This report presents findings of a 1985 national study of the local school board. Information was gathered from case studies in nine major metropolitan areas, questionnaires administered to over 200 school board chairpersons, and literature on board governance. Chapter 1 offers an overview and questionnaire results. Chapter 2 summarizes major…

An index that shows the historic evolution of the founding of the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus is presented. The references to citations are those pertinent to action by the Normandy Board of Education concerning establishment of the University, originally as a residence center and eventually as a four-year state university. Since no…

Under the superintendent's guidance, the Riverside (California) Unified School District underwent decentralization between 1960 and 1978. The process involved seven stages: (1) conceptualizing and actualizing a "cooperative community" committed to educating every child, (2) communicating these concepts to key individuals, (3)…

In light of issues surrounding control of local school boards in Ontario, Canada, this opinion survey of 197 board trustees was conducted to determine support for full-time trustee representation. Questionnaires--sent by stratified random sampling--solicited demographic, geographic, and personal information and sought trustees' opinions on whether…

The dissatisfaction theory of school governance predicts that, when community dissatisfaction with schools is great enough, the following events occur: (1) public demand increases for new policies and procedures; (2) the number of split votes by the school board increases; (3) the rate of school board member turnover increases; and (4) involuntary…

This report describes how successful statewide programs of educational standards and assessment are established and briefly discusses causes of program failure. Four key stages characterize effective program establishment: (1) planning, (2) development, (3) implementation, and (4) monitoring. Planning involves interaction among all parties, for…

This study of the school board agenda-setting role among 30 Minnesota superintendents interprets their perceptions in relation to environmental contexts, group demands, issues control, and district enrollment size. A microperspective of David Easton's political systems model provided the guiding conceptual framework. Respondents were interviewed…

Drawing on survey data from 83 New York school districts and case studies of 6 districts, the project reported here explores several aspects of schools and districts as organizations. The conceptual framework guiding the study emphasizes that educational organizations are not governed either by their structure or by the reactions of individuals,…