This study examined the perceptions and the difference between perceptions of Texas school superintendents and school board members. In addition the study provided research to identify skills for superintendent preparation programs at the university level that are essential for strong superintendent and board relations. The study revealed ways to…

This is the first time within recent years that a chapter on school administration and school finance has appeared in a biennial report of the Office of Education. In 1914, there was a published a chapter on Progress in Educational Administration and in 1923 a chapter on School Finance. Both the subjects of administration and finance have,…

In the United States there is considerable focus on the need for continuous improvement in the quality of schools, including student achievement and teacher performance. Performance-based pay has been repeatedly suggested as a way to improve teaching in school systems. Therefore, a more thorough understanding of the differences in the perceptions…

In this article, the author hopes to address the challenge of patriotism in this current age. She wants to challenge those who are patriotic enough to criticize common discourses about the nation and national policies to work on recapturing the language so that real debate is not only possible but valued. She makes her argument in a time when this…

This is the fifth edition of the State Governance Action Report that has been produced since 2000 by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges' (AGB's) Ingram Center for Public Trusteeship and Governance. Focusing primarily on state and higher education policies directly affecting governance, trusteeship, and institutionally…

This article reports on an exploratory study of the factors perceived by school personnel to contribute to success in high-performing, high-needs (HPHN) rural schools. It is based on earlier research in HPHN schools that identified 4 key components of success (leadership, instruction, professional community, and school environment) and explored…

Site-based management has failed to generate change significant enough to increase student learning even where principals, leadership teams, and faculties have had extensive Organizational Development training. The problem may lie in the nature of the workplace rather than in the reasonableness of the theory. This work presents a structure of…

Volume 1 begins with the Commissioner of Education's introduction. Chapters include: (1) the work of the Bureau of Education; (2) a list of the writings of William Torrey Harris; (3) education in Great Britain and Ireland for the year 1906-1907; (4) education in France; (5) education in Central Europe; (6) Educational Activity in Foochow, China;…

A survey of 557 school boards across Canada was conducted to obtain a profile of the political and local background of Canadian school board members. The importance of such factors as age, race, sex, income, occupation, education, organizational membership, political affiliation and family involvement within the education system is discussed. (TLJ)

In the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) era, accountability has focused almost exclusively on basic academic skills. In this article, the authors ask if the accountability system they have is producing the kind of graduates they want. They state that NCLB holds all elementary schools, regardless of student characteristics, accountable for achieving…

This article reports on a study of Illinois school board presidents' perspectives on teacher tenure. It begins with an historical overview of the development of teacher tenure from its roots in the 1880s civil service legislation through the establishment of teacher tenure in the United States to an examination of current teacher tenure laws and…

Key players in U.S. and Canadian vocational education and workforce training resemble each other. Motives from cultural values, ethics, or personal gain drive players' interaction. The U.S. government is increasing availability of grant funding but influencing policy by stipulating conditions on grant monies. In Canada, the federal government is…

This report reviews the seven times that the courts have considered the question of whether school boards can remove books from school libraries. Because the first and the three most recent cases upheld the rights of boards, while the other three cases were won by plaintiffs who had filed their cases against the boards, the differences in the…

The central purpose of this paper is to describe the origins, assumptions, approaches, and problems of the major evaluation efforts relating to vocational education specified in the Educational Amendments of 1976. The first of five chapters provides background information on vocational education, evaluation, and the Education Amendments of 1976.…

The Council of the Great City Schools surveyed its member districts in the fall of 2004 to determine the characteristics of school boards and board members in U.S. urban schools. This was the first survey of its school boards and this report contains the results of that survey. Respondents were asked to provide information on a range of topics…