses by teachers might occur depending on the students, and suggests that teachers may have individual patterns of adjustment that could be studied and defined in terms of their impact. Picus’s (1997) ongoing study of school-level data collection in four states (California, Minnesota, Florida, and Texas) explores whether such systems offer researchers and practitioners a boundless opportunity or a bottomless pit. The most significant gleaning: it is as hard to analyze data as it is to obtain them. States set up systems in response to legislative require...
