School boards and superintendents should take steps to minimize the community's shock reaction to lower school enrollments, school consolidation, and school closings. (Author)

Citing some alarming statistics concerning our aging population, declining middle-class birthrates, a burgeoning underclass, and the broadening gap between the rich and poor, this article deplores our society's inability to confront the fading "American Dream" and urges schools to begin recruiting more poor and minority children to the middle…

Provides demographic data on board of education members in various regions of the country. (IRT)

This is a compilation of educational data, presented in charts, for each state and the District of Columbia. Included are demographic data, financial and budgetary data, and academic information. Also included are national averages for each item listed. Includes the 16 sources for the information presented here. (WFA)

Results of a national survey of board of education members include demographic information and outline the members' most pressing concerns. Members' concerns are compared with those the general public expressed in the 1979 Gallup Poll. (Author/IRT)

According to a recent nationwide survey of major U.S. school systems, 50 responding districts experienced a total net loss of 1,380 students between 1980-1987, but had a net loss of 218 schools. This article examines economic and other factors driving student enrollment trends and shows which districts closed and opened the most schools between…

Redrawing school attendance boundaries is one of the most sensitive tasks a school board faces. Factors to consider include the following: (1) life span of the change; (2) effective date; (3) racial balance; (4) resource equity; and (5) program, public, and financial impact. Outlines a process for developing redistricting plans. (MLF)

School board members can accurately be labeled as suburban, white, middle or upper-middle class, and middle-aged. School board membership is, however, no longer almost exclusively male; females made up 26 percent of the respondents in the study. (Author/IRT)

Using recent national survey data, these three articles analyze the political processes involved in electing board of education members, their demographic profile (male, while, affluent), and their top concerns (financial support, curriculum development, and state mandates). Although women and minorities are making progress, board composition has…

Describes how renovation and a little imagination can convert a city's older commercial buildings into sensitive, supportive quarters for education. The demographic changes within New York are offered as an example to other cities of the need for new kinds of facilities, rather than the need for new additional structures. (Author/WM)

Superintendents in 153 cities with populations of from 50,000 to 100,000 were sent questionnaires asking information about school board members. Responses from 89 superintendents provided information about 597 board members. Findings indicate that whether or not board members receive pay has little effect on the makeup of school boards. (MLF)

New school board members need orientation and training as an ongoing process to function effectively as team members. Offers general principles and specific suggestions. Includes 10 guidelines for board behavior and demographic data about board members. (MLF)

New this year to the annual desk reference of key education facts is a special report on immigration, followed by education events in review; spending on school construction and renovation; demographics of school leadership; indicators of school performance and progress; and education indicators by region and by state. (MLF)

An elementary school in a densely populated district with a heavy concentration of poor, minority, and immigrant students was scheduled for demolition because of highway construction. Kenneth L. Moffett, superintendent, took on a bureaucratic Goliath and secured a new school underground that is secure and beautiful. The school board named the…

A new generation of children, those born between 1977 and 1993, are sometimes called the "echo boom." These children and teenagers differ from each other in race, religion, living arrangements, and socioeconomic class. Understanding the demographics of these students can help school boards meet the challenges of preparing this generation for the…