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 collaborative goal setting. Establishing nonnegotiable goals for achievement and instruction. Creating board alignment with and support of district goals. Monitoring achievement and instruction goals. Allocating resources to support the goals for achievement and instruction. Timothy Waters and Robert Marzano, District Leadership That Works The board influences student learning through district-level leadership Can board leadership Read More …
Category: Board Readiness
Capacity of a board to perform its governance responsibilities. The first responsibility of a board is to develop its capacity to govern.
Boards Matter – Part I
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. Holland’s Opus there is a scene in which the school board, in a budget-cutting move, votes to cut the arts program, eliminating the music teaching job to which Mr Holland (Richard Dreyfus) has dedicated his adult life. The board is portrayed as dimwitted and Read More …
From the Boardroom: Questions Many Boards Never Think to Ask (Part IV)
From the Boardroom: Questions Many Boards Never Think to Ask (Part IV) February 18, 2018 Rick Maloney This is the last of a four-part series. In Parts I, II and III of this post, we considered questions rarely (maybe never) asked by Board members regarding orientation and professional development of board members, the full Board, and Superintendent/staff, and questions about some strategic Board-level functions. In this part, we will review a couple of ordinary board functions that at first don’t appear Read More …
From the Boardroom: Questions Many Boards Never Think to Ask (Part III)
In Parts I and II of this post, we considered questions rarely (maybe never) asked by Board members regarding orientation and professional development of board members, the full Board, and its Superintendent/staff. This third part will deal with questions about some strategic Board-level functions: About Planning Strategic Board Functions Strategic planning. Q#1: Does the Board take responsibility for strategic planning? The Board is likely to answer this question in the affirmative, as this is something the Board does pay attention to, Read More …
From the Boardroom: Questions Many Boards Never Think to Ask (Part II)
From the Boardroom: Questions Many #Boards Never Think to Ask (Part II) December 16, 2017 Rick Maloney In Part I of this post, we considered some questions rarely (perhaps never) asked by Board members regarding such topics as the orientation the Board provides to its members, ongoing Board member professional development, and professional development for the Board as a body, focusing on collective behaviors that are not addressed in individual Board member professional development. Some more “never think to ask” Read More …
From the Boardroom: Questions Boards Never Think to Ask (Part I)
From the Boardroom: Questions Many Boards Never Think to Ask (Part I) About Development Orientation of new and prospective board members. Q#1: Does the Board orient its new members? A: First of all, most boards fail altogether in providing any sort of orientation. Even if an orientation is provided, the board typically leaves such a ‘chore’ to its staff. Guess what? Whoever provides the orientation has a vested interest in training the new member in a way that makes sense Read More …
Servant Leadership, A Dual Role for Boards
In his 1977 book Servant Leadership Robert Greenleaf tells of a journey, and a man named Leo… …who accompanies the party as the servant who does their menial chores, but who also sustains them with his spirit and his song. He is a person of extraordinary presence. All goes well until Leo disappears. Then the group falls into disarray and the journey is abandoned. They cannot make it without the servant Leo. The narrator, one of the party, after some Read More …
Dealing With the Board’s Limitations
Dealing with the Board’s Limitations Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. – Leo Tolstoy Recently I described some limitations that can get in the way of board effectiveness, and offered ideas about: Board voice – Unless we “speak” as a board and in writing, what we say as board members has little impact. We should use the power of our “board voice” by putting it in writing; The board – Respect “the board” Read More …
What’s Wrong With Boards?
What’s Wrong With (Too Many) Boards? 8 Lessons for Improving Board Performance “A [board’s] got to know [its] limitations.” – Dirty Harry Ok, so Harry wasn’t a board member. He didn’t go in for collective action – he acted alone, one man standing against ‘system’. Maybe Harry never uttered these exact words, but if he were advising a board, he might have. If a board is to govern effectively, it must understand its own limitations and develop a strategy for Read More …