The Promise and Pitfalls of Superintendent Evaluation

1. The Promise and Pitfallsof Superintendent Evaluation A School Board Team Discussion Tool Click here to continue

2. Superintendent Evaluation One of the most important responsibilities of a school board is the fair and formative evaluation of the superintendent. This is a responsibility that holds great promise for school boards. If the board keeps the superintendent’s role as a system leader in mind and is clear on how the superintendent, like the system, can constantly grow and improve…wonderful things can, and do, happen! Click here to continue

3. Overview: • This discussion guide is divided into two parts: • Reading a scenario in which a board struggles with superintendent evaluation, and identifying the pitfalls which keep this board from realizing the benefits of superintendent evaluation. • Developing some basic principles for superintendent evaluation that will help ensure the board’s effectiveness, as well as that of the superintendent. Click here to continue

4. Part One: Scenario and Discussion Let’s begin by reading through a scenario. Remind your public that this scenario is not your board. This is Dreamfield. As you read through the scenario, be on the lookout for pitfalls the Dreamfield board might be falling into as a board. For example, one pitfall could be “failing to obey the law.” Click here to continue

5. Scenario: As the board meeting opens, the Dreamfield board president, Sara Smart, notes that “Superintendent Evaluation” is on the agenda. She asks the superintendent if he would like the evaluation to be in closed session. He says “Yes.” The Dreamfieldboard then moves to closed session. Board President Smart states: “We are here to evaluate the performance of Superintendent….” Click here to continue

6. Board Member Donna Dubious (Interrupting) “I just want to say right up front I think this is silly. What do I know about what a superintendent should be doing? I’m an electrician! I can evaluate your home’s wiring…but much of the stuff on this evaluation instrument is tough for me to understand. Let’s just say he is doing fine, ignore this instrument and go home!” Click here to continue

7. Board Member Charley Challenge “Hey wait! I have some questions. I want to talk about the superintendent’s recommendations on the new building. That is something you can get into, Donna. Many of his recommendations seem pretty sketchy to me—isn’t that his job? Shouldn’t his recommendations tell us the best way to vote?” Click here to continue

8. Board Member Paul Proud “No! That is not his main job. His big job is to raise student achievement. It seems to me we are making great progress there! That is why I gave him all 5’s. Our kids are learning more under his leadership. That’s the main thing!” Click here to continue

9. Board Member Carl Cranky “I sure don’t say all 5’s. What if he does something down the road that we all regret and we determine we need to fire him? How would all 5’s look to the lawyers then? I agree with Mr. Challenge. His main job this year was the building project and we are behind schedule! That sure doesn’t merit 5’s!” Click here to continue

10. Board Member Paul Proud “Determine we need to fire him? Where did that come from?” Click here to continue

11. Board Member Carl Cranky “I’m just saying…no one is perfect and we need to be prepared. Remember how the last few years went with our previous superintendent?” Click here to continue

12. Board Member Donna Dubious “While we are on that topic…our previous superintendent let the principals run their own schools, and a couple of them got out of hand! I want to talk about them and what the superintendent will be doing to get them back under control.” Click here to continue

13. Board President Sara Smart “May I suggest we just go back to our old way of doing superintendent evaluation? I will just collect your evaluations and then, privately, I will give the superintendent a quick summary.” Click here to continue

14. Reflection Please identify at least three or four major pitfalls this board might be slipping into. (As suggested, one pitfall might be “Failure to Obey the Law.”) Talk about why these might be pitfalls. What is the board doing that may impede its progress toward effective superintendent evaluation? When you have identified three pitfalls, please click forward for some pitfalls identified by IASB staff. Click here to continue

15. Pitfall One Failure to Obey the Law • The board did not secure the superintendent’s written permission and post the evaluation as a closed session on the tentative agenda at least 24 hours in advance. • A board member wants to discuss the performance of principals. The board has told the public they are in closed session to evaluate the superintendent. • The board needs to use an evaluation instrument which considers the ISSL standards; they cannot just ignore the instrument. Click here to continue

