Social media has permeated almost every aspect of the lives of anyone who utilizes the internet. Teachers and students are no exception. Students are most likely to use social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. This research focuses on best practices related to augmenting school curriculum to utilize these tools to increase student…

This worksheet from the National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) is an optional tool to help schools organize multiple years of student and program data for the purpose of identifying school-completion needs that can be addressed through the implementation of research-based interventions. It is designed for use…

Believing that school boards must continuously assess their own performances in order to act effectively, the National School Boards Association and the American Association of School Administrators produced this brief guide to self-evaluation for school boards. The authors recommend adoption of a written policy on goal setting and…

Selecting a superintendent is a complex and varied process. This is a comprehensive how-to guide intended to represent an overview of questions, problems, and actions a school board will have to consider and plan for in the search for a new superintendent. Early decisions include setting a schedule for the selection procedure, choosing a search…

The superintendent, as the district educational leader, has responsibility toward the board of education and instructional staff. The latter function is encouraged and monitored by superintendents who use inservice programs, central office instructional and curriculum specialists, teacher committees, principals, and consultants to identify and…

Summarizes the characteristics of a winning school board team and provides a "togetherness index" to help boards evaluate their effectiveness. (MLF)

Three Illinois community college chairs were selected to participate in this study, which examined the challenges faced by community college board chairs. In Illinois, the chair is an elected official, who has been selected by her or his fellow trustees to fulfill a statutory obligation and to serve the college in a leadership position. The author…

Given the important role of local school boards in the school-restructuring movement, this paper presents findings of a study that identified what board chairs in North Carolina knew about school restructuring. The study also examined the extent to which chairs agreed with major ideological tenets of school restructuring and with their…

The Gaston County (North Carolina) board and superintendent have developed a board self-evaluation questionnaire and a community questionnaire to improve the board's effectiveness as a policy-making body. The 30-item community questionnaire is appended. (MLF)

This paper presents the findings of a single case study of a particular board of education's decision-making process in a crisis situation, and explores interpretation of those findings from two theoretical perspectives. The crisis resulted from the charges against and conviction of the superintendent for a sexual assault on a 17-year-old female…

Provides questions and commentary that child care center board members can use to evaluate the board's organization, development, and functions. (DR)

The IBT TOEFL has become the principal example of online high stakes language testing since 2005. Most instructors who do the preparation for IBT TOEFL face two main realities: first, students are eager and highly motivated to take the test because of the prospective implications; and, second, specific studies would be necessary to see if…

This paper presents findings of a study that attempted to predict the future concerns of a sample of Canadian school board members. The three-round Delphi study was conducted by mail with a random sample of 350 school board members in a western Canadian province. The response rate was 39 percent. Participants predicted that their future top…

This book discusses those aspects of conduct and performance which apply universally to members of all boards of education, regardless of types and levels of educational institutions involved. It can be used as a source of information for members individually, in a planned program for the full board, or in orientation conferences with new members.…

One of the key responsibilities of a school board is to adopt procedures for regular evaluation of the superintendent's performance. This handbook therefore provides specific suggestions for developing these procedures. Based on a question-and-answer format, the handbook is divided into seven chapters: (1) Evaluating your superintendent (a summary…