Question #37 – Does Your Board Assure Accountability?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board)

Scenario: During a work-study session following annual release of state test score results, the Riverdale school board reviewed a staff report on the data. “This year’s scores are depressing,” grumbled Ethelda. “Student achievement declined across the board, and that is unacceptable. We have to do something.” Mary Lu responded “Don’t forget that one result does not make a trend. We really need to wait and see what trends develop so we can make informed decisions about how we are doing.” T’wina added, “We should also keep our district demographics in mind so we compare our scores, and our progress, with those of similar districts. Marisa (the superintendent) pointed out that this is the first year following a change in the state tests. State scores appear to be down statewide this year. We need to maintain a long-term perspective. Under an initiative you just approved last year, we have made the following major changes in our instructional strategy whose impact won’t be seen for several years…”

This board is dealing with an event (test score release) that nearly all districts face on at least an annual basis, when news outlets trumpet the grading of schools and districts, comparing one against the other. Board discussions follow, analyzing what the accountability data mean and considering what to do about it.

Merely claiming to be responsible for something means little unless accompanied by a proportional level of authority. Likewise, asserting the board’s authority by giving the superintendent and staff policy directives means nothing unless the board follows up those directives by checking to see that intended results are achieved and compliance with policy guidance actually happens. The board needs to assure its community that it can hold the system, including district leadership, accountable to deliver the results the community wants for its students.

Accountability can be elusive because people tend to avoid it:

…in most cases only students are held accountable. This should come as no surprise. They have the least power of any group in the schools. Most others – parents, taxpayers, educators, lawmakers, and school board members – pretty much resist accountability.

― Gene Maeroff1

Accountability is an area of board responsibility that is perhaps at the heart of representative democracy.Lorentzen found that performing the accountability function well at the board level has the highest correlation with student achievement among all major governance functions.

Seeing to it that the district produces results desired by the community while adhering to the laws, regulations, and policies that guide the work is, for many, why the board exists. When it monitors those results and that performance, the board assures, for itself and the community it serves, that these essentials are achieved. When desired outcomes are not immediately attained, the board must assure reasonable progress toward those outcomes.

Accountability. [Defining question: How do we know if we are successful?]

The accountability function presents an opportunity for a board to answer to its boss – the local community – by reporting in public whether desired results are achieved, state mandates are met, and community values are upheld for each of three entities that shoulder strategic responsibilities:

  • the superintendent, who answers to the board for district performance and also is a contributor to  board performance;
  • the board itself, which has a formal legal obligation to account upward to the state and the local community for board and district performance, and a less formal moral obligation to account downward to district staff and students who depend on it for leadership; and
  • board members who have a formal legal obligation as office holders to answer to those (usually voters) who put them in office, and a less formal moral obligation to the board (and to staff and students) for their individual contribution to board performance.

An organization does well only those things the boss checks.

― Bruce C. Clarke2

Acting on behalf of the community, the board exercises an ownership responsibility when it sees to it that the organization does well those things the board checks.

Superintendent Accountability, Board Accountability, and Board Member Accountability are three components of Accountability.

The effective board recognizes that full implementation of an accountability regimen requires more than a declaration of good intent. It requires the dedicated involvement of multiple hearts and minds. Staying within the bounds of its own lane, the board focuses on developing and exercising the ability to hold the superintendent accountable (to the board) for district business, to hold the board itself accountable (to the community) for board business, and to hold individual board members accountable (to the community and to colleagues) for board member business.

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Next: Question #38 Does Your Board Hold the Superintendent Accountable?