Evaluation of the Theory of Action
The prior few posts have been dealing with our role as a Board member in overseeing student achievement in our district. We covered the basic tenets of our involvement in planning, implementing and evaluating an action plan to raise student achievement. We discussed a more specific approach of using a Theory of Action and ways that we can infuse our core beliefs into a unique plan for our districts. In this post, we finalized our discussion by examining role as Board members after the Theory of Action has been agreed upon.
After you have reviewed your customized Theory of Action, the Board needs to establish goals/success indicators in the planning phase. A good way to remember how to establish a goal statement is the old S.M.A.R.T. acronym used by many experts in goal setting, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, and Time-specific:
| Specific | State clearly what you want. |
| Measurable | How will you know you will have accomplished your goal? |
| Acceptable | Do the necessary stakeholders agree with the goal? |
| Realistic | Is it realistic for your abilities and the given time period? |
| Time-specific | How are you going to track your progress? |
The final step is assigned the goal/success indicator to the Superintendent, staff or the Board.
During the Implementation phase the Board is encouraged to support the Superintendent and staff by attending events and activities that are related to the goals. For example, visit school sites with your Superintendent and focus on assessing the implementation of the goal(s). During the year when goal related agenda items are presented for our review and we need to revisit the goals/success indicators from the planning phase to gain a deeper understanding of the connection between the agenda item and the Theory of Action.
In the Evaluation phase, we need to focus on what we have learned about changing our district practices to improve student achievement. Certainly whenever the outcomes meet or exceed the goals, we need to celebrate. However, the opportunity for learning lies in asking why the outcome met the goal. In fact, using “the 5 Whys ” as a question-asking method to explore the cause/effect relationships underlying the outcome could be even more beneficial than the outcome.
Ultimately, our primary responsibility to oversee student achievement is an ongoing process that can not be isolated to a set of goals and outcomes. This ongoing process defines another role for us as board members to be leaders of the change process within our district.
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