Replace or Repair: Exploring Possible Methods for Improving School Governance

• In Event: School Boards: Repair, Replace, or Face the Consequences

Abstract

There are over 13,000 school boards in the United States, that oversee the education of 90% of America’s school aged students. Recently their performance as a governmental body has been a source of often well-deserved critique in both policy and academic outlets. There is limited research that includes the voices of school board members and district superintendents that reflects how they operate to improve outcomes and govern effectively. Using reflective interviews to supplement this void we explore approaches to school board governance that stand to reframe the structure of boards as political systems and in ways that relationships between actors in the system might offer routes for more effective governance, student learning and community engagement.

Authors

• Segun Eubanks, University of Maryland

• Monica E. Goldson, Prince George's County Public Schools