Student Outcomes Focused Governance

Main Idea

A framework for keeping a school board and a school district’s staff focused on the outcomes, academic and other outcomes, of its students. The framework enables a board to exercise board leadership and serves community interests by clarifying roles and defining goals, delegating authority and giving the superintendent freedom of action in deciding how to achieve those goals, guided by guardrails also established by the board, then systematically monitoring both outcomes and how those outcomes are achieved so as to assure successful organizational performance.

Author

A.J. Crabill developed this model after serving as a School Board member in Missouri and Deputy Commissioner of Education for Governance in Texas, then Director of Governance for the Council of Great City Schools.  For info from Crabill on his model see Student Outcomes Focused Governance.

Board & Staff Issues Addressed

• Role confusion – unclear boundary between board and superintendent responsibilities
• Unclear expectations held by the board toward its superintendent, and vice versa
• Board decision-making at the operational level rather than at the policy level
• Tension over authority exercised by the superintendent vs that exercised by the board
• Superintendent evaluation based on unknown criteria, unrelated to organizational success

Continuous Improvement Behaviors for an Effective School Board

First, adopt a mindset focused on improving student outcomes by changing adult behaviors—starting with your own. Second, clarify the priorities by adopting goals about student outcomes, describing what students should know or be able to do. Third, spend 50 percent of board meetings each month monitoring those goals to see whether students are making progress. Fourth, aggressively align the district’s resources to those goals. And, fifth, communicate the results regarding the goals—the good, the bad, the ugly—to the community at regular, predefined intervals.

5 Continuous Improvement Behaviors

1. Mindset. Adopt a mindset focused on improving student outcomes by changing adult behaviors—starting with your own.
2. Clarify Priorities. Clarify the priorities by adopting goals about student outcomes, describing what students should know or be able to do.
3. Monitor Performance. Spend 50 percent of board meetings each month monitoring those goals to see whether students are making progress.
4. Align Resources. Aggressively align the district’s resources to those goals.
5. Communicate Results. Communicate the results regarding the goals—the good, the bad, the ugly—to the community at regular, predefined intervals.

Policies by Which the Board Governs

Contrasted with the many operating policies that are usually drafted by staff and reviewed/approved by the Board, and that tell members of the organization how to function, the policies by which the Board governs the organization are much fewer in number, with much less verbage, and provide direction to only one of two entities: the Board itself, or the CEO. There are four sets of governing policies in the Policy Governance (R) model:

Goals

Ends policies describe the purpose of the organization, defining what good the ownership wants the organization to do for specified beneficiaries, at a specified cost or relative priority. With this essential guidance, the terms of organizational success are clearly set, and the Board can go about the main focal point of its self-defined job of monitoring the organization for achievement of its Ends. The executive, similarly, has clear guidance as to what is to be achieved, for whom, and at what cost or relative priority.

Guardrails

The second critical component of executive guidance, besides achieving desired Ends as defined by the Board, is that the CEO is expected to achieve those Ends without violating restrictions defined by the Board in the Executive Limitations. Executive Limitations provide limitations on the freedom of action of the executive in deciding how to go about achieving Ends. Rather than telling the executive how to function, limitations tell the executive what would not be acceptable, either legally, morally, ethically, or prudentially. With a clear idea of what would be unacceptable, the Board expects that the CEO is free to make any or all decisions needed to accomplish the main thing: achievement of Ends. As long as defined limits are not exceeded, the CEO is empowered with freedom of action to get the job done.

Governance Process

This important part of the Board’s guidance to itself constitute a key to the self-discipline which Student Outcomes Focused Governance provides. Governance Process policies describe how the Board will operate and institute the principles of student outcomes focused governance for its own process.  GP policies include a definition of the Board’s purpose and an operational definition of its job – assuring on behalf of the community that the school district is successful.

Board-Superintendent Relationship

The second set of policies by which the Board governs its own activities, the Board-Superintendent Relationship policies describe how the Board will interact with its Superintendent, so that it effectively delegates authority to the Superintendent to perform the management function, while the Board itself takes care of the governance function. These policies clarify how the board interacts and relates with its Superintendent, including how Superintendent evaluation is performed, including the idea that the Board considers the performance of the organization and that of the Superintendent to be identical.