Superintendent Evaulation
Next to selecting a new Superintendent. evaluating the superintendent is one of the school board’s most important jobs we face each year. A high quality superintendent evaluation process helps develop good board/superintendent relationships, provides clarity of roles, creates common understanding of the leadership being provided and provides a mechanism for public accountability. The more objective and collaborative the process, the greater likelihood all parties will benefit. So where do we start?
First, especially Boards with newly elected Board members, a review of the Superintendent contract is a good place to start. Most contracts will have a section detailing an evaluation process that establishes time lines for activities to be completed. Second, pick a Board meeting where in Closed Session you can review the time lines, review past practice and agree upon a set of future meetings.
Second, consistently gathering data throughout the year to support our positions regarding the Superintendent’s performance is important. In many cases, the most recent crisis or an isolated event from the last 12 months is what we use to form our opinion of the Superintendent’s performance. Hopefully, your evaluation process includes a pre-performance review written by your Superintendent to help you look at the entire past 12 months of performance. Personally, the best tool I have found is to keep the Superintendent’s weekly communications and then review them when preparing my input of the Superintendent’s performance.
Finally, the ability to craft a consensus opinion of performance that is fair yet provides constructive feedback is an art. In cases where one or two Board members have a serious concern about an area of performance that is not shared with a majority of board members, the ability to acknowledge the concerns of the minority is crucial. The development of these statements rely on the trust behavior of clarifying expectations using the principles of accountability, clarity and responsibility. Typically, performance concerns revolve around not meeting expectations, so we have to ask ourselves if we failed to establish those expectations at the start of the process or are these expectations of an individual not the entire Board.
What are the challenges your Board faces when it prepares your Superintendent evaluation?
Trust Behavior: Clarifying Expectations, Get Better
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orielmelp on
Mon, 9th Nov 2009 7:44 pm
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