Helping Employees Cope With Stress
Educational leaders can do three things, none of which costs money, to help address employee stress: They can make better decisions about the use of time, ensure that employees get the mental health care necessary to deal with stress, and communicate clearly and consistently with every stakeholder in the community.
March 2010
Understanding Special Education Terms
Special education terms and jargon can be quite confusing to school board members, especially those new to their role. To help board members understand special education jargon we have provided and defined a list of relevant terms and acronyms, “The ABCs of Special Ed.”
March 2010
Special Education Restraint Questioned
An investigation by the federal Government Accounting Office last year found that restraining or isolating disruptive students may be much more common than expected, particularly in special education classrooms. Some states already have counted thousands of incidents, and researchers studying the issue believe those numbers are underestimated.
March 2010
Do Students Need More Time?
It’s been argued that time is the major design flaw in public education. Politics and tradition have stymied previous efforts to extend the school day and calendar. Despite the obstacles, a number of pioneering traditional schools, districts, and even one state have ventured into expanding learning time.
March 2010
Changing the Grade
A revolution is occurring in Adams County School District 50. If it succeeds, the district will overturn a public school icon: the grade level. Starting this year, elementary and middle school students are being grouped by level, not age, and the reform moves to the high school next year.
March 2010
Q and A with Rod Paige
Buses, lunch counters, swimming pools, and drinking fountains were the battlegrounds of the ‘60s-era civil rights movement. Today, according to former U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, that battleground is the classroom -- a place where too many African-American students are failing to achieve their potential.
February 2010
The Profession of Governing
Upon entering school board service, most of us are anxious to learn all we can about education and management. When we stand for election, we highlight experience in education and management, and voters believe we are better prepared because of that background. This all seems quite logical. It is also quite wrong.
February 2010
What Can Schools Learn from Business?
If school boards want to improve their schools, then all they need to do is to model the business practices of Corporate America. There’s no escaping this simplistic formula for school reform. As with most panaceas, there’s a fair bit of truth -- and no little rubbish -- in such thinking.
February 2010
Getting Support from Employers for School Leaders
It’s hard for any professional to juggle board duties with the ever-increasing demands of today’s jobs. And while it appears the vast majority of employers don’t mind and may even actively encourage employees to volunteer for public service, some make the lives of school board members anything but easy.
February 2010
How School Leaders Cope with Stress
Maybe it was the federal stimulus funds, a slowdown in job losses, or an uptick in the stock market that has lightened the mood in the country. But, as analysts have warned, the United States isn’t in the clear yet. No one knows this better than the three educators profiled here.
February 2010
Beyond Governance Rules
If governing isn’t making policies or rules, what is it? When you strip away the fancy rhetoric, governing becomes nothing more than the board making decisions about very concrete governing “products,” such as an updated district vision statement, long-range strategic goals, and the annual budget, and making judgments about such concrete “governing documents” as educational and financial performance reports.
January 2010
The Innovative School Board
In a new monthly column in American School Board Journal, Douglas Reeves shares real-world examples of how school board members are making a difference in helping their local communities and creating models from which other schools around the world can learn. This month, he considers the Law of Initiative Fatigue.
January 2010
Make Sure Your Students Are Counted
This spring, the federal government will launch the 2010 census. For school boards, the most obvious impact of the census will be on future funding. Whether school boards get their fair share of these funds, however, remains a concern. The census historically undercounts young children and some disadvantaged populations.
January 2010