"Improving School Board Effectiveness" offers a clarifying and essential look at the evolving role of school boards and how they contribute to efforts to improve student learning. It examines how board members can establish effective district priorities, and it explores those board policies and actions that result in shared, districtwide…

While issues of higher education access, opportunity, and impact are hotly debated on the floors of Congress and in state legislatures, it is the state's higher education executive officer (SHEEO) who is expected to be an innovative policymaker, an astute political actor, an all-seeing fortune-teller, and a rapid problem-solver. These…

In "Building Relationships, Yielding Results," the seasoned superintendent of an urban school district provides a clear road map for effective collaboration with school boards and the type of relationship-building required to achieve long-term, sustainable reforms. Instead of keeping school board members at arm's length or inundating…

This book comes with a promise: after reading it, you will never again think of board work the same as before. "Good Governance is a Choice" is a book about, and for, boards of public and non-profit organizations. Its central focus is on public school boards and the special challenges they face, but the governing model it introduces, Coherent…

The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board has just celebrated 30 Years of Fully Inclusive Education for All. Their mission statement: "EACH BELONGS". This remarkable book by Jim Hansen collects the history--including an extensive collection of documents and letters from teachers and families--that tell the stories of the…

"Updating Board Bylaws: A Guide for Colleges and Universities" represents the latest thinking on good governance in higher education by providing a concise deconstruction of the essential clauses in college, university, and system bylaws. Written by Robert O'Neil, former professor of law and president of the University of Wisconsin System and the…

Why are America's public schools falling so short of the mark in educating the nation's children? Why are they organized in ineffective ways that fly in the face of common sense, to the point that it is virtually impossible to get even the worst teachers out of the classroom? And why, after more than a quarter century of costly education reform,…

This chapter addresses cases reported in 1982 involving aspects of school board governance. Topics covered include powers of state boards of education; powers and duties of local boards; open meeting laws; school boards and conflicts of interest; school district and board members' election, appointment, and recall; school district organization;…

This report attempts to present a balanced discussion of several key issues in the charter school movement. Its goal is to help school board members, especially those in urban districts, assess the record of charter schools so far, and understand the complexity of the issues involved. The first chapter presents a brief legislative history of the…

This book was designed to help school board members work together to create an effective school board. Guidelines are based on the premise that organizational effectiveness depends on individuals having the ability to recognize others' frames of reference and to utilize multiple frames. The four frames commonly used by leaders include the…

The percentage of women in the superintendency remained stagnant over 80 years of the last century and has only increased slightly, to just fewer than 14% of the public school superintendents in the U.S. today. In other words, the glass ceiling still exists. The persistent reasons for lack of change are gender prejudice and gender…

School-related statutes and applicable court decisions in Illinois are presented in a question/answer format followed by legal citations. The following topics are discussed in 27 chapters: (1) Control of Illinois Public Schools; (2) School Boards; (3) School Board Membership; (4) School Election Procedures; (5) School Board Officers; (6) School…

A special publication compiled for the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) consists of the School Code, plus numerous other statutes selected by IASB for their relevance to public school governance and administration, as enacted as of January 1, 1994. In addition to the School Code, laws from other sections of the statutes are added to…

This volume, a third edition updated and expanded from the two previous editions, is an introduction to the essentials of school law in New Jersey and a reference tool for readers experienced in educational law. Chapter 1 focuses on the legal structure of New Jersey public education, addressing such primary issues as the flow of authority to…

This comprehensive reference reviews court decisions affecting the operation, management, and governance of public schools. This edition analyzes all public school cases decided during the 1982 calendar years and reported in West's Regional, Federal, and Supreme Court Resports, through the December 1982 advance sheets. Included as well are 1981…