This report presents data from a survey of all 102 Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) member districts and the nation's 50 largest cities that examined the length of service of current superintendents and tenure of their predecessors between 1985 and June 2000. The average tenure for superintendents who had recently left their positions…

The superintendent of West Bloomfield schools (Orchard Lake, Michigan) finds that the hours he spends visiting and teaching classes have the highest rate of return (on a cost-benefit basis) of any single activity. (Author/WM)

To govern the schools well in today's climate of confrontation and conflict, school board members must be ready and willing to make unpopular decisions when necessary. (Author)

Outlines a formal, specific, and structured method a board can use in evaluating a superintendent. (IRT)

Have you ever thought about what life would be like as a school superintendent? Despite the multitude of problems that accompany the job, author contends that the superintendency is a position unmatched in personal and professional rewards. (Editor/RK)

Describes beneficial experience as both an executive coach and a client. (PKP)

Reports results of national survey of superintendents' top reading choices from a list of 34 periodicals in educational leadership. Superintendents' top-ranked periodicals are "Educational Leadership,""Phi Delta Kappan,""School Administrator," and "American School Board Journal." (Contains 24 references.) (PKP)

Uses survey instrument and interviews to examine superintendents' perceptions of quality and quantity of principal candidates in one state. Finds that 50 percent of superintendents reported "somewhat extreme" to "extreme" shortages of principals and 30.2 percent rated the quality of principal candidates as either "fair" or "poor." Provides several…

Superintendent of the Rochester School Department, Rochester, New Hampshire, discusses the value of the publications available from the National Forum on Education Statistics. Describes how superintendents can obtain Forum publication through its website at www.nces.gov/forum. (PKP)

Assesses the association of role conflict and ambiguity with the administrative stress cycle. Surveys 1,000 randomly selected Washington State principals and superintendents, using the Administrator Work Inventory, consisting of the Administrator Stress Index, Malasch Burnout Inventory, Role Questionnaire, and demographic and organizational…

Participants in Educorps, a network of retired superintendents, travel throughout New York State to dispense hard-won advice to fellow school executives. During Educorps's first 20 months, 200 consultants have helped 60 school systems tackle financial planning, curriculum development, and public-relations issues. Services are free, minus…

Tells how being coached can help superintendents and principals improve their leadership and problem-solving skills. (PKP)

Shares some core values for effective leadership based on 20 years of experience as a superintendent: Define priorities, establish procedures to evaluate staff, respond to criticism, ensure that staff understand board members do not have individual authority, model learning for others, communicate with clarity and specificity. (PKP)

Basan N. Nembirkow grew up as a pre-adolescent adoring the Brooklyn Dodgers, and his friends in central New Jersey applied the nickname of Buzz, to which he still answers. But in other respects, it would be hard to suggest Basan Nembirkow is simply a product of a middle-class American upbringing. Nembirkow, who is about to finish his second year…