“School Board Ethics and Effectiveness”

Since the early 1980s, educational policy has increasingly been focused on improving student performance (Conley, 2003, Murphy, 1990). School governance in general, and school boards in particular, have often been viewed as either the means of implementing needed reforms or as roadblocks in their way (Boyd, 2003; Delagardelle, M.; 2008; Howell, 2005). Effective governance, it is believed, is necessary for school improvement, yet examples of good governance rarely garner as much attention as do issues such as board member misconduct, nepotism, and overall board corruption (Segal, 2004). This research project provides new insights into the best way to improve local school governance in an era of increasing state and national influence over educational policy and scrutiny of local educational practices (Boyd, 2003; Riede, 2004).