Improving School Board Effectiveness: A Balanced Governance Approach

by Thomas L. Alsbury (Editor), Phil Gore (Editor), Willard R. Daggett (Foreword)

Improving School Board Effectiveness offers a clarifying and essential look at the evolving role of school boards and how they contribute to efforts to improve student learning. It examines how board members can establish effective district priorities, and it explores those board policies and actions that result in shared, districtwide commitments to heightened student achievement.

This book arises out of a critical need for a better understanding of school boards and the development of helpful tools and guidelines for school board members. At its heart is the notion of Balanced Governance, a principle that most generally “balances the authority of a superintendent to lead a school district with the necessary oversight of a locally engaged and knowledgeable board.”

Improving School Board Effectiveness is a helpful and practical book that will prove indispensable for school board members, school and district administrators, and everyone with a stake in school improvement and reform.

216 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 2015

Reviews

[Spacek Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was of great interest to me as I have known Phil Gore for about 20 years. I have been a superintendent for 18 years and see the need for an approach that helps move students to success after attending school between the ages five and 18. This quote, from the book, sums up our work as educators with school boards:
“Every preK-12 district in America needs a vertically aligned vision and top-down support -- from the boardroom to the classroom -- to realize the shared goal of more effective instruction that results in higher achievement and greater learning for all students.”