Improving School Board Effectiveness: A Balanced Governance Approach

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2 Improving School Board Effectiveness: A Balanced Governance Approach Southern Region Leadership Conference July 31 August 2, 2016, New Orleans, Louisiana Phil Gore, Ph.D. Director of Leadership Team Services, TASB

3 Session overview What is Balanced Governance School Boards Make a Difference Specific Actions of School Boards Related to Student Outcomes Putting Balanced Governance to Work in Your District

4 What is balance?

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19 What is Balanced Governance?

20 What is Balanced Governance? A Balanced Governance approach promotes neither RUBBER-stamping nor MICROMANAGEMENT.

21 What school boards do makes a difference Student Performance

22 What school boards do makes a difference They can do a lot of HARM, or they can do a lot of GOOD. Tom Alsbury Mary Delagardelle Ivan Lorentzen

23 The fact that board members can influence achievement, even loosely, merits much more attention surely by scholars but also by voters, parents, taxpayers, and other policy-makers. (Fordham Foundation, Shober & Hartney, Does School Board Leadership Matter, 2014)

24 Why Balanced Governance is important DISENGAGED HYPERACTIVE

25 Four attributes of school boards that influence learning and teaching Values and BELIEFS ACTIONS Teamwork TENURE

26 Outward Results Values and Beliefs

27 When the structures and norms of behavior within the school culture positively affect instructional practices, improved student achievement is expected and typical. Tom Alsbury

28 ACTIONS

29 TEAMWORK

30 What matters? Board STABILITY Superintendent TENURE Holding superintendents accountable for STUDENT performance. Holding the board accountable for ITS performance.

31 BOARD STABILITY

32 Balance Not all turnover is bad (destabilizing).

33 SUPERINTENDENT TENURE

34 Effects of destabilizing behavior Tom Alsbury Board member behavior Board member turnover Superintendent turnover Policy, goals, & personnel change Student achievement decline

35 What exceptional governance looks like 1. Clear VISION (where we re going) 2. Clear MISSION (purpose) 3. Clear GOALS (how we get there) 4. Clear MONITORING (with accountability for performance) 5. Commitment to CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT (key to excellence)

36 RELATIONSHIPS

37 School board effectiveness hinges upon strong board-superintendent relationships.

38 PARTNERSHIP

39 Three keys to effective board-superintendent relationships 1. COMMUNICATION that demonstrates respect and builds trust. 2. COMMUNICATION that demonstrates commitment to understanding the problems. 3. COMMUNICATION that demonstrates commitment to solving the problems.

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41 Research supporting a Balanced Governance approach 1. Board leadership that matters most: Lessons learned from the Lighthouse Studies Mary Delagardelle 2. Transforming beliefs into action: Board and superintendent teams working together Tom Shelton 3. School boards in their environment: Balancing brokerage and closure Argun Saatcioglu 4. How board governance practices effect student achievement Ivan Lorentzen and William McCaw

42 Lessons learned from the Lighthouse studies Boards matter for student achievement. They influence learning teaching, curriculum, instruction, and the learning environment Key board actions generate conditions for productive change: 1. Clear goals with measurable targets for student learning 2. Extensive use of data to inform and monitor improvement 3. Systemic support for collaboration, research, and innovation 4. Support for PD, focused on collaborative inquiry into learning and teaching 5. High levels of engagement between the system, patrons, and community 6. Strong leadership at all levels

43 Board and superintendent teams working together Tom Shelton Co-operative relationship with the superintendent balanced. Superintendents have a laser focus on student learning and devote a large portion of their time to it. School boards create the environment (and expectations) that have administrators focused on improving student achievement. Boards and superintendents focus shared PD on team building. Target hiring and evaluation of the superintendent to direct time on student achievement.

44 Balancing bridging and bonding Argun Saatcioglu Cultivating social capital in school boards Balancing internal working relationships and external ties How well members work with each other (bonding) What external connections members have (bridging)

45 How governance practices effect student achievement Ivan Lorentzen and William McCaw 1. Written goals for the superintendent that focus on specific outcomes for student learning 2. Communicating performance expectations for the superintendent to the community 3. Base decisions about the superintendent s contract on objective evaluation of his or her performance and achievement of goals 4. Collaboration with staff and the community to formulate and maintain a district plan with goals and outcomes 5. Basing ongoing work, such as policy development, decision-making, and budgeting, on district goals 6. Continually monitoring progress toward the goals and outcomes of the district plan

46 Part 2: Putting Balanced Governance to Work

47 Part 2: Putting Balanced Governance to work 5. What school board members need to know: Assessing Leadership Mark Levine and Paul Van Buskirk 6. Elements of school board success: A comprehensive board assessment tool for systemic improvement Thomas L. Alsbury and Betsy Miller-Jones 7. Assessing individual board members: A self-assessment for improved board performance Thomas L. Alsbury 8. Superintendent evaluation: An opportunity to strengthen board practice Phil Gore and Larry Nyland

48 Assessing leadership Mark Levine and Paul Van Buskirk School boards that knowingly or unknowingly practice a Balanced Governance model report higher student achievement. A Human Resource Development perspective 1. Boards are accountable to their stakeholders for the organization s performance and are responsible to provide the outcomes that the owners expect. 2. The success of an organization depends on the quality of the product it produces. 3. Leadership is most effective when board members transcend factors that have adverse effects on their duties and decisions.

