The traditional trustee-superintendent relationship is based on trustees' lack of direct access to knowledge and both parties' expectation that the paid expert (the superintendent) should do the work. This article calls for a drastically revised board-superintendent relationship and outlines new ways to recruit board members and move current…

Opponents depict outcome-based education as an unproven one-size-fits-all experiment. Uncompromising attacks, principally from conservative Christian groups and tradition-minded parents and educators, are obstructing meaningful reform and costing some superintendents their jobs. Sidebars show how certain districts responded to the backlash, decode…

Mastering the new professional standards for superintendents is important, but courageous risk-taking, timing, and judgment are the "heart-and-soul" factors of leadership. The usual board/superintendent relationship is inconsistent with site-based management and building autonomy. Perhaps boards should develop a clearly defined set of performance…

Following the August 1991 state takeover of the Paterson (New Jersey) Schools, the new district superintendent launched a program to improve the city's four worst elementary schools. The process involved creating an administrative team to evaluate principals and school programs, replacing key staff, forming a partnership with Columbia University's…

Discrepancies between what a school board wants and what a superintendent thinks it wants contribute to turmoil in many school districts. In a study of evaluation procedures in 36 Wisconsin school districts, superintendents ranked determining their salary as the third most important purpose of the evaluation whereas the board presidents ranked it…

By acting as a facilitator and working for a consensual solution, a superintendent can begin developing widespread support toward a reasonable solution. Offers guidelines that include respecting board members' expertise and using board committees. (MLF)

The idea behind strategic improvement is to bring the entire school district to focus on student learning and improved student outcomes. Under Superintendent Kent Hunsaker's leadership, the Bethel (Oregon) school District became a pilot site for Creating the Future, a research-based, district-level improvement process developed by the Northwest…

The American Association of School Administrators is currently developing a National Executive Development Center for the professional development of senior school executives. The initial Texas site is expected to be joined with a consortium of six pilot sites. Describes the design assumptions of a diagnostic and professional development system.…

After the first year of Kentucky's school reform act, a superintendent advises others whose states might undertake school reform to expect delays and revenue shortfalls and to lobby for professional development funds. (MLF)

Process called "Team Review" is designed to help develop and maintain better working relationships among board members and between the board and superintendent. Every three or four months, board members and the superintendent complete questionnaire concerning such matters as communication, trust, and decision making, followed by a discussion.…

Research findings strongly contradict the assumption of high administrator stress. In reality, most administrators, including principals and superintendents, view their work situations as normal and manageable. Administrators who persist the longest are found in central office roles, where the pace is not so frenetic. The chief stressor is…

As school-based management and collaborative decision making are implemented in the educational system, the superintendent's traditional "clockworks" role will undergo transformation. This article explores the necessary leadership characteristics and skills for assuming this new role. Superintendents must be instructional, transformative, and…

Central office administrators are increasingly expected to be planners and facilitators. To succeed in their new roles, administrators must do long-range planning; be expert, customer-driven, and proactive; offer friendly criticism; generate new services and discontinue others; develop facilitation skills; and help schools exchange unnecessary…

Superintendent Dan Domenech unsuccessfully battled New York's governor and legislature about a cut in state funding. Long Island has only 16 percent of the state's population but is being earmarked for 50 percent of the cuts. Domenech's earlier successes included a preschool for disadvantaged children, a full-day kindergarten, and a before- and…

A search consultant describes the process of selecting Peter Hutchinson of Public Strategies, Inc., to head Minneapolis (Minnesota) schools. The board negotiated a contract of performance-based compensation for services provided by Hutchinson's firm, with Hutchinson as superintendent. (MLF)