MSBA School Board Survey Results 1

Agenda Objective of the Study Overview of Methodology Reasons for running for school board Training Challenges and Opportunities Performance Perceptions Superintendent Evaluation Processes Recap and Q&A 2

Objective of the Study Faculty from Minnesota State University, Mankato, working in cooperation with Minnesota School Board Association leadership, conducted a research study focused on identifying the characteristics and the work of public school board members in Minnesota. Overall Objective: Gain insight into how school board members view their role, responsibilities and work as a school board member and compare views to defined roles and responsibilities. 3

Methodology Conduct Focus Groups with Current MN School Board Members September 2012 Conduct Focus Groups with Current MN School Board Members September 2012 Field quantitative survey (n=390) to current MN School Board Members October 2012 Field quantitative survey (n=390) to current MN School Board Members October 2012 Data Analysis and Report out Findings December 2012/January 2013 Data Analysis and Report out Findings December 2012/January

Board members are running for school board to provide a public service and stand up for students Almost ½ report being influenced by friends and family to join the school board While 2/3 of members report joining the school board to stand up for students, ¼ report joining to stand up for school staff 5

TRAINING 6

85% feel new board members need mandatory training, but only half feel yearly training for all board members should be mandatory Only 8% of members feel training is not needed However, members are divided on whether training should be mandatory for all members 7

While only ½ feel annual training should be mandatory, 9 out of 10 board members feel MSBA training was effective Thought starter: If training was effective why don’t more feel it should be mandatory every year? 8

Opportunity exists to have school board members work with an assigned mentor Almost ¼ feel it is important to have an assigned mentor, but only 1 in 20 members currently work with an assigned mentor Thought starter: Members feel these trainings are important to being effective members, but participation in all training is low to modest at best… Why the discrepancy? 9

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES 10

Driving student achievement and dealing with government are the top 2 challenges board members face While student achievement is top challenge, less than ¼ of board members report being presented with student achievement data monthly Over 1/3 are presented with data every 6 to 12 months Dealing w/ Government Laws Managing controversial issues Setting school district budget Developing long term vision Driving Student Achievement Challenging 11

Members feel setting a school district budget is the most important role of the school board they are currently a member of Answer OptionsImportance RankTime Spent Rank Setting a school district budget 11 Driving student achievement 22 Communicating with the community 34 Maintaining a good school board /superintendent relationship 45 Adopting school district policy 53 Evaluating the superintendent 68 Defining roles and responsibilities of the school board 76 Rewarding good teachers 87 Addressing student discipline 99 While driving student achievement is the most challenging aspect, according to board members it is not as important as setting a budget After setting budget and driving student achievement, boards spend the most time on adopting policy Despite the fact that it communicating with the community and maintain relationship with superintendent are seen as more important tasks 12

Districts are made up of increasingly more diverse student populations racially, culturally, and demographically 13

School Boards Members demographics do not reflect school demographics 14

Members should be aware of racial diversity issues and consider discussing more frequently at meetings Thought starter: What practices currently in place by your board create bias towards non- Caucasian students or students of poverty? 15

PERFORMANCE PERCEPTIONS 16

Many school board members overestimate the performance of their district Only 16% of school board members feel their district is performing below average 17 Over ½ feel there school board is very effective

SUPERINTENDENT EVALUATION PROCESS 18

8 out of 10 members report having a process to evaluate the Superintendent Performance based on board defined goals are the most common metrics included in the evaluation process Statistics like test results and graduation rate are used infrequently Thought starter: Providing maintaining a good relationship with the superintendent was the 4 th most important role of a school board, how does the evaluation process impact this relationship? 19

Recommendations and Take Aways….. To be filled in… 20

Contact Information 21