Boards that intentionally structure into their calendars the BSE as a periodic review find the experience to be tremendously impactful. This rings true for teams looking to maintain their already effective practices as well as for local educational agencies seeking to make their policies and protocols stronger. The BSE is strategically designed to let groups gauge community perception on a targeted scope of issues. The learnings that emerge invariably put school leaders in a better position to dedicate resources and energy toward improving student achievement.
After each board member and superintendent complete the evaluation individually, a full report of the results will be provided, often revealing a range of perceptions regarding the governance team’s performance. The electronic BSE tool was developed through collaborative efforts between board members across the state and field experts with more than 30 years of experience providing guidance to school boards. Each of the characteristics to which the board and governance team will be evaluated has been purposefully chosen to provide insights to the board to inform and drive improvement. The evaluation is divided into two parts: Part one consists of questions regarding the conditions of effective governance; Part two contains questions that address the board’s five major responsibilities.
Questions teams can use to prepare for a successful BSE include:
- What types of community engagement goals do we want to identify during our review of BSE learnings?
- How will the BSE process improve our ability to be agile and responsive when community concerns about student achievement are raised?
- In what ways will the BSE allow our LEA leadership to align available fiscal and human resources with our critically important student learning goals?
- Based on BSE results, what concrete measurement tools can be put in place that will demonstrate our commitment to accountability when it comes to meeting academic achievement targets?
- How will conducting the BSE allow us to nurture and foster continuing good relationships among the governance team members?
- What concepts in the BSE will allow elected governance team members to identify ways to show tangible support for the LEA’s administrative, executive and professional staff?
Interested school leaders ready to explore the benefits of using CSBA’s Board Self-Evaluation tool can visit bse.csba.org.