"Improving School Board Effectiveness" offers a clarifying and essential look at the evolving role of school boards and how they contribute to efforts to improve student learning. It examines how board members can establish effective district priorities, and it explores those board policies and actions that result in shared, districtwide…

Since the publication of McREL's "2003 Annual Report," McREL staff members wrote more than 100 published articles in practitioner and peer-reviewed journals describing what they know from four decades of research on effective schools as well as years of practical experience working to help educators raise student performance: that…

This book combines theoretical debate and empirical evidence of the effectiveness and relevancy of local school boards today. Original theorists of competing school board governance theories, current researchers, and researcher/practitioners provided the latest empirical data about the role of school boards as well as applications for…

This comprehensive volume will spur and strengthen public debate over the role of teachers unions in education reform for years to come. Collective bargaining shapes the way public schools are organized, financed, staffed, and operated. Understanding collective bargaining in education and its impact on the day-to-day life of schools is critical to…

This case study documents how the school board of the city of New Rochelle, New York, handled change when it transmuted from being appointed to being elected. Local policy implications undergird such a transition. Specifically, a review of political influences and outcomes on school board policy and how the board and the city's politicians coped…

Prepared by the State Board of Directors for Community Colleges of Arizona, these 1- to 2-page Briefs describe key policies related to the governance and operations of the state's community colleges. The first section focuses on the role of the State Board, presenting policies related to state and local governance; the statutory powers of state…

Defining the role of the school district's attorney and selecting the proper individual to fill that role are the two major topics of this booklet. The first chapter, by Edgar H. Bittle, reviews the district counsel's range of responsibilities. Chapter 2, by Ralph D. Stern, focuses on the attorney's role in policy matters. In the third chapter,…

This publication presents 10 documents collected to accompany a seminar entitled "What To Do When Contagious Disease Strikes Your School," presented at the 31st annual convention of the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education in 1985. The materials include (1) an agenda of the seminar listing the speakers, their topics, and…

The days following September 11, 2001, were characterized for many by a startling clarity, as if someone had applied a magnified lens to life's everyday routines and every moment, every gesture, every word exchanged with friends, colleagues and family was more nuanced and precious than before. The decision to publish this volume of essays was…

The first report from this study, "Leading From The Middle: Mid-Level District Staff and Instructional Improvement," was published in August, 2004. Since its publication, Leading from the Middle has been an important tool in helping school and district staff, policy makers, researchers, and reform advocates think differently about the role of the…

This monograph guides administrators in developing policies that lead to improved supervision of instruction. Chapter 1, "The Mystery of Effective Teaching," by Barbara Benham Tye, focuses on improving schools' work environment through the supportive methods of clinical supervision. Arthur L. Costa describes five phases of the process…

This book provides school business administrators with an introduction to a variety of legal issues relevant to their professional roles. The book is divided into three major sections: management issues, employment issues, and constitutional issues. The topics covered in the seven-chapter section on management issues include board and district…