Being a “team player” is the most important attribute of an effective school-board member, ac3cording to an $83,500 national study conducted by two Northern Illinois University researchers and funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
The researchers, Musial Harrison and Alton Harrison Jr., analyzed responses to a national survey in conContinued on Following Page Continued from Preceding Page
junction with a panel of school-board members and superintendents chosen by state education associations.
Besides “team spirit,” the key attributes for an effective board member include: strong communications skills and the ability to deal with the media, “knowing one’s role” as a board member, and broad knowledge of school finance and law and collective bargaining, the researchers found.
The greatest problem resulted from “maverick” board members who hurt a school board’s unity, the researchers found.
A computerized training program based on the researchers’ findings for school districts--for use in Commodore, Apple, and IBM personal computers--will be avilable this spring. For information, call Diane Strand of the office of public information at Northern Illinois University, 815-753-1681.
Desegregation in elementary and secondary schools leads to desegregation in housing, employment, and higher education in later life, according to a study examining the effects of desegregated schooling on adults.
The report--conducted by Jomills Henry Braddock 2nd, James M. McPartland, and Robert L. Crain, research scientists at the Johnss University’s Center for Social Organizaton of Schools--examines the 10 major studies conducted since 1973 that analyze adult outcomes of desegregation.
The findings, which were published in the December 1984 edition of Phi Delta Kappan, include these:
Black students who graduate from desegregated high schools are much more likely to attend a predominantly white college or university than students who graduate from segregated high schools.
Students who attended desegregated schools are more likely than their counterparts from segregated schools to be working in desegregated settings.
Black males who receive bachelor’s or master’s degrees from desegregated colleges earn more and have higher job prestige than black males who earn their degrees at traditionally black colleges.
Copies of the report are available at no charge from John Hollifield, csos, the Johns Hopkins University, 3505 North Charles St., Baltimore, Md. 21218; (301) 338-7570.
