Educational Leadership Commons^™

Every District A Stage, David L. Benson

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

In As You Like It, William Shakespeare wrote: "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts" (Act II, Scene VII).

Shakespeare acknowledged what we all understand, that the practical lines of role expectations and performance are blurred in a healthy relationship. This is particularly true in a healthy board/superintendent relationship. The roles and expectations for board members and superintendents vary widely depending upon the philosophies of each individual and each board. Notwithstanding the difficulty in quantifying and codifying this …

The Key To Board Of Education And Superintendent Communication, Stephen W. Daeschner

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Superintendents of schools in today's society are faced with ever increasing pressures. The expectations of a changing society and the explosion of recent and excellent educational research in contrast with the resistance to change from many teachers, administrators, and special interest groups have increased the anxiety level of superintendents. Yet, the greatest stress for a superintendent can be a poor relationship between the board of education and the superintendent.

The relationship between the superintendent and the board requires constant attention. The superintendent needs to understand each board member's wants and motivations, in addition to understanding group dynamics when the board …

Ensuring Communications Between Superintendent And Board, Dale L. Jensen

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Good communication between the superintendent of schools and his/her board of education has always been needed. Now, however, with the continuing push for "transformation," the need to have ongoing and honest communications is even greater. To ensure long-term effective communications between a board of education and the superintendent of schools, a trusting relationship and a clear and unified focus must be developed.

"Trust is unquestionable dependability" (Frase & Hetzel, 1990, p. 3). No lasting or real communication will occur without trust. The superintendent is responsible for developing this trust between the superintendent and the board. Below are some means for …

Communication Strategies Inside And Outside Of Board Meetings, Jacqueliine E. Matthys

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Communication between and within the board of education and the superintendent appears to be a relatively easy task on the surface. Unfortunately, when dealing with the variety of personalities involved, it becomes a very complex issue. First of all, because of all the regulations and stipulations, the world of education has become a business. But unlike any other business, the "supreme power" of the district is a board of elected officials with little or no knowledge of how to be effective board members. As stated in Effective Schools Through Effective Management, by Fredric H. Genck and Allen J. Klingenberg:

The …

Making Effective Decisions, Dixie Bequeaith

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

School board/superintendent relations are the key to an effective educational management team. Reciprocal understanding and recognition of the respective roles the board and superintendent each play in the educational process is essential for effective school operations. No definitive line can be drawn to precisely delineate these roles. Board members must respect the fact that the superintendent is the educational leader of the instructional and the support staff, entrusted with the responsibility to operate the schools within the policies established by the board. A superintendent needs to recognize the board's role and involvement as policy maker and must be able to …

Community Building As A Context For Problem-Solving, Mary Kopacek

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

What is the process of making an effective decision? Through my personal experiences facilitating the developmental stages of community building, this position paper will address the elements I believe are necessary in making effective decisions and moving beyond the traditional means of decision making.

Broadening the base of those included in the decision-making process and providing training in collaborate techniques will create a process for making effective decisions.

When making collaborative decisions, diversity within the group is needed for quality decisions. Through the talents and values of people from all conditions of life, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, sexual …

Involving The Community To Generate School Support, Understanding, Martha A. Nash

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

It is clear that in the environment of the 1990s schools we'll increasingly need the community's support if they are to carry out the mission that we have traditionally given to education: the creation of a national ethos from people with diverse backgrounds and experiences. And, as you will recognize, the community expects schools not only to educate this very diverse population, but to meet their complex social and emotional needs. Moreover, the concept of lifelong education is placing new demands on our schools.

Creating A Working Team, Gerald Schwartzhoff

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

One of today's major concerns in education is board of education and superintendent relationships. As a member of the Institute for Educational Leadership working conference, I have put together a group of ideas which I feel are necessary for the relationships to be positive.

The first major concern of all board members should be an interest in providing the best education possible for their students. While this doesn't always happen because some individuals are more concerned with personal or individual concerns, it is necessary in order to have a working board.

