School Board Practices (Part 18 of 18; the summary): Shaping Governance for Success

Summary

The importance of developing practices that engage the school board in acts of data-driven decision making and strategic planning toward the goals of increased student achievement was depicted here. Two broad educational governance school board tasks were revealed: Attention to the strategic planning and decision making that impacts student achievement. Traditionally, school boards have focused on setting policy and overseeing administration. School boards must demonstrate accountability by measuring their progress against this set of standards. The school board association creates a framework for good governance which outlines school board standards and notes indicators of those standards so that school board members can measure their progress. This has been expanded in today’s society to include developing a vision, a structure for continuous improvement, accountability, effective decision making and advocacy for the students.

A superintendent’s responsibilities to student achievement are immense, and the finding in recent research supports that school boards must understand the need to retain a quality superintendent. It is evident that the turnover rate of superintendents across the country is another factor contributing to the challenges school boards face. Yet, the leadership of the superintendent is required to sustain healthy practices that will create the climate necessary for school staff to perform so that children receive the education they deserve. Boards must recognize that a collaborative culture can have an impact on the culture of the entire district which, in turn, can positively impact student achievement. They should perform in a manner that reflects service to the community on behalf of students by conducting district business in a fair, respectful, and responsible manner. The expectation of operating under a framework of healthy school board governance, first and foremost, is on the importance of creating structures that allow for professionals to accommodate the needs of all learners.

School Board Practices (Part 17 of 18): Shaping Governance for Success

Understand Decision Making

All decisions made by leaders of the district should reflect a focus on what is best for student achievement. To do this, school board members should always consider what is best for the entire district first followed by what is best for each building. These considerations must occur before thinking about teams and departments, and certainly before making decisions that will benefit individuals. If this is clearly communicated by the school board as an expectation to all stakeholders of the district, there will be a clearer understanding of how decisions are made.

School boards generally make decisions when problems arise, but this should begin with the need to identify the problem so that they may concentrate on whether or not a problem really exists. They must gather data to make informed decisions about a problem or its solutions. A necessary step is to involve a recommendation by the superintendent; perhaps there are going to be consequences to solving the problem.

Decisions that impact student achievement should consider how students learn. When making data-driven decisions, school board members must begin to understand what is known about kids and how they learn; decisions must reflect the best practices of teaching. They should pursue expertise from sources outside the district, such as information about exemplary programs and practices. School board members engaged in successful governance are clear about their decision making process in terms of study, learning, reading, listening, receiving data, questioning, discussing, and then deciding and evaluating. Then, they can prioritize needs first and then wants to successfully make use of all possible resources. It is the vision and mission of the district that will shape all decisions; decisions must align with these.

The effective governing school board will make decisions based on what is best for the entire district while avoiding conflicts that may come about from their own personal agendas or outside influence. The school board needs to make its decisions near the child realizing the school is the real delivery system for instruction. It is data that will keep the school board focused on the right path; data, being the deciding factor in decisions, keeps all honest in their professional approach to making decisions.

School Board Practices (Part 15 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Be Accountable

Measurement, evaluation, feedback, and all other methods of accountability can create anxiety in the minds of teachers, but we live in a technological age where data is at the fingertips of everyone. Rather than allowing this to put stress on districts, evaluation techniques should be seen as opportunities to get better. States, school districts, and schools must be accountable for ensuring that all students, including disadvantaged students, meet high academic standards. Regardless of the time it takes to accomplish this, it is imperative that the school board recognize that student achievement is most important, and the evaluation of the district should reflect this.

School board members should review school-level progress on goals and consider revisions for annual performance targets based on evidence of progress. This district-wide systemic approach to strategic planning must involve specific feedback so that they can engage in professional development to make improvements.

Being accountable to NCLB, our legislature, the department of education and our school board is mandated to collect evidence of learning. Successful school boards know that data is going to shape decisions as to how to grow professionally and serve children. They know that it is accountability that provides schools the capacity to organize themselves into professional learning communities where teachers are planning, creating solid environments for learning, engaging students in the instruction, and creating the means for further professional improvement. With data, school boards will know that teachers and principals are engaged in discussions about ways to assure all students are successful.

This starts with a school board that holds the superintendent accountable to gathering data that reflects the impact the school district is having on achievement. It should also be the expectation of the school board that the superintendent holds everyone else in the district fully accountable to collecting data and analyzing it for improved instruction that leads to expanded learning opportunities. School boards should lead the accountability movement by example.

