The Council of the Great City Schools surveyed its member districts in the fall of 2008 to determine the characteristics of school boards and school board members in the nation's major urban school districts. This is the second such survey that the organization has conducted in the last several years. The first was in 2005. Survey forms were prepared via the web survey tool, "Zoomerang", and a link to the survey was emailed in the fall of 2008 to school board representatives in each member district. To increase response rates, the survey link was emailed again in January 2009. Respondents were asked to provide information on a range of topics, including board governance; board structure and organization; and the demographics of school board members. The survey also included questions about board member compensation, benefits, elections, and activities. Surveys were received from 42 of the 67 member districts, for a response rate of 64 percent. All data presented in this report are in summary form, and all responses are based on an "n" of 42 unless otherwise noted. (Contains 14 figures and 1 footnote.)