Governing Effectively via a Framework for School Governance
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) “A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” ― Thomas Paine Paine offered the above advice to America’s Founding Fathers, who were debating how best to limit the power of government. Considering Paine’s advice as it applies to the board member role: If board and board member performance were evaluated and made public, many board members might be a bit more restrained in their actions. ― Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) A school board, being composed of persons, may find self-assessment distasteful. Implicit in the process, after all, is the assumption that its members will admit to some failures. They must be ready to see themselves as lacking in some areas. But board members, like most people, may get defensive when asked to account for their shortcomings. It is easier for boards to critique the performance of their main employee, the superintendent. ― Gene Maeroff1 Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) The unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates Becoming a Better Board Member offers advice to boards for monitoring their own performance: Reviewing our own performance can be a healing experience. Scenario: A year and a half after two new members joined the South Valley School Board, deep divisions remain among board members and between the board and top district leadership. The board and senior staff, interviewed anonymously by an outside consultant, said Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) High-performing boards are characterized by a number of observable behaviors. They know what their job is, and they do it efficiently. They plan their own work and perform their work at the policy level, focusing more on organizational outcomes than process. They are responsible for their own performance; they follow their own rules and deal fairly and consistently with staff and each other. They set the vision for themselves and the organization. They clearly understand Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. ― James Madison1 To be fully effective, the board controls Read More …
(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 …
(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 Read More …