When identifying their main responsibilities, most independent school trustees recite familiar priorities, such as preserving the school's mission, providing financial oversight, and strategic planning. "Supporting the head" typically falls somewhere toward the end of the list. Given that the heads of school either treasure the support…

While academic governance does not produce teaching and research, it provides the conditions that enable them to take place. The principal academic governance body within universities, the academic board (also known as the academic senate or faculty senate), therefore plays a key role in enabling universities to conduct their core business.…

In line with the Center on School Turnaround's charge to support states' efforts, they sought to highlight three districts engaged in focused turnaround efforts where their respective boards played a key role in catalyzing, shaping, and supporting targeted improvement efforts. This brief is one of three describing the work. The three briefs…

The value of American higher education faces multiple risks, and changes in governance are needed to address them. At risk are accessibility and degree attainment for current and future students, institutional fiscal sustainability, educational quality, economic development and social equity, service to communities, and knowledge creation. Higher…

This article considers some of the findings of research undertaken for a PhD into the changing educational agenda and its impact on the role of primary headteachers in England. During the course of the study from 2005-2009, as a result of government policy new roles for headteachers both inside and outside their school increasingly emerged. The…

This article is linked to the theme of the special issue through its focus on micropolitical analysis of the changing role of "policy drivers", mediating national policy through interactions with primary school heads and teachers. The central arguments draw on case studies undertaken in two primary schools where changes related to…

Fifty-nine community college presidents and chancellors in 16 states report on the damage caused by rogue trustees. While the damage to presidents, other trustees, and faculty and staff is alarming, the damage these trustees cause the college suggests that the rogue trustee may be the single most destructive force ever to plague an educational…

This article examines the role of the consultants in secondary schools and local authorities within a large-scale consultancy-based reform, the Secondary National Strategy (SNS), in London, UK. The SNS follows a cascade model of implementation in which nationally created initiatives are introduced and supported within local authorities (LA) and…

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…

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…

Approximately 6500 elected or appointed trustees govern local community colleges in 36 states. The great majority of these trustees are extraordinary citizens motivated by the opportunity to provide service to their communities and to their colleges. On occasion, a trustee emerges whose motivations do not support the common good; some of these…

An effective school requires an effective leader, but great principals rarely just happen. They are cultivated. This Wallace Perspective draws on a decade of foundation research and work in school leadership to show how urban school districts can play a major role in ensuring they have principals who can boost teaching and learning in troubled…

The purpose of this qualitative, narrative study was to investigate the role of the superintendent in leading the district to be more culturally proficient, resulting in the narrowing of the achievement gap in culturally diverse small districts. Eight superintendents of small school districts were purposefully selected based on their district size…

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…