This month’s issue of the American School Board Journal includes my article on board PD. In the article I discuss 6 shortcomings that limit the board’s ability to renew and enhance its governing performance and 5 ways that we can recalibrate our understanding of and approach to board professional development. Here’s a link to the article: What’s Wrong with Board Professional Development? (nsba.org)
Tag: #schoolboards
Seven (Not So) Simple Rules for Board Success – Part II
Boards must assign responsibility for doing the work. They must delegate sufficient authority over the work to get the job done. And they must assure accountability for the work.
Seven (Not So) Simple Rules for Board Success – Part I
Board success depends on many elements, including the organization’s leadership and culture, the board’s actions, knowledge, and character, and the situation, but the purpose of board leadership can be simply defined as assuring, on behalf of the community, that the organization succeeds. One way to portray leadership is a three-legged stool – each leg must be present for the three to stand together – consisting of responsibility, authority, and accountability. Leaders at every level, including the board in its leadership role, must accept full responsibility for their level in the organization. They must know those whom they serve. They must assign responsibility for doing the work. They must delegate sufficient authority over the work to get the job done. And they must assure accountability for the work. Before all else, they must take responsibility and be accountable for the board’s own performance.
6 Focus Areas for the School Board
School boards should review 6 areas to help focus their efforts: the state, the community, the students, the district, the superintendent, and (most important) the board itself.
4 Types of Boards
What types of boards are there? And how does board governance compare with teaching as a profession? Understanding the Danielson Framework for Teaching may offer a starting point for answering these questions. Boards might be categorized into one of four different types, the first three of which are readily distinguished by their current levels of performance in the practice of governance. These board types are: 1. Dysfunctional – those that do actual harm to the board and the organization governed Read More …
Gaining New Members? Renew Your Whole Board (Part 3 of 3)
The Board Takes Responsibility for Accountability “Whenever the board gets a new member, a new board is formed.” Part 1 of this post introduced the idea of making the new members’ first day on the job one of intentional induction, not only for the new member but for the “new board” that is being formed. What if the board, seriously accepting responsibility for its own performance, took the opportunity to induct its newest members, while at the same time guiding Read More …
Gaining New Members? Renew Your Whole Board (Part 2 of 3)
The Board Takes Responsibility for Strategic Voice and Operational Guidance “Whenever the board gets a new member, a new board is formed.” Part 1 of this post introduced the above (a traditional saying about boards) as rationale for making the new members’ first day on the job one of intentional induction, not only for the new member but for the “new board” that is being formed. What if the board, seriously accepting responsibility for its own performance, took the opportunity Read More …
Gaining New Members? Renew Your Whole Board (Part 1 of 3)
The Board Takes Responsibility for Board Readiness Most boards are underperformers when it comes to helping their newest members rapidly become knowledgeable, contributing members of the governing team. Except for the formal swearing-in that is mandated by law, boards leave professional development up to the individual, and for most new board members, that means the slow and haphazard nature of on-the-job experience. This is partly due to board members acknowledging the independent nature of elected (or appointed) office by keeping Read More …
Are Principals Perfect?
When I read this article from EdWeek, I was reminded of a study I had done a long time ago, comparing leaders’ self-assessments with assessments that can be obtained from subordinates, from peers, and from supervisors. Turns out that principals, like all leaders, are not perfect, even if their self-image seems to say so. And others, including our own subordinates, have plenty to offer in helping to round out the full picture. Here’s the EdWeek article: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/District_Dossier/2019/03/teachers_have_lower_perceptions_of_principals.html?cmp=SOC-EDIT-LI What this means Read More …
The Case for Supervision – Part II
The best boards keep their noses in the business and their fingers out. Jim Brown (The Imperfect Board Member) The Board Role in Supervision As Jim Brown implies, the best boards supervise but do not run the business. The board role in supervision of a school district is to set expectations about what is to be achieved as far as desired outcomes for students are concerned (what the community wants students to know and be able to do) and provide Read More …