Superintendents reported that being an effective communicatorbecame increasingly important near the close of the 20th century
Communication is key for every superintendent to master. Communicating with others means that you are not just talking but listening as well. Superintendents can share all the information they want but if stakeholders don't feel heard, they will never support them.
The nature and scope ofthese efforts include galvanizing public support for education,lobbying state legislatures for adequate budget appropriations,negotiating local tax rate increases and bond issues, interacting withschool boards, responding to interest group demands, serving as thespokesperson on controversial public policy issues, and engagingstaffs in change initiatives
Superintendents need to wear many hats on a day to day basis. Not only are they in charge of leading the instructional and academic support for their students, they need to navigate their way through all of the political areas that present on a daily basis.
Onthe one hand, if conflict is ignored or tolerated, dysfunctionalconflict may negatively affect the quality of team decisions. Onthe hand, properly managed conflict may become a catalyst fordesirable change (De Dreu & Gelfand, 2008)
Addressing conflict and having the mindset that resolution of the conflict is key for all teams. Not managing conflict furthers negative emotions and distrust in the group. Superintendents need to be skilled in conflict resolution in order for the team to be successful.
In these instances, team members often allow theirsocial preferences and political choices to eclipse evidence,dismiss contradictory viewpoints, and sensible conclusions(Patton & Downs, 2003; Reitz, 1987).
Self-interest can have disastrous consequences for teams. When team members fail to realize the most important goal, student success, they impede the process of the entire team.
They viewed both democraticadministration and learning cultures as being essential canons ofeffective teamwork and systemic change
Learning from one another is important for any group to be successful. Everyone needs to be able to have their own voice and share their thoughts but all need to work together and have an open-mind to develop goals for the common good.
the call for systemicreform expanded community and parental engagement as well asincreased the level of collaboration among administrative staffs,teachers, and students
Working collaboratively with all stakeholders provides everyone a voice in the direction of the district which in turn increases morale and support for the district.
Beginning in the late 1970s, school districts were forced byeducation reformers to collect an ever-widening array of andincreasingly finer grained data. This information was demographicand performance based; it pertained to students, teachers, andaggregate school performance; the assumption was thatsuperintendents would use these data to make informed decisions thatwould contribute to improving schools, meeting the needs of allchildren (Goldring & Greenfield, 2002; Starratt, 1991), and eradicatingsocial injustices (Fusarelli & Fusarelli, 2005)
Data is one of the most beneficial tools that superintendents and school boards have in justifying the decisions that they make. Meeting the needs of all students can be done by breaking down the data into groups and identifying a plan to address the needs of all groups within the district.
Although a majority of superintendents viewtheir relations with school board members (i.e., micro-politics) as beingpositive, they also regard it as one of the most significant challengesthey face
Working with a group of different minded individuals can be difficult at times and it is up to the group to work together for the betterment of the students. Set aside differences and work toward the common good, which is student academic success.
Although enacting their political roletypically differs according district size, a majority of superintendentsviewed community involvement and listening to public opinion as keyto the vitality of a democratic society
Listening to the public is important for superintendents to help in making decisions. They need to understand what the community needs and wants from the school district in order to provide the best education possible for their students. It is up to the district to provide the most educated and responsible citizens for the future of the community.
Specifically,these individuals need to develop groups, teams, and networks thatprovide support to work across district middle-managementstructures—and they must do this while retaining responsibility forpolicy compliance and accountability
Managing a team or group of directors and principals is essential to the role of the superintendent. They must hire the most qualified people and those that are focused on achieving the goals of the district. Superintendents need to ensure that their team is supporting school leadership and teachers.
Engaging the public begins with listening
Listening to others is the only way that we better ourselves and others around us. The school community can provide us with the direction in which we need to go because they have the largest investment in the district, their children. When we listen to the community we get a better understanding of what is most important to them.
If a data effort is to be sustained over the longterm, the district must cultivate in-house trainers who can help colleagues use thelocal data system.
In-house trainers, who are well known in the district, have more credibility than an outside consultant. I have teachers in my school that are experts in the particular subject matter. When they provide a training or speak up, everyone listens. Find the teacher leaders in the district and empower them to train others on data analysis.
Taking every opportunity to show principals and teachers that data are not beingused to “get” them, but to improve student learning.
School leaders need to build trust with their staff and have continual conversations with them about data and how we can use it to improve on instructional practices. We need to praise the successes and share them with others to help in building this trust with teachers.
Training teachers and principals to helpfacilitate these conversations ensures everyone is focused onthe data, what the data reveal about performance and how toimprove instruction in the classroom
The more that teachers and administrators know about the data and how the data is impacting instruction make us more credible to the parents. If teachers and administrators are not trained in how to interpret data and what the data is saying, the less credibility they may have with parents and the community.
