Governance training results in new policies to spur student achievement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Michael Yarbrough, Communications Coordinator
Office of Public Affairs, 560-2602

DURHAM—The Durham Public Schools Board of Education has completed a comprehensive two-year training program for school boards and superintendents.  The result has been new policies aimed at supporting DPS staff, students and parents toward the overarching goal of  increasing student achievement.

DPS was one of six districts selected by the Center for Reform for School Systems (CRSS) to participate in Reform Governance in Action (RGA) in 2007.  The goal of the RGA program is to dramatically improve student achievement and eliminate the achievement gap in each participating district by cultivating effective reform leadership.  Intensive training uses original case studies, review of best practices, and analytic tools.

Since beginning the training two years ago with an intensive one-week session in Utah, board members have met regularly in day-long sessions to discuss how they could refine policies to more fully support the district’s overall mission and vision. 

The resulting policy changes or amendments approved and in development since that time, along with their stated purposes, are as follows:

• Policy 1005 – Vision Statement. Revised January 2008. Purpose: Develop a clear statement of the board’s core beliefs and commitments.
• Policies 1231 – Board Standing Committees, Po1icy 1345 – Board Agenda, 1355 – Rules of Order. Revised January 2008. Purpose: Enable board to focus more time on reform leadership and student achievement. A system was developed and implemented to track and monitor the time spent at board meetings on student achievement and reform leadership issues; also to track and monitor staff time required for preparation of special reports for the board.
• Policy 1115 – Constituent Services. Revised January 2008. Purpose: Clearly defined protocols that show how constituent service requests and complaints will be resolved.
• Policy 1111 – Board Oversight of Major Business Systems. Adopted March 2008. – Purpose: Ensures the integrity and performance of major district business systems such as finance and human resources. A three-year calendar of workshops was developed. 
• Policy 2014 – Parent/Family Involvement. Adopted December 2008. – Purpose: Describes the essential elements to enhance parent/family involvement in DPS.
• Policy 3010 – MEET the Challenge (Manage, Empower, Energize, Transform). Adopted June 2008.  Purpose: A Theory of Action to drive rapid and significant improvements in student achievement.
• Policy 3011 – Academic Accountability. Adopted March 2009.  Purpose: To promote and ensure excellent teaching and learning in all DPS schools.
• Policy 3012 – Empowering Principals and Teachers to Achieve a Culture and Climate of Excellence. In development for submittal. Purpose:  To articulate a set of standards for which the Superintendent will develop operating procedures, data gathering methods and reporting techniques to ensure accountability in hiring and supervision, leadership excellence and quality of the instructional program in DPS. 
• Policy 3013 – Energizing the Community and Mobilizing Resources. In development for submittal. Purpose:  To articulate a set of standards for which the Superintendent will develop operating procedures and reporting mechanism to facilitate positive, productive community relations.
• Data Dashboard (Policy number not yet assigned). In development for submittal. Purpose: TO develop and implement a data dashboard that tracks key indicators of student achievement, district operations and community satisfaction. 
• Superintendent’s Evaluation (Policy number not yet assigned). In development for submittal. To develop a description of the superintendent evaluation that evaluates the superintendent primarily on results, using selected data dashboard metrics.

The $400,000 cost for the RGA training was underwritten by The Broad Foundation through a grant to CRSS. The Broad Foundation is a Los Angeles-based venture philanthropic organization established in 1999 by Eli and Edythe Broad.  Its mission is to improve student achievement in urban public schools through better governance, management, labor relations and competition.

“This graduate-level program provides a heavy dose of best practices and inspiration to support local leaders in strategically governing to raise student achievement and close ethnic and income achievement gaps,” said Don McAdams, founder and president of CRSS.

 “The opportunity to train in Reform Governance in Action is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a school board,” said DPS Chairperson Minnie Forte-Brown. “”It has motivated, educated, challenged and inspired each and every member of this board to discuss and plan our work with great deliberation and consideration, with student achievement being at the forefront of all of our policy decisions.”

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