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Rick Maloney wrote a new post 4 years, 1 month ago

On the Value of Board Training 2 Questions A friend who edits a national publication on board leadership recently asked me a two-part question. Which topics for board education did you Read More …
Rick Maloney commented on the post, What's Wrong with Board Professional Development? 4 years, 1 month ago

Thanks, Bill. I consider the performance of school boards, for each of many skills/knowledge areas, to be at one of four levels (structured somewhat like those of Charlotte Danielson’s or Robert Marzano’s […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 4 years, 1 month ago

What's Wrong with Board Professional Development?This month’s issue of the American School Board Journal includes my article on board PD. In the article I discuss 6 shortcomings that limit the board’s Read More …
Bob Hughes wrote a new post 4 years, 6 months ago

8 Lessons Learned in Governance – Part 1I posted an entry (the first of three installments) on 8 lessons learned in the 19 years since our board first learned about the Policy Governance (R) model of Read More …
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 5 years, 1 month ago

Seven (Not So) Simple Rules for Board Success – Part II Seven (Not So) Simple Rules for Board Success – Part II One way to portray leadership is via a three-legged stool – each leg must be present for the three to Read More …
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 5 years, 1 month ago

Board success depends on many elements, including the organization’s leadership and culture, the board’s actions, knowledge, and character, and the situation, but the purpose of board leadership can be simply def […]
Rick Maloney commented on the post, 6 Focus Areas for the School Board 5 years, 2 months ago

Bill, I like your comment about boards not being fooled by cherry picked data. That’s one of my pet peeves.

My choice of sequence begins with the entities TO which the board is subordinate and must respond. So […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 5 years, 2 months ago

It was time for our annual board
retreat, when we set aside time to review the past year, assess, plan for
improvement, and refresh itself to begin anew in the coming year. We considered
the following questions […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 5 years, 4 months ago

What types of boards are there? And how does board governance compare with teaching as a profession? Understanding the Danielson Framework for Teaching may offer a starting point for answering these […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 5 years, 6 months ago

The Board Takes
Responsibility for Accountability

“Whenever
the board gets a new member, a new board is formed.”

Part 1 of this post introduced the idea of
making the new members’ first day on the job on […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 5 years, 6 months ago

The Board Takes
Responsibility for Strategic Voice and Operational Guidance

“Whenever
the board gets a new member, a new board is formed.”

Part 1 of this post introduced the above (a traditional sayi […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 5 years, 7 months ago

Gaining New Members? Renew Your Whole Board (Part 1 of 3) The Board Takes Responsibility for Board Readiness Most boards are underperformers when it comes to helping their newest members rapidly become knowledgeable, Read More …
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 5 years, 8 months ago

Are Principals Perfect?When I read this article from EdWeek, I was reminded of a study I had done a long time ago, comparing leaders’ self-assessments with assessments that can be Read More …
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 5 years, 10 months ago

Comedian Henny Youngman had a joke (often repeated) that went like this:
The patient says, “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.” [The doctor’s response:] “Then don’t do that!”
Sometimes the first advice a board s […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 6 years, 2 months ago

The best boards keep their noses in the business and their fingers out.

Jim Brown (The Imperfect Board Member)

The Board Role in Supervision

As Jim Brown impli […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 6 years, 4 months ago

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton
The Problem

Early in my first career (24 years in the US Army) I occasionally heard of a senior officer being removed from command due to […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 6 years, 5 months ago

Boards Matter – Part IV (4th of 4 parts)

Only boards, because of the democratic power they derive from the people, because of their close links with the people, and because of their stability, can provide the l […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 6 years, 5 months ago

Boards Matter – Part IIIBoards Matter – Part III In the high-achieving districts, the board/superintendent team and school personnel consistently expressed an “elevating” view of st Read More …
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 6 years, 6 months ago

Boards Matter – Part II

…we found five district-level leadership “responsibilities” or “initiatives” with a statistically significant (p < .05) correlation with average student achievement.

Ensuring c […]
Rick Maloney wrote a new post 6 years, 6 months ago

Boards Matter – Part I
Board members sometimes wonder: “Am I prepared for this job?” “Can the board contribute anything of importance to the mission?” “Does the work of a board matter?”

In the film Mr. Holl […]
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