School Board Practices (Part 14 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Have Measurable Goals

A school district should focus on everything from student achievement to quality teaching to community engagement when constructing their goals. Goals will help drive what data a school collects. Therefore, engage in action planning where goals are written to reflect a purpose (objectives), strategies, and well-defined outcomes that indicate success. It should be recognized that student achievement is more than the results of one test and school boards know that the community holds them accountable to well-defined outcomes.

School Board Practices (Part 13 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Develop the Mission

The school board, after developing a well-defined vision, should work to create a mission that defines what needs to be done to accomplish its task; it is likened to that of a short job description. In fact, the authors of a well written mission summarize what the school district was created to do. In effective organizations, the mission statement captures and reflects the beliefs that guide the organization and its members in pursuit of stated goals. This highly publicized statement should reflect what all stakeholders do to impact student achievement. For that reason, this well thought out job description should be the result of an entire community coming together to identify what it is they want their schools to do to positively impact the lives of children. The school board creates the mission with the purpose of providing an avenue for success; every decision they make with programming, budgeting, and policy creation should align with the mission of the district. The mission must be on the minds of everyone.

School Board Practices (Part 12 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Create a Shared Vision

A shared vision is not about what we are, but what we want to be. It is about the kind of school system we are trying to create for the future. A vision is future-focused and seeks to shape events rather than just letting things happen. The vision will guide a district to create a clear mission and target areas of continuous improvement. It is an opportunity for the school board to exercise their leadership on behalf of children because it leads to a focus on targets that result in well defined goals. It is the vision that motivates and brings about a sense of belonging for all stakeholders.

Adopting a vision for the district should be done in partnership with individuals from outside the school system as well. A group that should never be overlooked is the students. They will be honest and remarkably eloquent with their input as to how they learn best, what engages them in the learning process, and how they see the importance of their future.

School Board Practices (Part 11 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Be Strategic

Having a vision, a mission and core values brings about hope that the school is headed in the right direction, and the school board should align all resources of the district with these. The entire plan needs to hold the superintendent and staff accountable through supervision and monitoring so that further decisions made are a reflection of what is needed for successful student learning. The decision screen of any successful organization should be the vision, mission, goals, and core values of that organization. Then, when the discussions settle on facilities, finance, and operations, the school board can agree how each aligns with the strategic plan.

A successful strategic plan in a school district is effective when the school board is responsible to its stakeholders while the superintendent is responsible to the school board to carry out its plan. A good school is demonstrated by its vision, focus, leadership, and high academic standards for all students; it is demonstrated by the compassion it has for each child. Even creation of the strategic plan is not enough; the plans must consist of ways to add accountability so that the mission is accomplished. Each goal should include a plan for effectively communicating the results to the public.

School Board Practices (Part 10 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Celebrate

The sense of community pride begins to exist with every celebration, and the actions of the school board reflect a sense of confidence and commitment to every success. Our citizens will be more confident with our schools when their school board members celebrate all that is right with public schools. Once schools have positively impacted student achievement, the board should think of all possible ways to communicate the success to the community; they should communicate the effectiveness of their district. When confidence flows from the leaders of the district, all feel confident.

School Board Practices (Part 9 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Communicate Effectively

Everything begins with trust; business can not be conducted without creating relationships where trust is at the core. This is true in families, in businesses, and in schools. Making connections and communicating effectively leads to public support, but the school board has to do this by engaging in the act of listening. If done effectively, the district will realize the potential support possible during times of creating new policy, building new programs and passing operating and bond referendums. Districts must be clear about their budgets, revenue, and expenditures; make them as transparent as possible. Consistently talking openly and honestly about the business of the school district will create a community-wide culture of respect where citizens feel compelled to do what they can for success.

School Board Practices (Part 8 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Be Data-Driven

Data is important to successful decision making, but too often school board members, administrators, and teachers do not have the time, energy, or knowledge of how to analyze and work with the data. School boards in larger districts should provide curriculum specialists the tools to analyze the data using query software and then train teachers to utilize it. It is this kind of support for the district leaders that school boards can celebrate because the data does shape and support the goals of the district. This school board-driven practice of analyzing data will create a clear set of school performance expectations, and then eliminate any obstacles that do not support these expectations.

School boards can focus their governance on effective theories of action for change. Educators will often say that if we only operated like a business, we could be more successful. School boards may have an advantage over many businesses, because the desired output is clear: a well-educated student who is prepared for life after education and can contribute to a democratic society. If evidence does not support this outcome, the board must make decisions that are supported by the data they analyze.

