DiigoNotes - How schools get it wrong

• How schools get it wrong - thestar.com

  • How schools get it wrong
  • We've made quantum leaps in understanding children's developing brains. So why are classrooms still organized like last century's assembly lines?
  • do we agree on what schools are for? Or, for that matter, the goal of education?

  • I've spent chunks of the past year in classrooms all over the world, pondering this question.

    One of the worst experiences was in a respectable public middle school in North America where I was giving a talk in the auditorium. Teachers patrolled the sides of the room like prison guards, silently threatening the children by looming over them when they showed the least bit of enthusiasm.

    I was telling the kids stories and asking them questions, and they were getting all excited figuring out answers despite the menacing presences. Finally, one of their teachers sidled up to me and said: "Don't ask them questions. Just tell them what you want them to know."

    I formed the image that she wanted me to just zip open their heads and pour in the information, unfiltered by their own ideas. It felt like she thought their brains were just storage silos.

  • Is it for the transmission of culture and potted knowledge, akin to filling a CD-ROM? Is it to foster skills that will serve society down the road, or make dutiful employees? Or perhaps it's a strategy to make sure a nation's gross domestic product keeps rising?

  • Is it a sorting mechanism aimed at working out where in the class system a student ought to land? Or to encourage upward mobility? Should it build character? Endow morals?

    Is it a way for the new generation to question the values of the old? Or is it for making sure they don't?

  • In What's the Point of School? Rediscovering the Heart of Education, he notes that one of these hidden, ancient images is of a boy preparing for the priesthood. That model, developed 4,000 years ago, holds that knowledge is the "eternal Truth," never to be questioned.

    "The image of school as monastery persists up to the present and the classrooms of Mesopotamia, 2500 B.C., would be instantly recognizable to the students of today," he writes.

  • "(This supposes that knowledge) can be standardized, installed in manuals called `textbooks,' and chopped up into different sized bits – syllabuses, topics, schemes of work, and eventually the content of individual lessons – that can be bolted on, as it were, to students' minds bit by bit," Claxton writes.

  • Today, many parents and teachers believe that the best defence against an uncertain future is to teach children to learn how to learn. To them, that is the goal of education.

    They believe the education system should unearth and ignite their children's passion, their intrinsic desire to learn, the deep joy of discovery.

  • neuroscientific findings are telling us that the brain learns – or forms strong neural connections – when the child is in a calm, emotionally regulated state.
  • "The first question is: Have we created an educational workforce that has the tools to perform this holistic function? And of course the answer is: No, we haven't."

  • The teacher becomes a guide and model, a co-conspirator on the engrossing quest for understanding and self-knowledge.

    And what should they guide and model? The higher-order habits of mind that characterize the expert investigator, researcher, thinker and learner, says Claxton.

  • the school system faces daily demands to host our children; it can't shut down to retool. Another is that education is big business, set in its ways. It is a livelihood for education bureaucrats, teachers, teachers' teachers, textbook publishers and school-builders.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Caught in the Current - Pondering Teacher Leadership

Source: http://www.uscgsanfrancisco.com/clients/c833/34975.jpg

Kevin Jarrett asks these questions via multiple tweets, hoping we'll provide some perspective. As a veteran educator caught up in the ebb-n-flow of reforms that do little but erode the education establishment, much less transform it, I despair that I have any answers to offer. Yet consideration of the questions is important, if only because Kevin dared to ask them.

His questions include the following:

• "What evidence do you see re: teacher leadership & its impact on school, community, student learning or job satisfaction?"
• "What should a teacher leader know and be able to do?
• "How do we build capacity for teacher leadership?"
• "What makes you a teacher leader?"

Rather than try to steer my own way clear of the current that draws me into the inescapable deep, I'm going to try to respond from my perspective as someone caught in the current. A middle-aged educator with a mortgage, family to feed and form, desperate to find the funding needed to keep my legacy as being more than electrons scattered throughout the edublogosphere, a few words on journals and magazines tossed into corners, immortalized and inconsequential...and, I'm going to have fun. And, that may mean my answers are no more useful to Kevin than a breeze on a cool day.

