Addressing the urgent challenges of school leadership in our divided, post-pandemic landscape, "The Governance Core 2.0" is an essential guide for school trustees and superintendents dedicated to making a meaningful difference in their districts. Davis Campbell, Michael Fullan, and Babs Kavanaugh provide useful tools and techniques to…

According to the California School Board Association, the role of the school board is to ensure that school districts are responsive to the values, beliefs, and priorities of their communities. Even though board members have a complex list of roles and responsibilities, CSBA assigns five primary major responsibilities: setting direction,…

Lone Star Governance (LSG), a governance model rooted in school board best practices, was developed for Texas school board trustees and their superintendent to improve student outcomes (Crabill, 2017). This phenomenological study investigated school board members' perceptions compared to the perceptions of superintendents regarding the LSG…

Background/Context: Since the early 1990s, the United States has been witnessing reforms in large, high-visibility cities, with mayors granted the power to appoint school boards, superintendents, or both. This shift away from elected school board governance has been characterized as marginalizing traditional educators and ushering in reforms that…

This mixed methods exploratory case study illuminates work of educational governance in a rural school district that has experienced dramatic improvement over a five-year period between 2017 and 2021. As such, we offer practical insights about how these leaders support continuous improvement, and theoretical insights about rurality, leadership,…

In this article, Arnold Shober asserts that despite the special challenges of public governance, state boards can effectively serve as beacons of policy. An effective board is driven by effective members whatever its structure, and effective members are committed to a shared agenda and the larger project of providing direction for a state's…

Educational outcomes for Black & brown students are the result of well-functioning school systems overwrought with top-down bureaucracy that stifle school-based leaders from generating school-based solutions. The dominant explanation is the growing power and influence of politically-driven school board members cut off from local, national, and…

Among the top reasons public school superintendents leave their positions is the poor relationships and conflicts with board members, and union representatives (Grissom & Mitani, 2016). The national average of superintendent tenure is less than four years resulting in K-12 leadership instability, at all levels of the school and district office…

Evaluating the superintendent is the paramount duty of the school board. Current evaluation practices are inconsistent and meaningless for providing effective feedback. The researcher was interested in understanding this issue from the school board's perspective. Research questions addressed were: '(1) What current evaluation practices…

The narrative of superintendent's leaving school districts shortly after being hired is a national phenomenon with significant impacts on the capacity of educational systems to make progress and improvement. Exacerbated in high need/reform districts, evidence of dysfunction in the relationship between the superintendent and board of education…

The Board of Education's mission is to equitably educate the whole child so that every student graduates with the tools to reach their full potential (Houston Independent School District (HISD), 2019). To succeed in their mission, the board participates in Lone Star Governance, whose intent is to provide a continuous improvement model for…

A beloved, respected, and highly accomplished superintendent in a rural, high-risk district, Mr. Carroll, is confronted with dissident board members for the first time in his 7-year tenure. Two newly elected members have strained relationships between current board members and are calling for his resignation based upon what they perceive as low…

In this autoethnographic research study, I examined my journey as an experienced superintendent in developing an effective relationship with the Board of Education in a new school district. This study examined the relevant research on the importance of the relationship between the Board and the superintendent of schools, the characteristics of a…

Purpose: In the wake of school board protests nationwide, it is essential for educational leaders, policymakers, and researchers to understand locally controlled educational governance. The stability of educational districts depends on superintendents navigating relationships with their school boards, yet little research exists that addresses…

In this article, the authors use original survey data to test the determinants of priority conflict on urban school boards in the United States. The results indicate that school district demographics, including the percentage of English language learners and education spending per pupil, impact the extent to which urban school board members hold…