Leadership

A cadre of newly elected school board members will receive intensive tutorials on education policy and school improvement prior to their service, under an initiative by the Broad Foundation.

The Los Angeles-based philanthropy announced last week that it will spend $800,000 to develop the Broad Institute for School Boards, said Donald R. McAdams, a former Houston school board member who will serve as the initiative's project manager. He also is the president of the Houston-based Center for Reform of School Systems, to which the grant was given.

The aim is to help those governing the nation's large school districts gain their footing in a complicated world filled with confusing jargon, sophisticated theories, and political...