What makes you a teacher leader?
In my lofty position as administrator, I am entrenched in the culture and vision of the education establishment. Wherever I look, I see darkness and despair at the options available to our Texas children. They are slaving away in a system that not only disenfranchises them from the present reality of interconnected creativity, but also, the future possible to them. If I would identify any qualities for a teacher leader, it would be those intangibles that have little to do with your methodology, your merit, or how quickly you fill out paperwork...what makes a teacher leader is an indefatigable hope, unflappable in the face of endless meetings about mundane events that mean nothing, articulating the truth in ways that are palatable to the principals and paper-pushers whose motto is, "Soldier, ask not..." their thoughts and minds locked to a single purpose--do what they are told.

In the face of the greyness, the sameness of uniformity, the systematic supercilious complexity of captive minds imagining terror, I seek courage in the teacher leader to be different in simple ways.

How do we build capacity for teacher leadership?
We build capacity for teacher leadership, not by building those programs in schools, but in our churches and homes. We encourage thinking and the leadership that is the independent, American mind, unafraid to accept what must be done and then to do it with respect for, but not fear of, the consequences. If a teacher is fortunate enough to find someone, then let it be that one teacher will help another in the trenches, not to help them do what they are told, but to help them find the way to open the door for students who must find their own way.

What should a teacher leader know and be able to do?
A teacher leader should know how to help fellow teachers, be skillful in the use of a wide variety of tools and approaches that passionately engage learners, as well as nurture them in their growth and forward movement. They should know when to subvert the mission given to them, to make it sparkle rather than dull in the face of strict instruction, smile and collaboratively help others to learn within the context of a powerful professional learning network that expands professional learning beyond classroom walls...their approach is passionately reflective, and peaceful without rancor or bitterness.

What evidence do you see re: teacher leadership & its impact on school, community, student learning or job satisfaction?
The only evidence I see is the teacher as a stalwart of the community, relied upon by others. I've seen it more in small rural districts than in urban districts that swallow people alive...there's something to the small pond and the impact one can have. For a teacher to be a leader, their effect has to be made in the community in which they work, their relationships have to encompass more than their teaching....

If 150 relationships is all we can handle, perhaps we need to form smaller communities that are close enough to each other to benefit from shared wisdom but far enough to recognize the value of a teacher who dares to hope, is brave enough to act, wise enough to speak when others would be silent, and to say that which must be said without offense.

There, Kevin, I've given you totally useless answers to your questions. Now, what did you expect me to say?

In the meantime, consider the following:

• Most researchers agree that teacher leaders demonstrate expertise in their instruction and share that knowledge with colleagues; are consistently on a professional learning curve; practice reflection; engage in continuous action research; collaborate with peers, parents, and communities; become socially aware and politically involved; mentor new teachers; become more involved in preparing pre-service teachers; and are risk-takers who participate in school decisions. (Source)
• Being a teacher leader means sharing and representing relevant and key ideas of our work as teachers in contexts beyond our individual classrooms so as to improve the education of our students and our ability to provide it for them. (Source)
• Teacher leadership is the process by which teachers, individualy or collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of the school communities to improve teaching and learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement. (Source)
• Results indicated that ongoing, high quality professional development experiences played an important role in their [teacher leader] careers. Their ability to collaborate with peers and to become more reflective practitioners was enhanced by powerful professional development. These experiences also expanded their professional networks. . .Besides high levels of expertise, collaboration, reflection, empowerment, and flexibility, teachers needed to develop sophisticated expertise in pedagogical content knowledge and a professional network to support ongoing learning in order to be effective leaders. The encouragement of respected mentors and colleagues, coupled with continuous nourishment of their intellectual interests through rigorous learning opportunities, were the keys to their success. (Source)
  

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Navel Gazing

Ok, allow me a moment to enjoy the navel gazing without staring too intently....

If only it was due to my excellent writing, not this pumpkin image that has captured the eye of quite a few people!

Read the blog entry it goes with...from Halloween, 2008!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Make a Social Media Mosaic

Source: Sunflowers by Rebecca Broyles;
http://www.mosaicworks.com/images/studentmosaics/sunfloweradv.jpg

At TechForum Southwest 2009 on November 6, 2009, I get to facilitate a roundtable discussion about "Getting the Word Out to the Community with Social Networking Tools." Not having facilitated a roundtable discussion before--face to face, isn't that ironic?--I'm wondering about the structure of a roundtable.

Some of the roundtable discussions I've participated in start off with, "Ok, we're going to be discussing [enter subject]. Let's go around the table and get perspectives." This sounds like a perfectly good way to get started, but then I find the challenge of wanting to participate in the discussion rather than just get caught up in listening to great perspectives others offer. My perspective is we need to aim for the heart of those we interact with, be useful, and encourage everyone to contribute to a mosaic of the organization.