16. Pitfall Two: Failure to identify clear goals and indicators of progress well in advance of the evaluation, under which the superintendent will be evaluated The board must have clarity about what the superintendent’s “job” is. The superintendent and board must agree upon cleargoals for the superintendent and allow time for progress toward those goals. The board must be clear about the superintendent’s priority work, which will be important in making progress toward the district’s mission, vision and goals. If the board does its work well, identifies clearly what it will take to move toward the district ‘s vision and understands goal work, the superintendent will have much better clarity on his priority work, as well. Click here to continue

17. Pitfall Three: Assuming that the evaluation is mainly just about extending or terminating the contract The board has an ethical responsibility to provide formal feedback through the formative evaluation process that helps the superintendent identify what he/she has been doing well, and he/she might need improvement or growth. This allows the board to determine ways in which they can provide resources/support for that improvement/growth to happen. Click here to continue

18. Pitfall Four: Delegating evaluation to a single board member Superintendent evaluation is the responsibility of the board as a whole. It is important for the superintendent and the whole board to engage in positive discussion during the evaluation process. It will take skillful processing, but this can help the board come to clear, common points of agreement and avoid the superintendent’s feeling she/he is trying to “individually satisfy” five or seven directors. Click here to continue

19. Part Two: What Can We Do Well? Having discussed the pitfalls, let’s concentrate on what we can do well as a board to engage in effective superintendent evaluation. Please ask yourselves: What should we resolve to do when evaluating our superintendent? What kind of thought and preparation will this require? For example, a principle might be: “The board will review and abide by the law in relation to superintendent evaluation.” See if you can think of some important principles. When you have determined three or four, click below for some sample principles identified by IASB staff. Click here to continue

20. Review and Abide by the Law The board will review and abide by the law in relation to superintendent evaluation. The board will consider this review of the law as part of its annual preparation for superintendent evaluation. Resources include: Sample evaluation: http://tinyurl.com/aufkwx8 Iowa Code 279.14 on Superintendent Evaluation: http://tinyurl.com/bhtu2yp Click here to continue

21. Get Clear on Superintendent Goals The board will get clear on superintendent goals and on what can be seen as progress toward those goals. This “getting clear” will happen through discussion prior to the evaluation. It is important to validate that the board is united around what it will be evaluating. Click here to continue

22. Get Clear on ISSL Standards The board will spend time throughout the year considering the ISSL standards and what they mean. The board will review the standards and consider what it expects in terms of the superintendent’s work. This will not be an evaluation, but rather a learning dialogue. The law requires the use of these standards. The standards must be understood by the board, taking time to consider what they mean and the behaviors/practices to support each. Click here to continue

23. Make the Evaluation Process Ongoing Aboard that devotes meeting agenda time during the year to hear progress reports on goals and discuss the information with the superintendent is a board that models continuous improvement. This practice: • Provides the opportunity for the superintendent to make adjustments/correctionsduring the year. • Decreases the chances of the superintendent’s summary evaluation containing “surprises.” Click here to continue

24. Focus the evaluation We will focus our evaluation on identifying ways to support growth and improvement. This is what our evaluation process is all about. It is about identifying - with the superintendent -ways that improvement can be made and what supports and resources will sustain that improvement. Click here to continue

25. Recognize Professional Knowledge The board will recognize and use the superintendent’s professional knowledge to enrich the evaluation dialogue. Working together, the board and superintendent team can figure out how the superintendent’s leadership can be best directed in your school district. Ask the superintendent good, focused questions. Go back to the district goals. How can the superintendent best lead to reach those goals? Where does the superintendent believe his/her focus should be? What do the ISSL standards mean for this superintendent in this particular situation? Click here to continue

26. Conclusion: Obviously, the Dreamfield board could profit from discussing some of these principles, but any board, no matter how well it is currently evaluating the superintendent, could profit from this type of dialogue. A good process can always be improved. Proper planning can prevent a great deal of “grief” for school boards. More importantly, it can turn a requirement into a catalyst for school improvement. Click here to continue

27. Resources Link to Iowa Code on Superintendent Evaluation: Link to the ISSL Standards: http://tinyurl.com/b4ho25k Link to the Superintendent Evaluation Form: http://tinyurl.com/aufkwx8 Click here to continue

28. Thank you for participating in this IASB Board Learning Experience! If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Board Development Team at (800) 795-4272, ext. 246