These papers were originally presented at a 2003 conference on school board politics sponsored by the Program on Education Policy and Governance and the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard. Using case studies and quantitative analyses, the authors consider school boards' interactions with politicians, teachers' unions and the public. They argue that school boards perform some administrative functions well, but that they are undermined in their efforts to institute desired reforms by various political pressures. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)