Continuous School Improvement: A Must For School Boards

Continuous improvement is an attitude that must be adopted and consistently reinforced within a school district.  This is no more apparent than at the School Board level.  A district's School Board must recognize and adopt the attitude of continuous improvement.  More so than ever, a district's Board of Education is faced with the challenge of creating a culture of continuous improvement, promoting experimentation, innovation, and risk-taking.  However, as with most initiatives and changes, continuous improvement needs to be implemented at the Board level under the direction and leadership of the District Administrator.

After attending many School Board meetings over the last seven years, it has become apparent that our district administration and School Board are very far from adopting a culture of continuous improvement at the School Board level.  That's not to say that there aren't continuous improvement aspects going on at the building levels.  We often use data to make instructional decisions at the building level, such as RtI, PBIS, and curricular decisions.  Many of our district curricular and instructional changes are first proposed at the Board committee level, and then the committee makes a recommendation to the whole Board.  Very few times can I remember the Board committee or the Board as a whole relying on data to make those decisions.

At our most recent School Board meeting, the majority of the items presented were simple action items that were discussed by the School Board, but not in line with the continuous improvement ideology.  One recurring agenda item that I feel had the opportunity to be in line with the continuous improvement model is a $1.2 million building referendum that goes to vote in August.  In short, we are proposing to build a $1.2 million wellness center utilizing our PEP Grant to supply the equipment.  There were several opportunities for the School Board to engage in the continuous improvement model over the last several months.  One area in particular that I feel has been under-utilized is the use of data in presenting the need for the fitness center.  I don't believe the superintendent has effectively presented the proposal using the continuous improvement methodology.  As I mentioned earlier, there have been other opportunities over the past few years where our district has come up short in using the continuous improvement model.  Examples include curricular alignment and adoption, the formation of our district RtI model, the adoption of PLCs and PBIS, and most recently, our pilot for Educator Effectiveness.

As superintendent, I plan on fully committing to the continuous improvement model, and using this model with our School Board.  First, I would ensure that our district staff understands and is committed to using the continuous improvement model.  I would then sit down with the School Board and provide them with the background and reasoning for aligning to the continuous improvement model as a School Board.  I would provide them with as much literature as possible to support the model, including doing a book study with the Board using The Key Work of School Boards.  After the initial steps, in collaboration with the School Board, we would look at bringing a continuous improvement expert to the School Board to work with them through the initial planning stages of adoption.  Finally, as superintendent, I would need to ensure that School Board meetings stay focused on continuous improvement, and continually looking to improve the way the Board does business.  One of the most important changes we would make is requiring that the Board utilizes data in the majority of decisions they make.

Continuous school improvement has to be a model that all district administrators and School Boards seriously consider.  Do we want to be a district that still does not allow our students to use calculators in math class?