With using Social Networking Tools, I want to share Seth Godin's perspective within an educational organizational context. That is, if a school district is using social media tools, they have to do more than "Top down messaging encourages an echo chamber (agree with this edict or change the channel)" (read the rest of Seth's blog entry).

In fact, if you had to characterize how school districts and organizations use tools like Twitter and Facebook, it might come look like this with Seth's points as the main thrust of each example:

1) "Defense of the status quo encouraged by an audience self-selected to be uniform." Imagine a school district that ignores everything news organizations and others may have tweeted about it (since the content was "negative") and instead chose to only tweet the comments that were positive. There is certainly some control going on there.

2) "Top down messaging encourages an echo chamber (agree with this edict or change the channel)." Imagine a school district that sends out tweets that are links to press releases on its web site, feature a video that is only positive. The goal is to manage perception of others "out there" rather than be transparent and truthfully deal with the issues that are of real concern. The problem with the former approach rather than the transparent one is that people are going to talk about your organization, whether you like what they say or not.

3) "Unwillingness to review past mistakes in light of history and use those to do better next time." Every organization makes mistakes but admitting to them must be in the "No-No" book. In fact, it probably has something to do with legal liability because organizations are afraid to admit they are wrong and then take decisive action on it. Maybe it's because decisive action has to be taken by one individual--the Superintendent--and that's just something she/he is too busy to deal with.

Solution to these challenges? If you want to get the word out, don't try to substitute your message about what's going on with THEIR perception of what's happening. Acknowledge their perception, negative or otherwise, focus on action taken, and share the effects of those actions...and empower everyone, unleashing every facet of your academic community (parents, students, teachers in classrooms) to speak up and do that.

Rather than a broken, fractured perspective, you may end up with a mosaic of what your organization is like...much more valuable, very engaging to the "creators!"

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DiigoNotes - Blackboard’s Response to Open Source: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

"Our business is built around the status quo," points out Seth Godin in this blog post, "and it's not fair that the market wants something else now." These words describe so many companies who suffering the effects of disruptive technologies, scrambling to stay alive in the face of "easy to use, not quite perfect or the best but good enough to get the job done for what I need." One example of a type of business who's crying "Not fair!" includes course management systems, like Blackboard who gobbled up WebCT and Angel to the complaint of some of its customers. In fact, thanks to Angelic Learning, check out these stories of people fleeing the "black hole," as that blogger colorfully puts it, below:

• (4 campuses) went to ANGEL from Blackboard starting the Fall 2007 semester. The reasons given were: 1. Cost – Blackboard was too expensive compared to ANGEL. 2. Service – weeks and months would often pass before problem tickets were addressed. 3. Faculty approved ANGEL over Blackboard and competing systems."
• moved from Blackboard to ANGEL in 2005 due to Blackboard’s outrageous prices and deplorable customer service."
• "after Blackboard bought WebCT (the college) was not treated well and support went downhill quickly."
• "left WebCT 4.1 because of the Blackboard purchase. Too many problems with Blackboard support."
• "We moved from Blackboard to ANGEL in summer 2007 for a few reasons, #1-price, #2-functionality, #3-support!"
• And many more....
  

In light of this conversation, it was fascinating to read a blog posting about assertions Blackboard makes in regards to Open Source alternatives like Sakai and Moodle. The blog's author makes some interesting points, not all of which are represented in the notes I thought worth keeping and sharing on my blog. While I encourage you to read the blog entry in its entirety, I thought I might share a few points of my own.

While proprietary companies are silently paddling like heck under the water to stay afloat in a world where their services have suddenly become "free," you have to admire any company for their attacks on competitors (e.g. Desire2Learn) and denial of the truths that many educators--slow as we are in understanding technology's application to the work we do--are now accepting, in spite of the "Our Proprietary solution IS an enterprise solution." These proprietary companies are NOT quietly going to go into the night with a whimper...I have to admire that.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Read the rest of the poem by Dylan Thomas

That poem's reference to no forked lightning is defined as " failed to command attention; failed to express a startling or revolutionary concept." (source)

In light of FOSS tools become available and slowly growing over time, it's no surprise, right? Proprietary tools no longer command our attention.

