| When Charter Boards set written performance expectations,
the major focus should always be in the area of Student Achievement,
although
establishing expectations in the Management area is also important
because it
speaks to issues of prudent and ethical administrative actions.
But the “expectations” model for governance
promoted by the
MACSB has a special feature that helps Board focus on an often
overlooked
area….the performance of the Board itself!
Most Boards seldom engage in any form of
true introspection,
usually because there are no standards or criteria to measure against. But MACSB offers a practical way to make it
happen. It is done by establishing written
expectations for Board performance and assessing performance against
those
expectations.
In this area, a Board establishes
expectations for itself in the following categories:
- Governance Approach & Style
- Meeting Agenda/Protocol
- Board President
- Board Code of Conduct
- Board Committees
- Governance Education
- Administrator Relations
These expectations are not a substitute for
or redundant to
Board bylaws. They are quite different
(but complementary) in that they address topics directly related to
“governance” rather than structure. And these performance expectations are also
monitored and self-assessed by the Board based on internal survey of
individual
Board members.
Performance reports and assessments in this
area are
typically produced two times a year, each covering about half of the
expectations categories. Again, Boards
can conduct these assessments on their own or tap into the MACSB
automated
reporting system that produces the survey documents for completion by
each
Board member and then compiles the results for Board deliberation.
An important by-product of these Board
performance
expectations is that they also serve as a helpful screening process for
selecting Board
candidates. Rather than expect
candidates to face the traditional tasks of “figuring out” what
membership
means and wading through the 1,000 page policy manual that current
members have
long forgotten, candidates see the written, Board-developed standards
that show
how your Board intends to operate.
Board expectations also help preclude
membership by those
with strange or unknown agendas. They
know what is expected and what isn’t! In
other words, candidates and current members can substantively determine
if
there is likely a good “fit”…kind of a Match.com for member recruitment.
The value of this approach cannot be
overstated. Continuity of the Board’s
governance style is
essential to effective performance. And
many Boards have paid the price for arrival of a member with delusions
of
individual authority, especially when coupled with a hidden agenda and
no real
knowledge of how the Board operates.
In future Board Bits issues we will provide
examples of how
Boards can address a variety of issues and decisions based on the
governance philosophy
that underlies the MACSB Leadership Governance model.
| 
Governance is THE job of Charter Boards, and the MACSB
offers a framework for Board governance that will put you in command of your Academy while keeping you out of the trenches.
