"William G. Howell is an associate professor in the Government Department at Harvard University and deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard."

"If the intuition that academics tend to romanticize local school boards is only half right, these rigorous, fine-grained essays on one area of education politics will intrigue more than just political scientists...The data, as Howell acknowledges, are at times drawn narrowly from particular populations. But they are also carefully culled and felicitously organized...Moe takes the reader, step by step, beyond platitudes about local politics to a careful analysis of which factors may and may not limit the prima facie influence that a powerful interest group like a teachers union may have on school board elections...We learn a lot from this collection about what school board members actually do these days, and it often has little directly to do with making decision about educational policy." —Stephen L. Esquith, Michigan State University, Perspectives on Politics|"This volume explores the past, present, and possible future of the school board....It is the best volume this reviewer has seen on the subject. Highly recommended." —K. R. Kosar, Congressional Research Service, CHOICE|"An impressive and non-partisan overview of the realities of school control." —Michael Duffy, Times Educational Supplement

"William G. Howell is an associate professor in the Government Department at Harvard University and deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard."

"If the intuition that academics tend to romanticize local school boards is only half right, these rigorous, fine-grained essays on one area of education politics will intrigue more than just political scientists...The data, as Howell acknowledges, are at times drawn narrowly from particular populations. But they are also carefully culled and felicitously organized...Moe takes the reader, step by step, beyond platitudes about local politics to a careful analysis of which factors may and may not limit the prima facie influence that a powerful interest group like a teachers union may have on school board elections...We learn a lot from this collection about what school board members actually do these days, and it often has little directly to do with making decision about educational policy." —Stephen L. Esquith, Michigan State University, Perspectives on Politics|"This volume explores the past, present, and possible future of the school board....It is the best volume this reviewer has seen on the subject. Highly recommended." —K. R. Kosar, Congressional Research Service, CHOICE|"An impressive and non-partisan overview of the realities of school control." —Michael Duffy, Times Educational Supplement

"William G. Howell is an associate professor in the Government Department at Harvard University and deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard."

"If the intuition that academics tend to romanticize local school boards is only half right, these rigorous, fine-grained essays on one area of education politics will intrigue more than just political scientists...The data, as Howell acknowledges, are at times drawn narrowly from particular populations. But they are also carefully culled and felicitously organized...Moe takes the reader, step by step, beyond platitudes about local politics to a careful analysis of which factors may and may not limit the prima facie influence that a powerful interest group like a teachers union may have on school board elections...We learn a lot from this collection about what school board members actually do these days, and it often has little directly to do with making decision about educational policy." —Stephen L. Esquith, Michigan State University, Perspectives on Politics|"This volume explores the past, present, and possible future of the school board....It is the best volume this reviewer has seen on the subject. Highly recommended." —K. R. Kosar, Congressional Research Service, CHOICE|"An impressive and non-partisan overview of the realities of school control." —Michael Duffy, Times Educational Supplement