This paper presents findings of a study that examined urban school district superintendents' perceptions of the methods by which the Ohio Department of Education (DOE) influenced Ohio's public school districts. In particular, the superintendents were asked about the influence and control utilized by the State Department of Education to implement…

This revised manual presents updated guidelines and regulations regarding student suspensions in New York City public schools. The manual is divided into four main sections: principal's suspension; superintendent's suspension; search and seizure; and suspension of special education students. The manual is specifically designed to assist the…

This study describes current, widely varied state practices in the licensure of school administrators and identifies salient policy issues with attention to recommendations for best professional practice, including those in reports issued by the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration and the National Policy Board for…

This study explores the reasons for high turnover within rural superintendencies from the perspective of local boards of education. Forty-one school districts with 600 or fewer students in a southwestern state were identified as experiencing high superintendent turnover (having employed three or more superintendents within the past 5 years).…

Findings of a study that examined superintendents' perceptions of the methods used by the Ohio State Department of Education to implement legislative mandates are presented in this paper. Etzioni's compliance theory is used as a framework to understand superintendents' perceptions about the state's use of power. A survey of 205 Ohio public school…

Individual members of state legislatures wield the greatest influence in state level policy formation. This was one of the findings of a study that identified the power and influence context of state-level policymaking. Data were gathered from six states (Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois) using an instrument…

Adversarial collective bargaining often leads to lingering resentments. Collaborative bargaining, conversely, is a problem-solving approach to contract negotiations based on common interests and mutual respect. Recognizing the interrelationship between trust at schools and trust at the bargaining table, a growing number of school districts are…

A study attempted to determine the validity of Jean Epstein's contention that "words about the importance of parent involvement are meaningless without financial and technical support." A survey questionnaire was mailed to 197 individuals (including all 50 state superintendents of education) and 38 individuals suggested by respondents.…

In Iowa, shared superintendency originated in the 1980s as a response to the agricultural recession of the 1980s which had tightened Iowa's public school finance. Iowa lost 80,000 people through out-migration and about 10,000 fewer births occurred, while the school student population decreased by 181,670 during this same period. While nearly every…

The increasingly politicized environment of schools should be examined in the context of the board of education's legal powers and the politics of education. Historically, the superintendent of schools has dominated policy making, though school boards' influence has been noted in areas such as finance and physical facilities, and in smaller…

This paper proposes "data driven educational leadership" as a key to meeting the challenges that face public education. Section I discusses the role of the educational leader, particularly the superintendent, in assessing the state of the school district, developing district goals, and fostering an instructional focus among school…

This paper presents examples of judicial reasoning in conflicts involving governing board bias and the power to decide in higher education and in various public school settings. Two cases, "Simard v. Board of Education" and "Hortonville Joint School District No. 1 v. Hortonville Education Association," provide the general…

This paper reports on a study designed to investigate the perceptions of conflict and coping by superintendents in Western Pennsylvania. Twenty-eight superintendents (13 former superintendents and 15 currently active superintendents) were interviewed. Triangulation was utilized to determine the credibility of the interview data. Common themes of…

This paper examines the perceptions of practicing school superintendents, principals, and teachers as to the degree to which the Edmonds Correlates and other indicators of school effectiveness were present in Illinois public elementary and high schools. Two companion studies examined the perceptions of Illinois public elementary and high school…

This digest discusses the issue of school-based management (SBM), defined as a system of administration in which the school is the primary unit of educational decision making. Responsibility for certain decisions about the budget, personnel, and the curriculum is placed at the school level rather than the district level. Several aspects of SBM are…