Preface

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) is a Division of the College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa. The Institute's mission is to promote the improvement of elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education throughout the state of Iowa. To fulfill this mission the Institute serves as a catalyst for: informal dialogue on educational issues impacting the schools of Iowa, region and nation; developing collaborative relationships with individuals and/or organizations external to schools; and education policy development.

This compilation of position papers and issue group consensus reports represent the individual and collective wisdom of Iowa educational leaders relative to challenges …

Performance-Based Authentic Assessment Issues: Exploratory Considerations, John K. Andersen

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

This is an exploratory paper. The questions are still developing, the responses tentative, the directions unclear. Perhaps more certainty will emerge as thoughtful discussions occur.

Terms need to be defined. What do we mean by performance based, authentic assessment? Is it "after-the-fact" testing? Is it "on-going" based on the ideas of "assessment as learning"? Does the term normative assessment mean standardized, paper-and-pencil, multiple-choice tests that provide information about how individual students perform compared to others? Have we identified potential biases in our use of the terms? Do we recognize, for example, that some normative tests may be able to assess …

Why Use Technology To Assess, Monitor, And Report Student Progress?, Sue Z. Beers

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Not very many years ago, I first encountered an electronic scanning machine at the supermarket. It made me uncomfortable because I didn't trust that a machine would always come up with the right price. It doesn't, but I do have a greater awareness of what the prices should be, checkout time is faster, fewer mistakes are made than when a clerk entered the prices, and I am usually able to catch any mistakes because I get an itemized printout of my purchases. A worthwhile analogy can be made between the increase in technology in the marketplace and our homes and …

How Does Technology Really Affect Schools?, Jan Harvey

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

In the past decade much has been communicated about the need for school reform, school transformation, site-based decision making, participatory management, outcome-based education, total quality management, etc. As a principal, during the past few years I have heard the following metaphors used to describe the state of education and so, I wonder, which metaphor best fits the current state of educational reform:

Are we trying to change a flat tire on a car careening down a highway traveling 65 miles per hour; trying to put on a new suit of clothes on over our old blue jeans; trying to set …

Technology Used In Classroom Assessment For Teachers And Students, Karen Stahlhut

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Educators cannot make the changes that must take place in the coming years to reform American schools without considering technology. New curriculums integrated with the use of technology to teach, assess, and monitor student achievement must be coupled with new visions about the role of teachers and students. Technology has to play an important and integral role in changing the educational process.

In this paper I will cite examples of how technology is and can be used by practitioners to access, monitor, and report student progress; thus, illustrating and supporting my perspective for the inclusion of technology in educational reform.

Mixed Messages: Impact Of Various Assessment Models On Students, Schools And College Entrance Or Resistance To Change, Dewitt Jones

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Colleges and universities accept many different forms of assessment in limited areas. Music, art, drama, and athletics are areas where both the high school and university agree that the assessment is a culmination of the person's skills and everyone wants to see how these skills are applied. Skills in these disciplines in isolation are very insignificant. Scholarships are awarded to these disciplines based on demonstration of specific performance standards.

Improvement in these disciplines requires the teacher to dissect the performance, identify weaknesses, outline a plan to strengthen these weaknesses by using specific strategies, have the student perform or demonstrate the …

The Culture Of Schooling: Emerging Questions For Assessment Reformers, David Stickrod

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

When Mark Twain wrote, "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics," he must have been referring to American education. By citing the appropriate research, one could make a case for the merits of just about any type of assessment to indicate school learning, evaluate schools, and gain admission to college.

