Members of local boards of education should expect to spend around twenty hours a month on normal board activities, including about nine hours in meetings, four hours preparing for meetings, four hours in reflective thinking, and three hours dealing directly with schools and school patrons. Among topics that must be addressed carefully and regularly at meetings are the board's basic commitments or goals, its operations, its relations with the superintendent, the state of the facilities, relations with the faculty and staff, fiscal matters, the instructional program, noninstructional services, relations with the community, and student affairs. Finally, board members must assess their own performances and their interrelationships with other board members objectively in order to develop their own abilities and improve board effectiveness. This document presents these aspects of board members' activities and obligations in chart form. (PGD)