Successful integration of data-driven decision-making into educational strategy requires a teamapproach
The more people you have looking at data provides you with more questions and better solutions. Working alone doesn't always produce the best results and is much more time consuming. A team approach helps you to ask the right questions, develop more ideas, and saves time in implementing a comprehensive plan to address student learning.
In other words, it’snot just about tracking how well students are performing on tests, but determining whichstudents are not doing well and why, and then seeking improvements.
We need to be focused on the students that are not achieving proficiency and developing plans to address the why are they not achieving proficiency. It's easy to manipulate data and force the narrative that the scores are really good when you have one particular group of students scoring well, but when you look at the whole picture you have other groups that are struggling.
In a choice system like [Seattle’s], customersneed to know how schools are doing so they can makewise choices,”
My county is losing lots of students due to the Hope Scholarship. We don't want parents and guardians make quick decisions based on misinformation or perception so we need to provide them with data that supports sound decisions. We need to educate our parents, using data, to ensure that they are making the best decisions for their children.
It will require training and trust so that every staff member can have access to, and look at,data on an ongoing basis.
There are many school staff that don't fully understand how to use data for school improvement. It's not that they can't use the data but that they haven't been properly trained. We need to provide ongoing training and have continued discussions to ensure that they are prepared for analyzing data.
Superintendents must lead, model and encourage staffs to use different types of data and exam-ine the numbers systematically to avoid knee-jerk reactions to single, independent pieces ofdata.
Using data routinely in conversations about school improvement shows the rest of the staff that we are committed to making informed decisions about changes needed to be made in the school district. It also shows staff that when they have recommendations for improvement that we are expecting that they also follow our lead and have data to support their recommendations.
Compared with board members from high-achieving districts, they frequently notedfrustration with the lack of community involvement and said there was little they could do about it. As forrelationships within the district, staff members from the comparison low-achieving districts contacted forthe research often said they didn’t know the board members at all.
Community members need to feel that they have a voice in the decisions that are made at the district level. Providing them with more opportunities to share their voice and being visible within the community invites more community members to join in on the discussion.
Similarly, Togneri and Anderson (2003) note the long tenure of board members and superintendents inhigh-achieving districts. “They set their courses and stayed with them for years,” the study said. Amongthe five successful districts profiled, superintendents in three districts had been at their jobs for at leasteight years. In most of those profiled, the majority of board members had been serving in that capacityfor 10 or more years. “That continuity allowed superintendents and boards to grow together in their ap-proaches to change and to better understand each other’s work.”
Consistency is important to creating an effective relationship between the school board and superintendent. Trust and communication between the two parties grow over time and having consistent members in each position allows for a better working relationship. Constantly changing superintendents and board members means that they have to start back over from scratch each time, learning to communicate with one another again and develop trust.
In success-ful districts, boards defined an initial vision for the district and sought a superintendent who matched thisvision.
Having a superintendent and school board working together to accomplish the same vision is essential to any district. When one or more parties is not believing in the vision, it only promotes conflict among those in the district and sends a negative message to those working in the district.
According to LaRocque and Coleman (1993), effective boards saw a responsibility to maintain high stand-ards even in the midst of budget challenges. “To this end, the successful boards supported extensive pro-fessional development programs for administrators and teachers, even during times of [fiscal] restraint,”they wrote in The Politics of Excellence: Trustee Leadership and School District Ethos
Ongoing professional development of staff is important to keeping them updated on new trends and effective instructional practices in education. Investing in their education often translates into staff investing more in educating their students.
The districts also providedprofessional development to board members and examined the effectiveness of such training
School board leaders need to be knowledgeable about the field of education, not that they need to be experts but knowledge helps you to make better decisions, policies, and goals. School boards that participate in professional development only increases their knowledge and will only help them to make better decisions in the long run. It also shows the staff and community that they are invested in improving student achievement.
Effective boards are data savvy; they embrace andmonitor data, even when the information is negative,and use it to drive continuous improvement.
Data analysis is crucial to understanding if the goals you identified need to be continued or revised. Most people only want to hear that goals are being met and don't want to admit when they are falling short of their goals. It's important for school boards to understand what is working and not working. Admitting the negatives or owning up to something that is not working is not a bad thing, especially if you have a plan to address the negatives or what's not working.
Effective school boards have a collaborative rela-tionship with staff and the community and establisha strong communications structure to inform andengage both internal and external stakeholders insetting and achieving district goals.
