This book draws on author Doug Eadie's work with hundreds of boards to provide detailed, hands-on guidance for building and managing a board-superintendent partnership that is close, positive, productive, and enduring. Eadie describes how the superintendent can wear the "chief partnership officer" hat while leading and managing a board-superintendent partnership program. Special attention is paid to such critical partnership building tools such as: · Empowering the board · Building board member ownership of their governing work · Making governing work easier and more fun · Involving senior administrators in providing executive support to the board For superintendents, school board members, and school system senior administrators.

The Board and Superintendent Handbook: Current Issues and Resources is a practical guide for both board members and superintendents. The book includes contributions from experienced and new superintendents and board members on a wide range of topics that boards and superintendents must navigate together successfully in order to move districts in a positive direction for students, staff, parents, and communities.

Written from the unique perspective of school board members who lead and serve districts of all sizes, this book provides succinct, straightforward information that school board members and superintendents can put to immediate use. Eadie explores five key behavioral traits of high-impact school boards: - Concentration on governing above all other board work - Development of the board's capacity to govern - Active participation in leading district strategic change - Meticulous attention to keeping the board-superintendent partnership healthy - Active participation in reaching out a wider community Five Habits of High-Impact School Boards provides school board members, superintendents, senior administrators, foundation executives, and graduate students in schools of education, with practical, thoroughly tested guidance for successful governing work and a board-superintendent partnership that is close, productive, and enduring.

The go-to resource for school board members’ greatest challenges! This invaluable guide addresses the top challenges experienced by nearly every school board, and shows how professional learning can support positive change throughout a school system. Effective for individual study or group learning, this resource helps board members to: Learn from case studies focused on 12 critical board-level decisions, including hiring a new superintendent, resource allocation, compensation planning, and more Know when, where, and how to use professional learning to improve individual and districtwide performance Benefit from best practices and tools developed to support effective decisions and successful implementation of major initiatives

Doug Eadie’s Governing at the Top: Building a Board-Superintendent Strategic Governing Team is both a powerful addition to the K-12 governance literature and a practical guidebook for school board members, superintendents, and senior administrators. Opening with a crystal-clear, eminently practical definition of the work of governing that goes well-beyond the outdated notion of “policy making,” this exciting new book then takes a close look at the key elements involved in building the kind of rock-solid board-superintendent governing partnership that these changing, challenging times demand. After describing the critical role of a “board-savvy” superintendent in the governing partnership, Doug examines in detail how board-superintendent teams can go about developing the board’s governing “architecture” (the board’s governing role, its members, and its committee structure), mapping out processes for active board member engagement in governing work, and keeping the board-superintendent working relationship healthy.

Thriving as a Superintendent: How to Recognize and Survive an Unanticipated Departure is a resource for active and aspiring superintendents, which explores issues surrounding superintendent unanticipated departures. The book places special emphasis on lessons learned from the superintendents interviewed and current research about how to prepare for, recognize, and negotiate through an unanticipated departure, as well as how to move forward should such a departure occur.

Written by a mix of established and rising stars in school politics, policy, law, finance, and reform this comprehensive Handbook provides a three part framework that helps organize this relatively new and loosely organized field of study. A central theme running through the book is how to harness politics to school equity and improvement. Key features include: Thematic Discussions – detailed discussions of key topics in educational politics are organized by themes and competing perspectives. The overarching themes are 1) the goals of the U.S. political system (justice, equity, opportunity, efficiency and choice); 2) the means and resources for reaching these goals; and 3) the political behaviors and compromises that seek to mitigate ideological differences and conflicts of interest. Research Oriented – in addition to summarizing the latest research connected to key topics, each chapter exemplifies and reports on the methods and techniques for further exploration of these topics. Reform Oriented – throughout the book and especially in the summarizing chapter, authors provide suggestions for improving the political behaviors of key educational groups and individuals: unions, superintendents, politicians, school boards, teachers, and parents.