Veteran school board member, Richard E. Mayer, takes a humorous but substantive approach to the serious relationship between school administrators and board members. While the overwhelming majority of school board members have good motives, even people who mean well can make bad moves. This book shows how to prevent good intentions from creating…

School board members are entrusted by taxpayers to establish and maintain quality in their school systems. Unfortunately, most board members lack the experience or training necessary to face a wide range of new and daunting challenges. This book was designed to help school administrators and board members understand the principles of Total Quality…

This booklet is intended to provide new school board members with the background and basic information they need to perform their tasks successfully. It attempts to convey a broad understanding of the board member's role, including its scope, limitations, responsibilities, potential pitfalls, and opportunities. Various chapters discuss the…

This study of policy making is set in Chicago's school system during the late 1960's. The three case studies presented here identify a school board's response to core issues faced by school policy makers in the largest of the central cities in the United States. After applying both bargaining and unitary models to the Chicago school board's policy…

The simulation materials in this booklet have been presented in the form of problems encountered by the school board trustee. The use of these materials can be directed to serve the following objectives: (1) improve skills related to the administrative processes of decision-making, supervision, planning, and problem-solving; (2) increase…

This guide describes how to include employees and school customers in decision making. It stresses the belief that inclusion results in better decisions than those made by individuals or by a specific group. The volume is directed to two audiences: practitioners and citizens who are responsible for making decisions related to a school's human…

This book is an easy-to-use guide for school boards in how to use data intelligently when evaluating student achievement, educational improvement, and school accountability. Its purpose is to encourage school boards to use data as a basis for their decision-making instead of speculation, perception, or limited observation. Board members can learn…

How does one become an effective superintendent of schools? There is no simple formula as the turnover rate reflects difficulty of the position. Some maintain that the job cannot be done well due to politics, financial constraints, and time demands. As a former superintendent, the author rejects this negative view. In this highly readable,…

This book focuses on the question of how citizen participation affects the making of the school budget, the crucial controlling instrument of modern bureaucratic organizations. The four communities studied differed in size, social and economic characteristics, and form of government. Chapter 1 introduces the topic and begins the discussion of the…

Community colleges are failing to realize their potential because of problems at the very highest level of policy and management decision-making. Publicly elected trustees are apt to have political allegiances. Community college boards are usually too small to represent the range of talent and experience needed for constructing effective trustees…

This book closely examines the functioning of the Education Committee of the Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention. As an administrative assistant to the committee throughout the convention, the author was able to gather detailed information about the committee's activities through personal observation and interviews with committee members.…

The major focus of this study is on altering the current structure of collective bargaining in public education to provide for adequate community participation. Concentrating on big city school systems where minorities and the poor have historically been apart from the educational policy-making process, the study finds that the scope of bargaining…

The format of this book addresses the most salient questions administrators, school board members, and community stakeholders need to ask to ensure academic and fiscal accountability, providing definitions, background information and the current research. Readers will be provided with sufficient knowledge to effectively question the financial…

This book offers instructions for school principals, assistant principals, teachers, and district-level administrators for building a comprehensive accountability system that focuses on leadership skills. It presents recommendations for assessing and nurturing teacher performance, setting up balanced assessment and accountability policies, and…