Amid stepped-up school accountability pressures under the No Child Left Behind Act, many teachers appear to be adjusting how they do their jobs. However, principals and district leaders are not necessarily in control of those instructional changes, a new study concludes. Using data collected through surveys of math teachers, principals, and…

Proponents of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) hail it as vital legislation that supports a civil rights agenda because of explicit recognition that achievement gaps are unacceptable. One way to make sense of NCLB's impact on school divisions and to understand whether NCLB recognizes the complexity of why minority and low-socioeconomic-background…

When Jerry D. Weast became the superintendent of the Montgomery County, Maryland, public schools in 1999, he spent the summer poring over student-achievement results and demographic trends. Then he created a map to illustrate what he'd found. The map divided the suburban district, just outside the nation's capital, into two distinct areas, which…

Background: Massive retirements, increased expectations, and mounting political pressures have resulted in a diminished talent pool for school superintendents. For school boards of the 124 school districts on Long Island, New York, the selection of a superintendent has been further complicated by sky-rocketing taxes and scandals leading to an…

The long-term concern relative to education inequity indicates that the nation's youth will not be adequately prepared for the global and highly competitive marketplace of the 21st century (Casner-Lotto & Barrington, 2006). Initiatives to address this concern persist, including the creation of the virtual charter school (Vanourek, 2006;…

Since the passage of The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a superintendent's role has been redefined and more focus has been placed on student achievement. Research demonstrates that rural public schools are faced with an educational crisis. Rural districts are faced with an epidemic of declining enrollments/budgets, increased drop-out rates, low…

Fourteen questions to help a board decide what it will do if its teachers go on strike. (IRT)

Notes on topics such as verbal and nonverbal cues for ending a conversation; attitudes of unmarried couples living together; and responsibilities of school superintendents. (JF)

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), as the representative of the top school executives in all 50 states and six territories, is one of the most influential education organizations in the country. (Author/MLF)

ADDRESSED PRIMARILY TO SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS, THIS BOOKLET IS BASED ON RESEARCH AND THE EXPERIENCE OF SOUTHERN SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS IN INSTITUTING FACULTY DESEGREGATION. EXISTING PRACTICES AS WELL AS A NUMBER OF SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS ARE OUTLINED. THERE IS ALSO AN ANNOTATED SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY. THIS DOCUMENT IS ALSO AVAILABLE FOR 50 CENTS FROM…

Role expectations for the public school superintendent have outstripped the capacity of most individuals to fill them. Superintendents must now deal with an ever-increasing number of political interest groups who raise complex issues for the school system. In light of these developments, the tenure of superintendents is politically hazardous as…

The problems of a small district are very nearly the same as those of a large district. The best way the superintendent of a small district can cope with daily problems is to get a good board of education behind him, get the board involved, provide the board with good inservice programs, obtain good middle administrators, give principals full…

This speech discusses criteria for hiring, evaluating, and rehiring or discharging superintendents by school boards. The presentation stresses that most board evaluation methods are weak and suggests a superintendent evaluation checklist such as the one used by the Fort Worth Board of Education as a workable remedy. (JF)

The School Administrator Morale Measure and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire were employed to investigate the relationship between the morale of 240 Georgia directors of curriculum instruction and perceived leader behavior of Georgia school superintendents. Data indicated "consideration" and size of school system were the…