Sunday, February 27, 2011

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.

7 SKILLS STUDENTS NEED FOR THEIR FUTURE - TONY WAGNER