The Essential School Board Book highlights effective practices that are common to high-functioning boards around the country--boards that are working successfully with their superintendents and communities to improve teaching and learning.

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.

Every school board adopts a unique governing style which affects the way the district is managed. This book identifies some of those styles and examines their potential impact on district administration, and ultimately on student achievement. The book also clarifies the role of school boards in unequivocal terms, discusses board-superintendent relations, and offers several recommendations and critical takeaways for education stakeholders. The authors doctoral research which gave rise to this book shows that a school boards governing style has the potential to affect educational outcomes in consequential ways, particularly in urban districts where the greatest impact was observed. A content outline for a set of professional development modules on school board governance is provided in the book, including an in depth review of the roles and responsibilities of school boards, and some case studies on board-superintendent interaction.