School Board Practices (Part 7 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Evaluate Schools/Self

There is a need for school board members to assess themselves as one collaborative authority. They should do everything they can to create and maintain a culture of trust, starting with a process of evaluating their own performance and seeking ways to improve their practices. Parents, community members, business officials, and legislators expect the highest level of accomplishment possible, but not just from students; there is public demand for our school leaders to meet the needs of all learners. Many school board members do not have the formal training to evaluate programs much less the ability to evaluate the performance of their own school’s programs and outcomes. School board members need to engage in training where they meet outside their regular meetings for retreats; they need to learn about evaluation, what to evaluate, how to make data-driven decisions, and then strategically set goals that will impact student achievement.

Just as all other areas of school personnel are assessed and evaluated, school board members also need to engage in self-evaluation as well as training for improving school board performance. School board members should be evaluated as a whole school board, not as individuals. The school board should set goals and develop standards against which they will evaluate themselves. Each evaluation should drive the improvement process for their leadership and include strategies for improving the school board’s performance.

School Board Practices (Part 6 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Be Accountable

There is a created sense of urgency with the No Child Left Behind Act for school boards to impact student achievement through the creation of a performance culture. School boards must focus on students, create a shared vision, set high expectations, and enlist community support for what they do. Therefore, they must engage in data-driven decision-making and strategic planning to create a culture for improved teaching and learning.

A system of sanctions and rewards hold schools accountable for meeting performance objectives. School-by-school report cards are published for parents, as well as on the Internet for all public schools. These report cards include math and reading results disaggregated by ethnicity, gender, poverty, students with disabilities as compared to non-disabled students, and English proficiency. These report cards are integrated with existing state and local report cards where possible. Therefore, school boards should understand that they are in the spotlight of the community to create conditions that impact student achievement.

The school board’s role in student performance is to establish a vision of what students should achieve, and then hold themselves, the staff, and the students accountable for continuous improvements in achievement. The Iowa School Boards Association and School Administrators of Iowa have a structure that supports this continuous improvement for students by creating strategies to hold themselves accountable to make sure this is accomplished. The intent is to recognize that a collaborative culture can have an impact on the entire district which in turn can positively impact student achievement. To do this, school boards must understand that they serve as education’s key advocate on behalf of students and their schools. They are accountable to the community and, according to the Minnesota School Board Association, they must regularly assess conditions affecting education and student achievement. They should perform in a manner that reflects service to the community on behalf of students by conducting district business in a fair, respectful and responsible manner.

School Board Practices (Part 5 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Create a Healthy Culture

Schools should strive toward a culture where district administrators and school board members model, develop, and support broad-based, skillful participation in the work of leadership. They should engage in practices that complement and build on one another in order for the organization to support student achievement at its core. Leadership, and the skill and energy to empower others to lead, is a culture-changing challenge that is possible; when successful, the school board will witness leadership by those closest to the students. A school board has to believe it can happen and then work collaboratively to make it happen. Once a culture of collaboration is created, a culture of performance can happen. The school board should be a problem-solving organization that looks internally at what the data is telling them. They must reflect on the importance of making decisions as near to the child as possible.

They need to implement practices that will stress to teachers the importance of collaboration. They need to create a culture of collaboration where professionals are engaged in learning communities for the coordination of instruction that allows faculty to know children as individuals, and take account of the family and emotional events that can affect learning. If they are going to engage in this type of performance, they will need to look to their own practices by collecting the data that supports their governance.

Moving into a culture of performance requires the creation of an environment that works together to attain maximum growth through a sound organizational framework. The best practice of collaboration requires strong relationship building; it is essential that school boards engage in a healthy, professional relationship with the superintendent and its partnerships with the community members and local agencies. A culture where conditions and structures are aligned for success, the superintendent is able to function as a CEO and instructional leader. This brings about support for the development of a long-range plan and goals for raising student achievement. In a culture of collaboration, all school boards can become partners in setting a strategic direction, but they must allow the experts to do their jobs.

School Board Practices (Part 4 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Engage in Best Practices

When school boards successfully engage in strategic planning toward the outcome of increased student achievement, they positively impact the entire system. The school board must make appropriate decisions that benefit all students. There are suggested “best practices” that guide the school board to develop and foster strong governance. A school board should visit successful schools that have programs that are deemed successful. This must result in acts of data-driven decision making and strategic planning toward the goals of increased student achievement. Without engagement in such activities, school board governance would prove to have little impact on the success of the school.

