In this issue of the "Equity Dispatch" we focus on the collective power of minoritized communities to positively impact the quality of education students receive within their districts through the selection of equity-focused, locally-elected school board members.

Given the pace of their work, school administrators often find it difficult to sift through the massive volume of primary academic research produced each year to find specific pieces that might be useful to inform their practice. In response to this issue, the author developed and implemented a strategy to filter research for local relevance and…

While the teacher shortage is a national crisis, the manifestations of the shortage are felt most acutely at the local district level. The diversity of these micro-contexts often leads to disparities in the ways local school systems are served by large-scale initiatives. District leaders provide an important lens for understanding the localized…

This study, proposed by the West Virginia School Boards Association at the request of the West Virginia Legislature's Oversight Committee was designed to examine the kinds of decisions and nature of actions of local school boards in West Virginia between July 1985 and July 1990. A qualitative research design consisting of emergent category…

Investigates administrative processes involved in setting up the School Organization Committee (SOC) in one Shire County in England. Examines the role of the SOC and the implications for central-local power relations in the development of educational policy. (CMK)

Political factors that school superintendents perceive as related to decision making were studied using a random sample of 172 superintendents from 11 southeastern states. The results show that the greatest political influences were local and state sources within the organizational structure of the school districts. (SLD)

Using a feminist perspective, this paper attempts to quantify the position of women in educational policymaking in Britain in this century at national and local levels. Women have been in the minority and have not generally been a "shrieking sisterhood," guided primarily by feminist principles. (SLD)

The Education North Evaluation Project monitored operation of the Education North Project (a 1978-82 project aimed at encouraging parents, teachers, and other community members in small, isolated northern Alberta communities to work together in improving the quality of education for school-aged children), assessed project outcomes, and developed…

The report and evaluation of Education North (a project designed to encourage parents, community members, and teachers in small, isolated, primarily Native and Metis communities in northern Alberta to work together to meet community educational needs) is comprised of three parts. Part One presents an update of Education North activities and…