Unlocking the Potential of Local School Boards to Drive and ......Unlocking the Potential of Local School Boards to Drive and Support School Turnaround Julie Corbett Consultant & Advisory

Unlocking the Potential of Local School Boards to Drive and Support School

Turnaround

Julie Corbett Consultant & Advisory Board Member

Center on School Turnaround

8/20/14

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PPE District Leadership Bootcamp

Unlocking the Potential of Local School Boards to Drive and Support

School Turnaround

Julie Corbett Consultant & Advisory Board Member

Center on School Turnaround Research and materials from: Rhim, L.M. (2013). Moving Beyond the Killer Bee’s: The Role of School Boards in School Accountability and Transformation. Lincoln, IL: Academic Development Institute.

Setting Group Norms

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PPE District Leadership Bootcamp

! Participate thoughtfully ! Manage electronic devices ! Limit side conversations ! Use the time wisely ! Listen to others ! Maintain confidentiality ! Think outside of the box ! Challenge the status quo ! Speak & act respectfully to all in the room

School Board Word Association…

8/20/14 PPE District Leadership Bootcamp

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Uninformed Think tank

Single-agenda Collaborators

Micro-managers Promoters

Political Political strategists

Short-sighted Experts

What Do You Think?

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Local school boards are a reflection of

our commitment

to local control

Or

Local school

boards can be a

hindrance to both

equity and quality


Can both of these statements be true?

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Can both of these statements be true?


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Walser Quote “School boards have untapped

power. They have been overlooked as partners in reform, and yet,

when they are involved constructively and appropriately in focusing the attention of the district

on student achievement, great things can happen.”

• Walser. (2009). p. xix


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What Do We Know About School Boards?


History and Authority

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! Key form of local control ! Designed to reflect the norms and values of the community

! Authority derived from state constitution

! Influence equity and quality ! e.g., local school boards responsible for creating policies that

establish expectations and funding

! Laws which regulate education are designed to support and provide resources for marginalized students


School Board Tools

DEVELOP POLICIES

DIRECT AND MANAGE BUDGET

RECRUIT, HIRE, AND EVALUATE

SUPERINTENDENT

DISTRICT

SCHOOLS

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School Board Cycle

Board sets policy related to goals

Superintendent develops plan

Superintendent delegates personnel

Implement plan

Supervise/revise

Gather data

Submit monitoring reports

Board monitors compliance and

outcomes

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Vermont School Boards Association. (2012) The essential work of Vermont School Boards. Montpelier, VT: Author


Implications for Turnaround

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! Craft the conditions in which districts operate

! Historically focused on the “killer b’s,” (e.g., books, budgets, buildings, and buses), not academic achievement

! Crisis of low-performance in districts/schools requires more intentional focus on academics


What Do We Know?

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Effective school boards

Effective schools


Implications for School Turnaround

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…Largely missing from the dialogue about school

transformation is a robust discussion of the role or

potential of local school boards to advance school reform goals.


Opportunities to be Leveraged…

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! School boards are evolving—more focused on educational outcomes

! Significant opportunities to better optimize school boards as positive agents of change that can influence student outcomes


Challenge for District Change Agents…

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What role do you want your local school board to

play in your district/school turnaround efforts?


Framing Public Education: The Nested System

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Federal

State

Intermediate Agencies

District

School

Student


Leveraging the Potential of School Boards

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School boards are positioned to catalyze, support, and

sustain district turnaround efforts that focus on

improving instruction


Leveraging the Potential of School Boards

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Interviews and literature reviews reveal a general

lack of knowledge, capacity, and will to

challenge existing practices


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Examples of how local school boards have been effectively engaged to initiate

or support dramatic change


School Board Tools

DEVELOP POLICIES TO SUPPORT GOALS

DIRECT AND MANAGE BUDGET ALIGNED WITH GOALS

RECRUIT, HIRE, AND EVALUATE

SUPERINTENDENT ACCORDING TO GOALS

DISTRICT

SCHOOLS

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Boards Play a Role in Establishing…

Strong instructional infrastructure and robust assessments • Identify academic outcome goals • Invest in improving instruction • Invest in assessments and application of

data

Intentional human capital strategy • Support talent pipeline • Address CBA barriers • Provide political cover