While Monty Neill (1989) kept watch over the overuse and misuse of standardized tests, Gerald Bracey (1992) and Harold Hodgkinson (1993) wrote that, on the basis of our standardized test scores and international comparisons, and the underlying reasons for those scores, schools are not nearly so bad as the popular …

Using A More Holistic Approach To Assessment And Education, Bruce E. Hopkins

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

A cultural historical perspective on this American Leviathan issue reveals many of the constructs which support the idea of "readiness." Nineteenth Century Spencerian Socialism (an outgrowth of the academic contributions of Charles Darwin) buttressed the class, economic, and social differences emanating from the industrialization of America by asserting the idea that some folks were simply more fit to succeed than others. And, the Calvinist tradition of American intellectual thought as it relates to the worth of an individual supported the idea that some folks are elect in the eyes of God so we ought to assume their divine right to …

Issue Area Five: Improving Accountability To The Public: Can It Be Done? What Are The Implications? Potential Abuses?, Bob King

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

This committee addressed the issue of how schools can, and should improve accountability to the public while avoiding potential abuses in this effort. It began the process by defining the mission of education within the society. Though the participants represented divergent backgrounds and perspectives, their views concerning the mission of society quickly coalesced around the following: "Society is responsible for creating an educated populace. It must be actively involved in and accountable for educating learners."

The mission statement communicates the concept that sustaining a successful human culture requires that the accountability process be one of mutual dependence and responsibility-and that …

Educating The 'Public' On Assessment, Content, Gilbert E. Hewett

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The quality of education, particularly math and science, in the United States has been seriously questioned since 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. This historical event caused a public outcry which impacted education in several ways. Suddenly money was available to improve teachers' knowledge of science and mathematics content as well as money to develop better science and math curricula. Many teachers received stipends for these two purposes.

Along with the funding came the demand to show that the increased teacher staff development and curriculum development did indeed improve student achievement. Unfortunately, many objectives of the new curriculums were …

Questions And Implications Of Assessment Accountability, Sandra Moore

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Becoming more accountable to the public is not just a responsibility but is essential for the survival of the public school system. Two questions will be addressed in this paper. Can it be done? What are the implications including potential abuses?

Take No Prisoners: Communications During Open Hostilities, Thomas K. Wells

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

In the best of worlds, information flows freely and ideas are openly expressed. Criticism, where it exists, is collegial and constructive. In a less than ideal world, the real world, communication is not so easy, as the world diverges from the ideal, the ease of communication declines while the need for the effective exchange of information and ideas increases.

But what happens when a state of open hostility exists not only between individual board members, but between the board and the community, or between the superintendent and a minority of board members? Is it possible for a board to function …

Effective Decisions And The Teaching-Learning Process, Daniel H. Smith

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

A meaningful discussion of effective decision making must begin by defining what makes a decision more or less effective. This paper defines effective decisions as those that result in a course of action being followed by the school organization which will maximize the likelihood that each student within the school will achieve his/her fullest potential. As a result, effective decisions in a school system must be based on what we know about the teaching-learning process, the decisions must also be implemented by school personnel so the impact on students is positive.

The focus of this paper is on the decision …

Shared Vision = Powerful Relationships, Harold A. Overmann

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Ron Edmonds, considered by many as the father of the effective schools research, was known to have said that an administrator with an appropriate vision is more valuable to the institution alive than dead.

The key word in this statement is "appropriate." When this vision is congruent with the vision of the school board, the administrator truly is valuable to the institution.

The exertion of major efforts to form a clear and focused vision and mission for the school district that is shared by board of education, superintendent, staff, and community is critical in the development of a positive board/superintendent …

A Marriage And Family Of Sorts, Kenneth P. Petersen

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Relationships between people in all walks of life present a fascinating and challenging issue for discussion and even friendly, though perhaps rather heated, debate. As a young person, my philosophy about human relationships relied heavily upon an aggressive approach with much talking and little listening. Needless to say, I'm certain I probably did win a few battles but lost most of the wars. Diplomacy was not in my vocabulary. I have since learned, in my more seasoned years, that maintaining and developing relationships, for any purpose, requires an arsenal of many and varied techniques. I'm also very certain that my …

Positive Links To Schools Include Community Partnerships, David Teigland

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Public support for schools has always played a key role in developing and maintaining quality educational programs. Without positive support it would be nearly impossible to carry out the desired everyday activities and classroom instructional programs for all students.