But what tools DO command attention, especially in course management systems? Well, though I advocate for the use of any FOSS course management system that meets the needs of an educational organization at lower cost and makes technical support required...well...less technical. That includes solutions I'm familiar with, such as Moodle, or those I'm not, like Sakai,

While support costs can be high, they are NOTHING compared to the recurring license fees of proprietary solution vendors. In times of economic hardship, and even in times of prosperity, it is incumbent upon school district administrators to be sensitive to saving funding so they can invest it in teachers and students. The "education industrial complex," as I think Chris Lehman (Practical Theory) characterized it as cited in Will Richardson blog entry I read this week, is undeserving of any mercy since they have bled school coffers dry.

Proprietary solution providers, beware...you reap what you sow.

• Blackboard’s Response to Open Source: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

  • Blackboard has not been having a good time in the state of North Carolina. As I noted recently, the University of North Carolina (a Blackboard customer) reported highly favorable results of their pilot study of Sakai, with an outcome of further investigation into Sakai as a full replacement of Blackboard as their primary LMS. It turns out that this was following on the heels of a similar study done by the North Carolina Community College system favorably comparing Moodle to Blackboard. The details were different but some of the underlying dynamics were the same: the open source system in each case was found to be functionally equivalent to Blackboard for all practical purposes, the open source platforms did roughly as well as Blackboard (in the Moodle evaluation) or better than Blackboard (in the Sakai case) in usability evaluations, and Blackboard was deemed to be expensive relative to the alternatives.
  • poor support was one of the major complaints about Blackboard in the original NCCCS report. It is important to remember that, just as software development under and open source license is not inherently inadequate for the needs of large institutions, neither is software developed under a proprietary license—even by a relatively large company like Blackboard—inherently adequate.
  • It’s important to understand that open source projects are not inherently any more insecure than proprietary software development efforts.
  • If Blackboard can’t help you fix your problems, you’re out of luck, because nobody else understands their code or has the right to look at it. If your Moodle vendor can’t help you, you can go to another vendor, or find another adopting school that knows how to fix the problem. You can also fix it yourself. You don’t have to, but unlike with Blackboard, you can. Likewise, if Blackboard were to go out of business (ask WebCT or ANGEL customers if this sort of thing ever happens), you would’t be able to find somebody else to support and continue to develop your platform. Not true with open source support vendors.
  • Schools that have their systems hosted by Moodle vendors such as Moodlerooms or Remote Learner, or Sakai vendors such as Unicon or rSmart, have highly predictable costs with no additional staff required.
  • the Moodle community includes some of the largest distance learning programs in the world, such as Open University UK and Open Polytechnic in New Zealand, not to mention many U.S. community colleges.
  • With a proprietary product like Blackboard, just as with an open source community, development resources are going to go toward whatever projects that whoever controls the resources perceives to be in the interest of a critical mass of the adopting schools. Any proprietary company, including Blackboard, is obliged to prioritize functionality requests of a majority of the customers they happen to have, sometimes at the expense of the needs of a minority. The risks to adopting schools are therefore substantially the same.
  • Blackboard provides the least transparency of any vendor or open source project in this product category. Their dismissal of the notion that an open source project could keep up with new innovations also rings hollow, and not just for LIS. If I recall correctly, Moodle also supported grading discussion posts long before Blackboard did, to cite one example of innovation that started in the open source LMSs and has been copied by Blackboard.
  • NCCCS’s pilot and case studies found that Moodle’s usability is basically equal to Blackboard’s. UNC’s pilot studies found that Sakai’s usability is better than Blackboard’s.
  • According to the NCCCS report, member schools went to Moodle in the first place because the high fees and poor customer service from Blackboard were creating costly resource distractions.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

State Technology Allotment Update

The following note was shared recently referencing a source at the Texas Education Agency (TEA):

There has been some confusion regarding the technology allotment. The 81st Texas Legislature did fund the technology allotment. According to the To The Administrator Addressed letter dated August 10, 2009, the technology allotment is based on rate of $29.43 multiplied by your district’s 2009–10 estimated refined ADA, and accounted for in the special revenue fund 11. (See http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/taa/statefund080709.html).

In past years, the allotment has been paid as early as November and as late as January. For the 2009-2010 school year, the allotment is scheduled to be paid in May.

There has also been some confusion regarding the use of technology allotment funds. According to the Texas Education Code, the technology allotment may be used only to:

(1) provide for the purchase by school districts of electronic textbooks or technological equipment that contributes to student learning; and

(2) pay for training educational personnel directly involved in student learning in the appropriate use of electronic textbooks and for providing for access to technological equipment for instructional use.

