Fordham finds focused boards most effective
Districts perform better academically when their school board members focus on student achievement, report says
Published: May 1, 2014
School board members’ priorities and work practices, as well as how board members are elected, are all related to district performance— and specifically
to “beating the odds.”
Yes, school board leadership does matter, answers a new report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Washington D.C. Published on March 26, the study, “Does School Board Leadership Matter?” combines data from a 2009 survey of 900 school board members representing 417 U.S. districts with demographic and student achievement data from these same districts to ask four questions related to board member selection and capacity and how they relate to effective leadership and student achievement.
Four key findings
The study produced four key findings, summarized here. (1) More than half of the surveyed board members were reasonably informed about the conditions in their districts, but less so in some areas (including academic standards) than others, and there was little consensus about academic priorities; (2) Districts are more likely to “beat the odds”—defined in the study as “districts whose students perform better academically than one would expect, given their demographic and financial characteristics”—when they are governed by school boards whose members have an academic focus (over those who advocate a “whole child” or different approach); (3) Board members’ professional backgrounds and political ideologies influence their capacity—specifically, how accurately informed they are—with moderates and those with non-educator backgrounds proving most informed; and (4) How board members are elected is tied to their district’s ability to beat the odds—with at-large, on-cycle elections correlating with increased dollar-per-pupil spending.
What the findings mean for you and your board
NSBA issued a statement about the Fordham Institute study, acknowledging that it “makes a valuable contribution to the field of school board research,” but also called out one questionable finding: the study associates districts’ relative dollar-per-pupil spending with board members’ level of accurate knowledge about district funding. School board members know very well (as CSBA President Josephine “Jo” Lucey stresses in “California: At the Bottom of school funding—again!” in CSBA’s April newsletter) that restored funding and new or sufficient funding are not the same thing, just as relatively high funding does not equate with a district’s ability to accomplish all of the things needed with it.
What, then, can school board members take away from the Fordham study? Given the strong correlation the study makes between academic focus and student achievement (as well as election methods and district performance), here are some strategies that you and your board can employ to both raise capacity and student achievement and—perhaps—“beat the odds.”
For you, the board trustee:
- Keep learning and achievement for all students as the primary focus.
- Recognize and respect differences of perspective and style on the board and among staff, students, parents, and the community. Whether a board member self-identifies as conservative, liberal or moderate, it’s the ability to be self-reflective and mindful of potential biases that is most important for maintaining a shared vision and focus.
- Participate in professional development and commit the time and energy necessary to be an informed and effective leader. The Fordham Institute study found that the majority of board members committed fewer than four days monthly to board work.
For the board:
- Keep the district focused on learning and achievement for all students.
- Advocate for integrated leadership; develop an LCAP. LCAPs may resolve the failure of integrated leadership by involving consultation with teachers, principals and other school administrators and personnel, parents and students.
- Communicate a common vision.
- Ensure opportunities for the diverse range of views in the community to inform board deliberations.
Many of the above strategies can be found in CSBA’s Professional Governance Standards. If your board hasn’t adopted these standards, consider doing so. You can find all of them at www.csba.org, under “governance & policy resources.”