Working collaboratively with staff and the community only increases buy in to the mission that the school board is implementing. The better communication they have with stakeholders will only strengthen this relationship and keep all parties better informed of their goals.
In high-achieving districts, board members adopted goals and had detailed knowledge about theirrelationship to curriculum, instruction, assessment and staff development. As a result, these public officialscould identify not only the purposes and processes behind school improvement initiatives but also theboard’s role in supporting these efforts
School boards need the be aware of why they are setting specific goals or developing policies. Not having the knowledge about why you are doing something ruins your credibility but it also causes chaos in the district. Employees will resent the decisions made and not fully implement plans to accomplish the goals and policies set forth by the school board.
Effective school boards are accountability driven,spending less time on operational issues and more timefocused on policies to improve student achievement
Focusing more on policies that promote student achievement provides employees in the school district with the message that student learning and success is important to the school board. The message is also delivered to the community that their children's success is their main agenda.
Boards in high-achieving districts are more likely to engage in goal setting and monitoring their progress
Setting goals is essential to success because it provides a direction for everyone involved. However, if the progress toward goals is not monitored they are just statements and leaves those involved in implementing those goals to do what they want.
The con-cept of effectively connecting with thecommunity holds the prospect for signifi-cant benefits, which will result in studentachievement.
As a superintendent and member of the school board, our community members look to us to make the best decisions in regards to educating their children and developing them into productive members of the future community. Listening to community members and communicating with them frequently only strengthens the relationship within the community, which in turn, strengthens their support for their children’s education.
Second, I concludethat the superintendent and school boardrelationship is not static but rather chang-ing and transforming.
School boards and superintendents need to assess their working relationship and evaluate one another routinely to work effectively. Honest evaluation of one another and making changes necessary to improve the relationship is crucial to success of the group.
First, I conclude that the re-lationship of the superintendent and schoolboard is very complex.
Any relationship within a group is complex. You have so many personalities and individual thoughts to navigate that it can be exhausting. Consistently revisiting the common goal of the group may prove useful in reminding members of the group that their purpose is not about themselves but to those they serve, students and the community.
I con-clude that inconsistent actions by boardmembers create a degree of uncertaintyand trust in the working relationship of theschool board and superintendent
When members of the group or organization are consistent with one another, it leads to a more genuine relationship and trust. Without trust, members of the group may exclude those that they distrust or develop resentment. This creates a divide in the relationship and could lead to a greater divide as actions may increase.
The resulting frustra-tion, which is experienced by the superin-tendent, can be eliminated when a spirit ofteamwork on the part of superintendentand school board exists to focus on studentoutcomes and achievement
The main goal in education is to increase the learning outcomes of our students. When all individuals on the school board and the superintendent focus on the students, rather than themselves and their own personal agendas, only then can they accomplish their goal.
Functioning as a group re-lates to the cohesiveness of the board.Members must understand that it is thegroup, not individual members, which pos-sess the power.
This statement is probably the most profound statement in this article. Any group or team that works together toward the same vision and mission are extremely powerful. Some of the best sports teams were not those that relied on one specific individual but each person working together to accomplish the same goal, which is to win a championship.
High expectations bystakeholders place pressure on school dis-tricts to increase student learning at allgrade levels (Goodman & Zimmerman,2000; National Commission of Excellencein Education, 1983).
School districts are being asked to do more and more every year in regards to student achievement, but they are given less funding every year as well. Superintendents and school boards need to create an environment in which they work together to recognize the accomplishments of their schools, teachers, and students.
Members of school boardsand superintendents must genuinely ad-dress the status of their relationship.
Communication is crucial to the addressing the status of the relationship between members of the school board and superintendent. Both parties need to communicate their goals, issues, and concerns appropriately in order maintain an effective relationship. It is imperative that they communicate effectively in order to achieve their goal, which is improving student learning in the district. If a board and superintendent can achieve effective communication their relationship will strengthen and ultimately strengthen the district.
John Hoyle (2002) noted that spe-cific challenges emerged by heightenedpublic awareness, as well as demands forexcellence in schools and improved stu-dent performance. Consequently, intensepressure has been brought upon the rela-tionship of the superintendent and theboard of trustees.
The pressure of high demands should only increase the stress level of those in leadership roles with in a school district. School boards and superintendents need to ensure that they are assessing their working relationship and have a well-developed plan to meet these high demands. Growing tensions between the group will only limit their effectiveness in their response to these demands.
Theschool board-superintendent relationship isvital to increasing student achievement inthe twenty-first century (LaMonte, 2009).
I agree with this statement because the school board and superintendent set the tone for the district, develop policies, and goals aimed at improving student achievement.