Wanted: prudent leadership.

Wanted: prudent leadership. By the time this magazine is in your hands we'll we'll?Contraction of we will.we'llwe will or we shallwe'llwill ~shall know who ournew national leader will be. Whichever way the election goes, the newpresident will have the big job of managing the financial crisis thatour country faces and will have an impact on how the No Child LeftBehind law may be reformed, impacting every school district. And on the school level, it will be the superintendents and theboards of education who will have the big job of managing how thisfinancial crisis and the bailout bailoutThe financial rescue of a faltering business or other organization. Government guarantees for loans made to Chrysler Corporation constituted a bailout. , among other issues, impact theirconstituents. And they will do this while continuing to address andbalance skyrocketing energy and fuel costs. Which line items anddiscretionary projects will be cut and which will remain? As theyshould, taxpayers will be watching carefully--most likely more carefullythan ever. Of late we've witnessed at least one district'smanagement team that went into high media self-destruction, when RudyCrew Rudolph F. "Rudy" Crew is the superintendent of schools of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Appointed to the post in 2004, he previously was the executive director of the University of Washington's Institute for K-12 Leadership. , former superintendent of the Miami-Dade Public Schools, ran intoconflict with the board amid declining enrollment and rising budgettensions. So how do school boards track progress toward goals?. How doesthe public accurately know whether the board and superintendent arefulfilling their roles effectively? In "Turning the Tables onAssessment," Chuck Namit, president of Strategem LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control , In the firstof two articles reveals an effective process of board self-assessmentand superintendent evaluation that we think could be helpful to yourdistrict. Such assessment and evaluation are fundamental to the successof a district, and without it progress and goal achievement cannot bemeasured. This is also the time of year when our high school seniors aremaking their post-high school plans. For those who plan to pursue highereducation higher educationStudy beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. , now is the time to decide which colleges to apply to. Thecredit crunch Credit CrunchAn economic condition whereby investment capital is difficult to obtain. Banks and investors become weary of lending funds to corporations thereby driving up the price of debt products for borrowers. may limit their ability to get the loans that were easilyavailable to previous seniors, as the population of students enteringcollege peaks. Let's hope that they are being proactive inobtaining the guidance required for financing their education, and thatthe credit crunch won't deter them from their chosen path. Collegeconsultants and syndicated columnists Inc.com defines a syndicated columnist as, "[A] person hired by publications or broadcast organizations to produce written or spoken commentary about specific feature subjects. Howard and Matthew Greene, in"Simplifying College Admissions," share the Bends that yourguidance teams need to know. And with money being tight, today there isn't any room for badpurchasing decisions. We invite you to visit the New Products section ofour Web site, www.DistrictAdministration.com, and comment on or suggesta product that has made a positive difference within your district.You'll help to steer steercastrated male cattle beast over a year of age. See also bullock, buller steer.steer bullingsee bulling.steerMedtalk verb your colleagues--our readers--to the besteducation products available. In mid-January our 2008 Readers'Choice Top 100 Products special issue will be published, and it will befull of input from you, as well as from our full editorial staff. In ournew products blog blog,short for web log, an online, regularly updated journal or newsletter that is readily accessible to the general public by virtue of being posted on a website. , Product Posts, Products Editor Kurt Dyrli writescleverly and insightfully about cutting-edge innovations in an array ofproducts and Web resources. Check it out atblogs.districtadministration.com/productsblog. Judy Faust Hartnett, Editor jhartnett@districtadministration.com