Co-authored by Tom Vander Ark, Getting Smart, and Cathy Mincberg, CRSS School districts have a theory of action but don't or can't express exactly what it is. Naming the theories in use is the first step to designing a system of schools that serves a community well. We recently led a school board retreat where [...]
As strange as it sounds, school boards are destined by their design to be dysfunctional. It takes hard work to create a board that doesn't operate in chaos. Why is this so? Why did Mark Twain write that first God made fools for practice and then he made schools boards? School boards represent the community [...]
It is one thing to want to improve student achievement; it is another to actually turn your wishes into action. Reform policies directed at improving student achievement should be based on a theory of action. All successful businesses have a theory of action that they believe will lead to their success. For example, Disney’s theory [...]
The true power of school boards resides in their ability to craft and adopt reform policies. Policies are the “law” of a school district. Compliance policies are often designed to comply with the state or federal or local laws and to create stability within a school system. The beauty of policies is that they are [...]
Just think about it. Every time a new superintendent joins a school district, things change. It is out with the old and in with the new. That works well with redecorating but causes havoc in large organizations like school districts. Most new superintendents want to make a dramatic mark. This leads to new curriculum approaches, [...]
I ran for the Houston ISD (200,000+ students) school board to make a difference. Little did I know that it would take me over eight years to figure out how to do that. At my first meeting, the senior members of the board slammed through a slate of officers. I was so naive that I [...]
Three skills are needed by school board members to change the world. School board member training is the only way to make sure that your board has these needed skills: collaboration skills and the understanding and skills to develop and adopt reform policies and a theory of action. I was once a very wise and [...]