49 Successful school board members 1. Administer prudent, businesslike governance and leadership practices. 2. Transcend personal and systemic counterproductive and self-serving governance behavior. 3. Focus their talents and resources on realistic solutions to raise student achievement.

50 Board Assessment tool for Systemic Improvement Thomas L. Alsbury and Betsy Miller-Jones Technical Elements Vision-Directed Planning Community Engagement Effective Leadership Accountability Using Data for Continuous Improvement Adaptive Elements Cultural Responsiveness Climate Learning Organizations Systems Thinking Innovation and Creativity

51 Board member Brief description characteristic Role Understands the difference between the role of oversight and boundaries micromanagement. Role A trustee speaks for general interests and assumes a personal orientation mandate due to their election, valuing unanimity on board decisions. A delegate attempts to speak for special interests, comfortable with open debate and split votes to maintain a platform for diverse and competing interests. Advocacy focus A position-driven focus is often polarizing and identifies friends and enemies. An interest-driven focus seeks to satisfy multiple and diverse needs and avoids the narrow demands of special interests. Student concern focus Solution focus Supports a broad focus on student concerns. A stated responsibility to insure all students are afforded social justice. Avoids targeted focus justice for single categories of students or needs. Understands that the local school district, and each school, has unique and shifting needs; often requiring nonstandard solutions. Stabilizing characteristic Oversight with knowledgeable critique and advocacy Trustee with the ability to shift to delegate in times of emerging conflict, community dissatisfaction, or change Interest-driven Broad focus of social justice for all students Recognizes contextual need Supports creative, nonstandard solutions

52 Exercise of influence & visibility ` Use of voice Understands that board members possess no individual authority. Power rests in the board as a group only. Does the board member use his or her voice to tell and sell their position or do they seek to listen, understand interests, and discover resolution and reconciliation? School board team influence and supportive visibility Uses voice to listen, resolve, and reconcile Use of power Power Over is using your position to get your own way through threat or reward. Power With is using your position to ensure all voices are heard and collaborative solutions are guaranteed. Power With Decisionmaking style Decision making can be done individually and quickly or can be done collaboratively with and through others. Collaborative Motivation for service Board members can serve for personal or for altruistic reasons. Altruistic service

53 Superintendent evaluation Superintendent evaluation can make a difference in student achievement and other desirable outcomes.

54 Suggestions for board development Adopt an incremental process for improvement. Establish a new culture of conversation and growth. Agree on goals. Calendar the work. Determine who does what and when.

55 Part 3: Putting it all Together: Balanced Governance in Action

56 Part 3: Putting it all together: Balanced Governance in action 9. The Panasonic Foundation experience: Promising practices and lessons learned from work with urban school boards Andrew Gelber, Scott Thompson, and Larry Leverett 10.Learning the work by doing the work: The Massachusetts District Governance Support Program Nancy Walser and Dorothy Presser 11.Lighthouse School Boards: Effective boards making an impact on student achievement Mary Delagardelle, Nick Caruso, Warren Logee, and Renee Sessler

57 Promising practices and lessons learned from work with urban school boards Andrew Gelber, Scott Thompson, and Larry Leverett School boards shape the future ( I touch the future I teach Christa McAuliffe). Boards in improving districts articulate what they believe and stand for. Articulate boundaries in policies, and don t stifle innovation. Commit to equity All means all. Failing to plan is planning to fail Govern through a strategic plan. Model a climate of respect and responsibility through sustainable practice.

58 Keys to implementation 1. A majority of board members are willing to change and commit. 2. Involve the superintendent as much as possible. 3. Proactively communicate with key constituencies. 4. Employ a knowledgeable coach with whom you enjoy working. 5. Take advantage of complimentary support programs. 6. Have a plan for continued success to ensure new policies and practices are sustained through changes in membership.

59 Lighthouse in action Lighthouse training will not fix problem boards or members. The culture of low expectations must be attacked and transformed. Successful districts balance districtwide direction and buildinglevel autonomy. Distribute leadership and share priorities. Learning together becomes leading together for governance teams. Improving student achievement requires commitment from the entire system, and it begins with the school board.

60 Conclusions: Effective school boards Model Balanced Governance by working effectively as a team. Set and communicate high expectations for student learning with clear goals and plans for meeting those expectations. Hold the district accountable for meeting student learning goals by evaluating the superintendent on clear and focused expectations. Commit to continuous improvement at each school and throughout the district. Provide Balanced Governance by conducting board and district business in a fair, respectful and responsible manner. Engage the local community and represent the values and expectations the community has for their schools.

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62 Thank You Phil Gore, PhD TASB Division Director, Leadership Team Services 62

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