Effective school boards build a base of competencies (knowledge and skills) that help them succeed in their roles. They know the difference between boardsmanship and governance. They use individual board member competencies (boardsmanship) that contribute to the work of the board, and whole-board competencies (governance) that can only be performed by the board working together. These competencies increase a board’s potential for success. However, to fully realize that potential, boards need the right beliefs, values, and attitudes—a mindset for success Read More …
Tag: @WYSchoolBoards
NSBA Presentation Handouts
At this year’s National School Board Conference I am presenting a session entitled “Boardsmanship Is Not Enough: We Need to BE, KNOW, and DO More to Reach Our Full Governing Potential” Five HANDOUTS. Summary. Systematic self-assessment is a significant professional development routine that enhances a board’s performance, and – more importantly – district results. Research studies have found that certain board characteristics, such as an ‘elevating’ view of students are positively correlated with higher levels of student achievement, or boards Read More …
The Three-Legged Stool of Board Leadership
This month’s edition (February 2023) of the American School Board Journal included a feature article that I wrote, describing leadership, including school board leadership, as a 3-legged stool. Here’s how they introduce the topic: School boards must balance responsibility, authority, and accountability to successfully govern, writes board trainer and long-time school board leader Rick Maloney. Here’s a link to that article: The Three-Legged Stool
On the Value of Board Training
5 Topics that are useful for board member training, and 2 topics that are of no value (or even cause harm) to board member development.
What’s Wrong with Board Professional Development?
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)
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 …