The performance of public schools and the achievement of their students influence many important outcomes beyond the classroom, including one that may seem surprising: health. Studies consistently show a strong correlation between educational level and health over a lifetime, even after controlling for demographic characteristics such as income.…

Facing a superintendent change in 2006-2007, Decatur Public School District 61 in Illinois was already confronting the major challenges of a widening student achievement gap, increasing dropout rate, and schools not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). From the beginning, Superintendent Gloria J. Davis professed several simple beliefs that…

The Illinois Junior College Board's role, standards, and guidelines, and those of the Illinois public junior colleges are outlined in three parts. The first (Philosophy, Roles, Relationships) deals with the role of the state board and its relationships to local boards and other state boards. The state board provides leadership in various…

An effective school requires an effective leader, but great principals rarely just happen. They are cultivated. This Wallace Perspective draws on a decade of foundation research and work in school leadership to show how urban school districts can play a major role in ensuring they have principals who can boost teaching and learning in troubled…

A survey of 115 newly-elected Illinois school board members and 77 superintendents collected information on training and orientation programs for school board members. Both urban and rural superintendents and board members indicated a need for increased orientation and training opportunities. (MH)

Recent educational reform initiatives have caused the state to examine its role in regulation of schools, and the current regulatory processes have been found to be in need of revision. The current system, in which the state grants "recognition" to schools that meet its standards based on whether they meet a rigidly defined set of…

The literature on collective bargaining in public education typically argues whether such bargaining is good public policy or bad, sound or unsound, and so forth. No studies to date have measured the actual impact of differing kinds of collective bargaining legislation on local school boards' decisionmaking powers. This study examined whether two…

This handbook is intended to help school boards become more effective governing bodies by becoming more efficient in conducting routine business, improving their abilities to reach constructive decisions and to solve problems, making their meetings sources of good will among members, students, and the community, and developing and following…

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…

This booklet was designed as a guide for administrators involved in the school desegregation process in Illinois. The following information is provided: a list of requirements for the elimination and prevention of school segregation and racial discrimination under Illinois' School Code; a model for local districts to use in implementing…

School boards must recognize that bargaining with unionized teachers is becoming inevitable. Attempts to postpone formal negotiation usually result in giving away more by accident than would have been the case in the formal situation. While it is true that formal bargaining involves an adversary relationship between school boards and teachers,…

An examination of the activities of two state boards having jurisdiction over community colleges in Illinois determined that twice as much time and effort was devoted to control as compared to coordination; thus, a board with greater control powers may be necessary to handle competition among institutions within an education system. (JG)

Illinois' school-reform act of 1985 authorized the development of an Administrators Academy for training principals to evaluate teachers and for training superintendents to evaluate principals. Renewal of school administrators' certification was contingent upon attendance. Some practitioners, educators, and state association directors began to…

This document is a report to the Board (for its use in developing "Master Plan--Phase III" for higher education in Illinois) by Committee Q, a representative group of 14 Illinois educators who were asked to explore the existing status and quality of teacher education in Illinois colleges and universities and to suggest how it might be…