Rigorous accountability system • Acknowledge outcomes • Hold personnel accountable for

performance

Prioritization of lowest performing schools • Differentiate support • Allocate resources according to need

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Introducing School Board Coaches

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School Board Coaches • Montana


Example

Leveraging Information

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Leverage Data

• NSBA training


Example

Example

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Accountability measures • Pittsburgh “Board Watch”


Leverage the Potential of School Boards

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To realize their potential, as a system we need to leverage their leadership to

support efforts to dramatically change schools


Board Best Practices

High Functioning

Board

High Functioning

Schools

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Recommendations


Leveraging Local School Boards: State Level

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! Establish a state-level school board liaison charged with developing a statewide strategy to build local board capacity

! Allocate funding to support school-board coaches

! Develop baseline training requirements for new and experienced school board members


Leveraging Local School Boards: District Level

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! Proactively engage school board members with data

! Leverage authority to align resources with priorities based on data

! Develop and articulate strategic plan to align priorities

! Focus on the what’s (vision & mission) vs the how’s of implementation


Reflection

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! Spend a minute reflecting on your relationship

between your school board and the superintendent:

! What are two things you can do to tap the potential

of school boards to catalyze and support your

turnaround efforts?


Sources and Resources

! Alsbury, T. (2008). The future of school board governance: Relevancy and revelation. New York, NY: Rowan & Littlefield Education; Walzser, N. (2009). The essential school board book: Better governance in the age of accountability. Boston, MA: Harvard Education Press.

! Corbett, J. (2011). The Montana Story: Providing support to frontier communities through state oversight, embedded Coaching, and Community engagement. Lincoln, IL: Center on Innovation & Improvement.

! Hawley Miles, K., Baroody, K., & Regenstein, E., (2011). Restructuring resources for high-performing schools: A primer for state policymakers. Boston, MA: Education Resource Strategies

! Herman, R., Dawson, P., Dee, T., Greene, J., Maynard, R., Redding, S., et al. (2008). Turning around chronically low-performing schools: A practice guide. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

! Hess, F., & Meeks, O. (2011). School boards circa 2010: Governance in the accountability era. Washington, DC: National School Boards Association

! Iowa Association of School Boards. (2000, October). The lighthouse inquiry: School board/superintendent team behaviors in school districts with extreme differences in student achievement. Paper presented at the American Association of Research, 2001 Annual Meeting. Page 4.

! Kowal, J & Ableidinger, J. (2011). Leading indicators of school turnarounds: How to know when dramatic change is on track. Charlottesville, VA: Partnership for Leaders in Education and Public Impact.

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Sources & Resources

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! Kowal, J., Hassel, E. A., & Hassel, B. C. (2009). Successful school turnarounds: Seven steps for district leaders. Washington, DC: Public Impact for The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement.

! Land, D. (2002, January). Local school boards under review: Their role and effectiveness in relation to students’ academic achievement. Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk; Maeroff, G. (2011). School boards in America: A flawed exercise in democracy. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

! Mitchell, P., Gelber, A., Sa, S., & Thompson, S. (2009). Doing the right thing: The Panasonic Foundation’s guide to effective school boards. Secaucus, NJ: Panasonic Foundation.

! Public Impact. (2007). School Turnarounds: A Review of the Cross-Sector Evidence on Dramatic Organizational Improvement. Lincoln, IL: Center on Innovation & Improvement.

! Rhim, L. M., (2013). Moving beyond the killer B’s: The role of school boards in school accountability and transformation. Lincoln, IL: Academic Development Institute.

! Walser, N. (2009). The essential school board book. Boston, MA: Harvard Education Press.


Contact Information

! Julie Corbett ! 312-479-7719 ! [email protected] ! www.corbetteducation.wordpress.com

! http://www.centeronschoolturnaround.org

8/20/14 PPE District Level Bootcamp

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Documents

Unlocking the Potential of Local School Boards to Drive and ......Unlocking the Potential of Local School Boards to Drive and Support School Turnaround Julie Corbett Consultant & Advisory