This article describes how a school district's use of a transparent tool coalesced support for systemic improvement. The author was looking for a way to push improvement in his 4,000-student school system when he discovered the balanced scorecard, a strategic tool for performance management. The author details how the balanced scorecard helped him…

This article examines the factors that influence presidents' perceptions of board effectiveness in relation to their boards' fundraising role. Data from a survey of small college presidents are used to see what factors influence each of four areas of satisfaction: deciding policy, making financial contributions, referring donor prospects and…

Since the wave of school reform decentralization, schools now maintain a more dynamic and diverse relationship with their environment than they did in the past. School principals' relationships with the local educational authority (LEA) are a prominent example of this change in Israel. LEAs try to gain more pedagogic influence over schools while…

Every college president's success depends on building good relationships with outside groups, whether donors, alumni, or legislators. Presidents of Roman Catholic colleges have one more party to please: the local bishop. In recent months, the bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania, asked colleges in his diocese to assure him that they were not providing…

The complex nature of a school district demands a unique relationship between the superintendent and the board president. Forging a positive relationship requires a special kind of navigational skill. The author draws lessons for doing so from David Hargreaves' classic 1975 book "Interpersonal Relations and Education". The author outlines some…

Much of the research into teacher appraisal and performance management has focused on the experience of the classroom teacher. In this article, I will: (1) concentrate on the perspectives of the senior managers in secondary schools; (2) consider their views of the purpose of performance management; (3) compare their methods of implementation of…

Holding closed sessions in school board meetings to reach major policy decisions is generally discouraged; but, school boards occasionally use this tactic if conflict and tension arise. Therefore, the questions of "how often does a Board of Education encounter conflict and tension" and "how is the decision made to schedule a closed session to…

Invariably, whenever "Exchange" surveys center directors about their major frustrations, near the top of the list for non profit directors appears, "working with a board of directors." Boards are either viewed as much too involved--meddling in day-to-day matters that should not be their concern--or too little involved--requiring too much…

The principle of lay people taking important strategic decisions and holding lead professionals to account has a long and illustrious pedigree in British public life; it applies to police authorities, primary care trusts, local councils as well as schools. However, influential voices have been raised over recent months about the suitability of…

In this article, I have conceptualized union-management relations using an organizational justice framework. I consider organizational justice theory, including distributive, procedural, interactional, and what I call relational justice perspectives. Utilizing examples from my experience and research, I illustrate and discuss various forms of…

Public education in the United States is a function of the States. In discharging this responsibility each State has recognized that a considerable degree of local control of education is essential. The establishment of local school districts and the creation of local boards of education to administer school district affairs reflect this point of…