A study of 188 superintendents and 379 school board members in districts with student enrollments above 25,000 sheds light on several factors affecting the working relationships between superintendents and their local boards. Board members tended to follow personal judgment rather than constituent preferences when making decisions, and received more systematic information from professional educators than from other sources. Internal policy decisions generated less conflict than external matters between superintendents and boards and were more frequently left to professional discretion. Conflict levels in general proved higher than indicated by earlier research. Variables affecting the Superintendent's control of internal policy included: board members' professional bias, bloc voting behavior, length of time in office, interaction with the community, and political experience; degrees of interest group pressure; congruence between the superintendent's position and that of the public; and the superintendent's tenure. Variables affecting the superintendent's dominance over external policy included communtiy tension, congruence between the superintendent's position and the board's, board initiation of contact with superintendents, board interaction with the community, community initiation of change in policies related to civil rights, superintendents' perceptions of limitations to their own authority, and frequency of forced cooperation between superintendents and boards to "sell" board policies to the public. (PGD)