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HOW TO GET TEAMWORK AT THE TOP IN SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR REFORMS
by Anne C. Lewis for America Tomorrow



School board-superintendent disagreements, often hostilities, are the stuff of media headlines. The acrimony leads to constant turnover of superintendents (in large districts, the average length of stay is less than three years) and to some critics' calls for doing away with the school board system.

The New England School Development Council wondered why conflicts reign in some school board rooms while in others, cooperation is obvious. It conducted a year-long study under the direction of an advisory board of school board and administration representatives. The study's staff focused on 10 school districts, two each in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Texas. It reviewed research and reports, talked to policymakers and researchers and reviewed state laws and regulations.

The report, "Getting From Here to There," resulted in 41 recommendations "for helping every school board and superintendent in America to create a more effective school governance team."

The six overarching strategies, which contain all of the recommendations, include:
  • Build a foundation for teamwork--work with the community to develop a shared vision for the schools, establish a structure and create an environment that enables the school system to achieve its vision, develop accountability and engage in advocacy with the community.
  • Get the best and most capable team players--recruit people for school boards who put children first, stagger elections, search for a good match between the superintendent's background and philosophy and the vision of the school district.
  • Ensure that the team players know their roles and responsibilities---school boards should hold the superintendent accountable for effective administration, focus on policy, adopt a budge that supports the district's goals and delegate all personnel matters to the superintendent; and the superintendent should keep student achievement as a top priority, provide leadership to help the school board be effective, serve as a liaison with community agencies and visit schools often.
  • Get into team training.
  • Adopt good team strategies.
  • Convince others to support the team--governors should appoint a blue-ribbon committee to develop needed legislative moves, evaluate graduate training programs for quality, require certification to include collaborative skills; a national task force should be created to develop model training packages to help boards and superintendents learn to function as a team.


"Getting There from Here" was co-published by the New England School Development Council and the Educational Research Service. For information about the report, contact Richard Goodman at the Council (28 Lord Road, Marlborough, MA 01752). To obtain a copy of the report, contact ERS, 2000 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201



© 1998 America Tomorrow, Inc.
Page created January 19, 1998