In recent years, policymakers and scholars argued that state education agencies (SEAs) should move away from simply acting as compliance monitors and take on more prominent roles as providers of technical support to schools and school districts. Scholars find that SEAs have struggled to do so, yet there is little empirical work to explain what…

In this paper we match originally collected survey data from school board members in the state of Michigan with hard measures of school district outcomes to test two hypotheses regarding the relationship between strategic planning prioritization and organizational performance. We find that school board members who place a higher priority on…

In this article, we use originally collected survey data to determine how nonprofit charter school board members in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota define accountability. We find that charter board members generally define accountability downward toward student achievement and staff performance, inward toward board performance, or…

This paper offers a critical review of a report published in March by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan titled "Improving Oversight of Michigan Charter Schools and Their Authorizers." The report argues that charter schools and charter school authorizers need more oversight. Making the case for this position might include…

Recent decades have witnessed a proliferation of nationally organized school reform interest groups like StudentsFirst. While historically active at the state and federal levels, these organizations are increasingly involving themselves in local school board elections by recruiting candidates, making donations, and offering policy advice. However,…

Mayoral control of public schools is nothing new. Boston pioneered the practice in 1992, replacing elected school committee members with mayoral appointees. Since then, a dozen urban districts--including Cleveland, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C.--have undergone a similar change in school governance that has shifted some or most of…

Locally controlled public schools are one of the cornerstones of our nation's democracy, yet many schools are not preparing students for success. Far too many students are not graduating, and many of those who do graduate are woefully unprepared for college or a meaningful career. Successfully initiating and sustaining meaningful improvements in…

This article examines how the political structure of school elections contributes to leadership perspectives related to school-community engagement. Interview data from school superintendents, school board presidents, and city mayors across four cities and two election types were analyzed to determine if differences in school election structure…

The Community College Act of 1966 was enacted to redraft and unite the laws relating to community colleges in the state of Michigan. This document includes the original document plus amendments passed as of March 1999. The first part deals with the creation and government of districts. This includes districts comprised of elementary and…

Surveys of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin school board members indicate significant impact of state collective bargaining legislation on perceived ability of board members to perform legislatively prescribed duties. (Author/JBM)

A panel presentation and discussion of the effect of politics on the elected governing boards of the public higher education institutions in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, and Nevada, especially in relation to board election procedures and the state system's complexity, is summarized. (MSE)

A study was undertaken of the patterns of governance and coordination of higher education in six states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, and New Jersey. The purpose of the study was to develop an overview of the variety of methods used and to draw analyses of commonalities and differences among them. While the trend has been…

Discusses the importance of policy-making autonomy for state universities and reviews several recent state court decisions affirming their substantial independence from interference by state legislatures or state boards of education. (JG)

Chapter 4 of a volume on school leadership, this chapter is a revised version of the issue of "School Management Digest" entitled "School Based Management." It draws from the work of many authorities to define, explain, and make a case for school-based management, a system of educational administration in which the school is…

Background data pertaining to postsecondary education in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio are presented as part of a seminar on statewide concerns about the future of public higher education, which was part of an inservice education program. For each state the following is included: demographic and fiscal information, a description of the…