A politicized, sophisticated citizenry split into several special interest factions is placing great demands on school board members just as they find themselves struggling with unprecedented organizational and financial difficulties. In order to meet these challenges, board members must respond to districtwide needs rather than represent special interests. They must also gain new managerial skills and develop a continuous flow of accurate information on which to base decisions. This new managerial approach can be modeled on recent trends in the operation of corporate boards of directors. This paper examines the pressures placed on corporate boards and how those boards have changed since they first became models for boards of education in the early twentieth century. The authors argue that today's pressures should prompt school boards to change in similar directions, away from representation of constituencies and toward responsiveness to environmental influences. Methods for encouraging development of a responsive board, partly through recruitment of suitable board candidates, are discussed. (Author/PGD)