Leadership Matters

By Michael Preston

Are big-city school boards out of touch with their constituents? Over the past year, I have been wrestling with this question through a project of the National School Boards Foundation that listened to hundreds of urban residents and urban school board members voice their strong opinions about their public schools. The findings from this extensive public opinion research amount to an urgent wake-up call to urban school board members: Take up the people's agenda for schools. Focus on what matters most--improving the academic achievement of students. And do it now.

In the eyes of the urban public, school boards need to do better--today. For example, only 37 percent of urban residents nationwide believe their schools are doing a good or excellent job preparing students for college, according to the research report, "Leadership Matters: Transforming Urban School Boards." ( "Survey Finds Gap Between Public, Board Members on Urban Schools," March 17, 1999.)

At a time when college is ever more essential to personal and professional success, this public perception alone signals the need for sweeping change in...