This support, whether it be in the form of volunteering, financing, or just vocal encouragement becomes even more important when the economy takes a downturn and school funding is decreased. When cuts are made at the state level, it is important to muster support locally to assist in maintaining the essential programs, activities, and services. This is when the positive link …

Improving Accountability To Learn, Serve Others, Bruce G. Rogers

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The term "accountability" refers to being "subject to having to report, explain, or justify" (from the Random House Dictionary of the English Language). Does this concept, when applied to educational settings, generate an "issue," namely, "a matter that is in dispute between two or more parties; a point of debate or controversy"? (Webster's Seventh Collegiate Dictionary) I submit that an examination of the document A Nation at Risk, along with the many affirmative and negative articles that have been written in response thereto, both in the affirmative and the negative, will indicate a resounding "yes" to this question (Bell, 1993). …

Working Toward Smooth Board/Superintendent Relationships, Thomas L. Williams

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

According to Gwendolyn C. Baker (1992), conflict and confusion are rampant in school boards across the nation simply because too many board members stray from their policy-making responsibilities to assume responsibilities for operational matters. Baker described an effective board member as one who understands the job involves setting goals, developing policies, and monitoring the budget. The day-to-day operations should be left solely to the superintendent. A school board that extends its purview over administrative areas is doomed to fail.

Burke (1992) noted educational researchers have contended for years that school boards are overly involved in school administration because they are …

Issue Area Two: Building A Shared Vision That Is Oriented To And Focuses On Student Needs For The Future, Carolyn Jons, Darlene Dunbar

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

A vision is a clear image of where we want to be. Research indicates that having a clear, compelling vision is a key characteristic of effective schools. However, it appears very few Iowa school districts have developed written visions used by everyone to create better futures for students. We believe:

1. Every school district should build a vision with the main focus on what students need to be prepared for in the future. 2. The district vision should: make a difference, help determine priorities, help set high expectations, encourage groups to plan together for continuous school improvement, motivate individuals who …

Building A Shared Vision To Meet The Future Needs Of Students, Floyd D. Jury

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Since the title of this paper contains all the elements of the thesis, each key word or phrase of the title will be used to develop a position statement.

Building:

Trust is the only logical basis for any shared vision between a superintendent and the school board. This atmosphere of trust does not come automatically. Both parties must consistently work to build this atmosphere of trust through openness and honesty at all times on all issues. Each board member has an obligation to discuss all concerns with the other board members as well as with the superintendent. No legitimate purpose …

Issue Area Three: Developing An Understanding Of Roles And Expectations Of The Board Of Education And Superintendent Of Schools, Mary Jane Vens, James L. Kimmet

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The governance of local school districts in Iowa is the responsibility of local boards of education which adopt policies and plans that are implemented through the leadership of the superintendent. The effectiveness of this team can be a major determiner of the effectiveness of the educational system. This establishes the significance of the topic of this conference, "Strengthening Board of Education and Superintendent Relationships," and the sub-topic addressed in the following papers, "Developing .an Understanding of Roles and Expectations of the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools." If the board and superintendent are to work as a smoothly …

Issue Area One: Performance-Based, Authentic Assessment, And Normative Assessment: What Are The Issues?, Mick J. Starcevich

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Paul G. LeMahieu stated in the July, 1992, issue of the NASSP Bulletin that "the value of assessment activities should be judged by the extent to which they contribute to what happens-directly or indirectly-between teachers and students" (p. 50). When analyzing student assessment and testing we have sometimes lost sight of the bigger picture because we've focused on only one set of goals. Instead, we need a focused sense of purpose and encompassing effort to build a balanced assessment portfolio.

Our issue group determined that there is no such thing as an isolated testing issue. We've come to know that …