An attempt is made to judge characteristics affecting a school district's fiscal performance by conducting a factor analysis on 74 variables having factor loadings of .30 or greater. The 16 factors studied (containing the 74 variables) include many facets of school board fiscal policy and information on the kinds of people who make the policies.…

Poses four questions to use in assessing the quality of a board of education. (IRT)

Provides a set of 10 rules, with some explanations of how and why they work, that a school district uses in school board hearings. The rules help each side organize its case, save time and embarrassment, and ensure a fair hearing for everyone. (MLF)

The School Governor's One-Stop Shop (SGOSS) was established by the Department of Education and Employment in 1999. Its mission was to recruit volunteers from the business, industry and the public sector who had transferable management skills and experience in order to add value to the governing bodies of those inner-city schools facing the…

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…

In her book "Building Better Boards," Sister Lourdes Sheehan listed eight reasons for establishing and fostering Catholic education boards. This paper presents findings of a study that gathered information about boards in different types of Catholic elementary and secondary schools. A national survey of almost 1,400 Catholic schools received 806…

The basic function of any school board meeting is the transaction of the official business of the school district. Policies that direct the daily activities of the school are derived through this transaction process. If an understanding of the intricacies, actions, and interactions of each group that participates either directly or indirectly in a…

This report draws on the results of an extensive study to illuminate the nature of school boards and the challenges they face. Data were gathered from a survey of board members in 2,000 school districts. The response rate was 41 percent. Following are some of the more notable findings from the study. Boards in large districts (more than 25,000…

Suggests that schoolboards exercise as a priority task their responsibility to serve as strong links between the schools and the public. Offers a recipe for an "accountability" annual report. (Author/WM)

Discusses the changes in governance operations, the annual review procedure, and the relationship between teachers and administrators required for a board of education to implement educational reforms. Offers suggestions to school boards to prevent many of the problems associated with administrative change. (FMW)

Once a year a formal session should be held in which the board analyzes itself through observations of the board's effectiveness made by superintendents, as well as a few principals, teachers, and students. (Author)

Written board policies help school board chairmen keep their cool." (EA)

A reminder to board members about the National School Board Association convention, and a preview of new educational products and services. (RA)