Governing Effectively via a Framework for School Governance
Holding the superintendent accountable for his/her contribution to effective governance, and increasing the board’s capacity for effective governance in the future
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) This advice from The Key Work of School Boards challenges a board when monitoring district performance to carefully consider its response, including what to do about the monitoring. Scenario: At the school board conference, a vendor was selling ties and buttons. Two particular buttons stood out. One said, “It’s the board’s fault!” and was selling at a brisk pace. An even bigger seller, the other button, intended for sale to board members, said “It’s Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) The only way a board can responsibly do its job without meddling is by monitoring very well…The best boards keep their noses in the business and their fingers out. – Jim Brown1 The board meets its obligation to account for district success when it monitors district performance in order to hold the superintendent accountable for managing the district, assuring reasonable progress toward achievement of district goals and complying with expectations about how those goals Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) The board has a responsibility to expect clear evidence that implementation has been carried out. This evidence should be provided not only for the district as a whole, but also for each individual school. The type of evidence that will be gathered should be determined and agreed on before the policy is implemented. That way, the expectations are clear up front, and the staff isn’t being asked to provide confirming data after the fact. Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) Because board members assume a strategic role and usually aren’t educators themselves, they’re in a poor position to objectively assess an educational program’s effectiveness. But the programs’ outcomes (as reflected in student achievement data that reveal the degree of progress toward meeting school district goals) are fair game for board questioning. The board doesn’t so much assess educational programs as it challenges school staff to justify their effectiveness. ― Mark Van Clay and Perry Read More …
This month’s edition (February 2023) of the American School Board Journal included a feature article that I wrote, describing leadership, including school board leadership, as a 3-legged stool. Here’s how they introduce the topic: School boards must balance responsibility, authority, and accountability to successfully govern, writes board trainer and long-time school board leader Rick Maloney. Here’s a link to that article: The Three-Legged Stool