To create a culture of increased student achievement, school boards must engage in training and in-service programs for increased student achievement. Their professional growth must include a comprehensive and deep understanding of their own and each other’s degree of involvement in the governing process. They must educate themselves about issues or about the best practices of teaching and learning. They should be driven by the continuous improvement that comes with the strategic planning and the measurement of results. They must evaluate their own ability at strategic planning, decision making, and time/attention to student achievement while creating a culture of doing the same through the entire system; this evaluation should measure the working relations of the school board and between the school board and superintendent.

Student achievement is evident in schools where successful school board governance is practiced. Found in these districts is a culture that cares about children. School board members in high-achieving districts believe that all students have the capacity to achieve, whereas their counterparts in low-achieving districts tend to accept student limitations as unchangeable. School boards in these districts are knowledgeable about key reform elements and believe they can incorporate success with shared leadership, continuous improvement, staff development, and data-based decision making.

The school board should, through an evaluation process, allow superintendents to do their job by clearly defining their role and the role of the school board; this creates a professional working relationship that is empowering and safe. Plus, the school board will be more focused on the goals and their relationship with the community. Having these principles in place allows a school board to operate professionally without the managerial and micromanagement duties that are often the case.

The challenge for the school board is to spend less time creating unnecessary policy and programs that do not impact student achievement. They must not be engulfed in rules and regulations that are unnecessary for improvement. School boards need to lead by being change agents of a school district; they must participate in practices that encourage all others in the organization to focus on student achievement, and gather the data that supports best practices.

School Board Practices (part 3 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Part 3 of 17

Be Ready for the Societal Demand

Traditionally, school boards have focused their responsibility on policy setting and overseeing the administration of the school. But now society demands leadership from school boards in the areas of visioning, establishing the mission, setting goals, holding the administration accountable to those goals, and making decisions based on data. The school board needs to create a shared vision of what the community’s educational system should achieve.

The school board should create an environment designed to ensure that all students have an opportunity to attain their maximum potential. This allows for employing a superintendent that fits the district’s needs. The school board should monitor student achievement and keep the public informed of educational progress. They should expand opportunities, seek support from the community, celebrate the learning and achievements of their students, and promote school board service. They can find success in doing this as long as they hire a qualified superintendent who can carry out the mission, mold a learning culture, and hold all accountable while they themselves are being held accountable by the board.

School Board Practices (Part 2 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

Micromanagement is Not the Answer

Part 2 of 17

Unfortunately, local school boards spend the bulk of their time on budgetary issues and resolving complaints, leaving little time for oversight of instruction or even reviewing data about school performance. They often pay too much attention to particular causes, programs, and teacher factions. These actions of a poor governing board reflect a micromanagement of the system where little talk of professional growth and strategic planning to impact student achievement is mentioned. To effectively engage in strategic planning to impact student achievement, the school board must rely on its leaders (the administration) to make informed decisions and recommendations for continued growth. Little can be done where school board members spend more time as another level of administration (micromanagers). The development of a shared vision, effective decision making, and positive community connections is an ongoing process that is necessary for schools today. Therefore, school board leadership is about creating positive relationships and implementing ideas that work, and the above can not possibly be done where the relationship between the school board and the administration is in turmoil. Service should not be about dealing with routine administrative tasks that need to be trusted to the staff of the school district.

School Board Practices (part 1 of 17): Shaping Governance for Success

It wasn't too many years ago that I put forth all my effort to research the best practices of school board governance. What I found wasn't at all surprising, but I do feel that this reseach needs to be shared. I'm no longer working as a superintendent in a public setting. In fact, I find my new career extremely motivating because of the time I get for "me."

To avoid being too long, I'm going to share this in several parts thoughout the month of February. Here is is:

School Board Practices: Shaping Governance for Success
By Dr. Steven Jordahl

Face the Challenge
The challenges facing public education systems are great. Budgets are declining; there is increased accountability, low morale, collective bargaining, political issues, and teacher shortages. The challenges have created the need for school boards to foster and develop a governing structure where working relationships unite all on the school board to act as one entity. With today’s expectations, to impact student achievement, school board governance is scrutinized by the voter on the performance of these elected officials.

Recent research has examined the relationship of school board governance to student achievement. The research identified the responsibilities of strategic planning and decision making, while recognizing the importance of positive superintendent/school board relations without the use of micromanagement practices by the school board. Appropriate practices help school boards become more focused on the decision making practices and strategic planning that impacts student achievement. School board leaders must recognize the importance of a positive relationship with the superintendent, and recognize the significance of governing to increase student achievement.

[stay tuned; more to come]