Sadly, the fiscal condition of school systems now not only is troublesome, but in some cases has surpassed all expectations for the worst-case scenario. Among the states, one common response is to drop funding for public education to inadequate levels, leading to permanent program cuts, school closures, staff layoffs, district dissolutions and…

Superintendents across the country have shared their frustration with planning initiatives that consume valuable chunks of time and energy without yielding a viable tool to drive improvement and accountability. In this article, the authors provide an example that reflects the actual experience of a school district whose identity they are shielding…

The evaluation of a superintendent is often a stressful, unpleasant experience for both the superintendent and the members of the school board. Typical board trustees have little experience in evaluating CEOs. Worse yet, they are hamstrung by the limitations inherent to their roles. They lack the advantage of a day-to-day working relationship with…

Chief executive officers in the proprietary and nonprofit sectors have found that well-designed board standing committees can serve as very effective governing engines, producing several important outcomes. This is true among boards of education as well. Above all else, standing committees can divide the labor of governing into chewable chunks,…

Much confusion exists today among board of education members and superintendents about governance roles, especially when a district is low performing and the public is demanding bold reform. Part of the confusion comes from the definition of reform. To many Americans, school reform means fine-tuning what education historian David B. Tyack calls…