CSBA at issue: Effective governance
By:
Martin Gonzalez and Christopher Maricle
Winter 2012
Inspiring confidence, building resolve, forging will
by Martin Gonzalez
The folks at Merriam-Webster are undoubtedly really smart people. Not just for the obvious reason—their ability to gather, organize and define thousands of words. Their true genius perhaps lies in their ability to blithely gloss over words that resist simple definitions; one such word is governance.
Folks who have seen governance in action appreciate how hard it is. They know how messy and chaotic it can be. They also feel just how public it all actually is. And they know how immensely powerful governance is when it’s practiced effectively. This notion of effective governance is what underscores CSBA’s Professional Governance Standards, our Masters in Governance program and all our professional development opportunities.
We haven’t spoken about our Professional Governance Standards in a while, but a quick review of them reveals just how timeless they actually are. School board members need to demonstrate at every turn that their practice of governance is both responsible and effective. They need to ensure that their words and deeds inspire public trust and confidence. Failure to do so risks the ire of those you were sworn to serve and jeopardizes the very cornerstone of our American democracy.
Over the years over 400 school districts and county offices of education have heeded the call and adopted CSBA’s Professional Governance Standards. Is your district or county office one of them? I urge you to review the standards and adopt them if you deem them worthy.
You may be a natural born leader—but can you govern? And can you govern effectively? CSBA’s Masters in Governance program aims to teach board members and superintendents the knowledge and skills needed to do just that. Since the program began, more than 2,000 board members and superintendents have participated. Countless others have learned about our effective governance system by attending the New Board Member Institute, the Orientation for New Trustees and various other workshops and trainings.
No matter what the results, the election this November will certainly bring lots of change. You will likely find yourself dealing with a whole host of new issues on your own local boards—probably while trying to learn the names and faces of new colleagues. Remember, no matter what or how much change occurs, governance without a purpose is essentially just a series of yes or no votes. Is your team going to be ready? CSBA’s Governance Consulting Services has been forging effective governance teams for years. Our consultants and the resources they offer have helped many boards discover their unifying purpose. They’ve helped individuals come together as teams. And they’ve helped districts and county offices harness the power of effective governance for the betterment of the children and families they were sworn to serve. If you need help becoming or remaining a top-performing team, let our Governance Consulting Services serve you.
Effective governance inspires confidence in the face of confusion and uncertainty. It builds resolve. It forges the will of those involved and musters their effort to accomplish great things. We are at a crucial point in our history where we need everything and everyone to come together and aspire to accomplish something great. Will we answer the call? Our children and our future demand that we do.
Martin Gonzalez (mgonzalez@csba.org) is CSBA’s assistant executive director for Member Services.
CSBA’s governance resources
The Common Core and the future of governance
by Christopher Maricle
School boards across California are working with superintendents and district staff to determine how to best implement the Common Core State Standards. It has applications for how boards select priorities, align budgets and monitor performance. It is clear that the Common Core will have a big impact on teaching and learning, but there is a potentially much larger impact: The Common Core may change governance itself.
Consider the Common Core’s eighth-grade English Language Arts Speaking and Listening Standards, requiring students to:
- Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
- Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.
- Follow rules for collegial discussions and decision making, track progress toward specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.
- Pose questions that connect the ideas of several speakers and respond to others’ questions and comments with relevant evidence, observations, and ideas.
- Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in light of the evidence presented.
Imagine how the practice of governance will be impacted when all K-12 graduates fully meet this standard. For those of us at the tail end of the baby boom, these standards articulate expectations that far exceed the performance that was expected of us in junior high and high school. Indeed, there were few courses in our undergraduate coursework that required such a sophisticated level of collaboration. By 2026, we will be graduating high school students who’ve been raised on the Common Core standards. They will have focused on these skills at increasing levels of sophistication for years. They will enter college, the workforce and society with far more practice and guidance.
This change goes beyond just school governance—all publicly elected governing bodies could be stronger. It is true that the Common Core will help to ensure that all students are successful, that we close the achievement gap, and that all of our graduates are college and career ready. It is also possible the Common Core standards are setting the stage for the next evolution in democracy, in which far more citizens have an appreciation and understanding of the democratic process, of the importance of quality deliberation, and the absolutely essential skill of learning from each other.
Getting the Common Core right—right now—is an investment in the future. We know that schools need to be learning organizations, dedicated to continuous improvement. We must also be a learning society, dedicated to improving how we govern ourselves as a democratic society.
Christopher Maricle (cmaricle@csba.org) is an officer in CSBA’s Policy and Programs Department.