The steep economic recession, coupled with increased national expectations and demand for higher education, poses serious challenges for board and presidential leadership. A special panel at the recent National Conference on Trusteeship of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), moderated by AGB President Richard…

Across Canada there have been numerous recent examples of incidents where the political and ideological interests of provincial governments have run counter to the mandates of school districts. In this pan-Canadian study, focus groups were conducted with school board trustees and school district superintendents to examine the relationships between…

The California Community Colleges (CCC) serve more than 2.4 million students and comprises the largest system of higher education in the nation. Each of the 112 colleges in all 72 districts use state funding allocated for Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS) to assist it in providing support services and educational accommodations to…

Policy discussions about funding in higher education focus primarily on revenues needed to balance budgets from year to year, rather than on how funds need to be invested to meet strategic priorities. The data in "Trends" show that the incremental approach to fundraising and spending has resulted in a slow disinvestment in core…

The number of U.S. teacher-librarians has greatly diminished despite advocacy efforts by stakeholders. This case study investigated the factors that led governing board members in a mid-sized urban high school district to retain certified teacher-librarian positions despite a major economic crisis. Themes constructed through the analysis were:…

Presidential evaluations--especially annual evaluations based on presidents' self-assessments--have become much more prevalent, as part of accreditors' expectations for institutional accountability and for many other reasons. More recently, some experts, including the Association of Governing Boards, have been making the case for a comprehensive…

This "Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality," approved by the Board of Directors of the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) in March 2011, urges institutional administrators and governing boards to engage fully in this area of board responsibility. The seven principles in this statement offer suggestions to…

This paper addresses the nature of governors in the governance of further education colleges in an English context. It explores the complex relationship between governors (people/agency), government (policy/structure) and governance (practice), in a college environment. While recent research has focused on the governance of schooling and higher…

Canadian public school board trustees are generally chosen by way of public ballot in civic elections. A comparison of board governance literature to a local narrative account of public school board elections exposes several gaps between espoused democratic ideals and the realities of public engagement in trustee selection. I investigate the…

"Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality"--popularly referred to as "The Little Yellow Book" by boards, faculty, provosts, and assessment specialists--provides clear guidance for the board's role in the most important "business" of academe: educating students. As public calls for greater accountability skyrocket, this new edition…

Many barriers can prevent students from entering and succeeding in college, including financial difficulties, family obligations, and personal problems. However, the most significant impediment is inadequate academic preparation. As higher education widens its focus from college access to degree completion, a new relationship between K-12 and…

Wall Street bankers currently serve as the national poster children for greed, but they face a strong challenge from some university researchers who have apparently been taking millions of dollars in secret from the medical industry. Recent revelations about those undisclosed payments have universities and the National Institutes of Health (NIH)…

The author of this paper describes the responsibilities of the National Assessment Governing Board, of which she served as a member from November 1997 to September 2004. The Board is unlike any other board of which she has been a member. At the quarterly meetings, the Board not only discusses and makes major policy decisions but determines the…

According to a new survey conducted by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, about 80% of the governing boards of public universities say they are dealing with state budget cuts this year. Trustees also said they are working extra hours to cope with the financial strains on their universities, and they have enacted or…

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) recently published the results of the 2008 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Music, the fourth in a series of NAEP music assessments that began in 1971. It is important that NAEP, known as "The Nation's Report Card," measures the music achievement of America's students, both…