The Agency has interpreted this to mean that the allotment may be used to employ staff to train educational personnel directly involved in student learning in the appropriate use of electronic textbooks and for providing access to technological equipment for instructional use.

Instructional Materials and Education Technology
Texas Education Agency

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

DiigoNotes - Using Writing In Mathematics

Fascinating approach to writing about a subject I hate to think about, much less be meta-cognitive about--Mathematics.

• Using Writing In Mathematics

  • Using Writing In Mathematics
  • This strand provides a developmental model for incorporating writing into a math class. The strand includes specific suggestions for managing journals, developing prompts for writing, and providing students with feedback on their writing. In addition, the site includes two sample lessons for introducing students to important ideas related to writing about their mathematical thinking.

  • Writing about thinking is challenging. For this reason, it's best not to start out having students write about unfamiliar mathematical ideas. First get them used to writing in a math class:

    • Begin with affective, open-ended questions about students' feelings.

    Sample Direction #1: Reflect on your participation in class today and complete the following statements: I learned that I... I was surprised that I... I noticed that I... I discovered that I... I was pleased that I... Sample Direction #2: Describe how you feel about solving _________ problem.

  • Have students write a "mathography"-a paragraph or so in which they describe their feelings about and experiences in math, both in and out of school. (This is a good tool to get to know students early in the year, and to make comparisons later when looking for signs of progress.
  • Find ways to keep students writing for the allotted time:
  • Getting Students to Write about Familiar Mathematical Ideas

  • Once your students have become accustomed to writing about their attitudes and feelings toward mathematics in their journals, they are ready to write about simple, familiar math concepts. It is important not to make the writing too difficult by asking them to write about unfamiliar math ideas. Using writing to review familiar math ideas will increase confidence and skill in writing as well as revisit important math concepts.

    Sample Directions: Explain in your own words what subtraction means. Explain what is most important to understand about fractions.

  • Use student writing samples to help them refine their writing.
  • Introduce the term metacognition to help students understand the reason and audience for their writing.

  • When you feel your students are ready, ask them to write about more complex mathematical ideas, including concepts being taught at their current grade level. To help you move your students into this more advanced level of writing about their thinking. Here are some other suggestions to help you:

    1. Encourage your students to use drawings and graphs to explain their thinking.

    • Research shows that using simple visual aids (diagrams, graphs, etc.) improves mathematical problem-solving ability, especially in female students.

    2. As student writing progresses, ask students to write about their small group work.

    • Ask the group to write a summary of how they reached a solution, including any "false starts" or "dead ends."
    • Ask each individual to write an explanation of the group's work on a problem. Have the small groups discuss the individual explanations.
    • After a small group assignment, have students "explain and illustrate two different approaches to solving a problem."

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

DiigoNotes - Implementing performance assessment in the classroom

• Implementing performance assessment in the classroom. Brualdi, Amy

  Brualdi, Amy (1998). Implementing performance assessment in the classroom. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 6(2). Retrieved October 29, 2009 from http://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=6&n=2 . This paper has been viewed 126,806 times since 11/13/1999.
  • it is difficult to write completion or multiple choice tests that go beyond the recall level.
  • Performance-based assessments "represent a set of strategies for the . . . application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students" (Hibbard and others, 1996, p. 5). This type of assessment provides teachers with information about how a child understands and applies knowledge. Also, teachers can integrate performance-based assessments into the instructional process to provide additional learning experiences for students.
  • The benefit of performance-based assessments are well documented. However, some teachers are hesitant to implement them in their classrooms. Commonly, this is because these teachers feel they don't know enough about how to fairly assess a student's performance (Airasian,1991). Another reason for reluctance in using performance-based assessments may be previous experiences with them when the execution was unsuccessful or the results were inconclusive (Stiggins, 1994). The purpose of this digest is to outline the basic steps that you can take to plan and execute effective performance-based assessments.
  • • What concept, skill, or knowledge am I trying to assess?
    • What should my students know?
    • At what level should my students be performing?
    • What type of knowledge is being assessed: reasoning, memory, or process (Stiggins, 1994)?
  • There are some things that you must take into account before you choose the activity: time constraints, availability of resources in the classroom, and how much data is necessary in order to make an informed decision about the quality of a student's performance (This consideration is frequently referred to as sampling.).
  • The literature distinguishes between two types of performance-based assessment activities that you can implement in your classroom: informal and formal (Airasian, 1991; Popham, 1995; Stiggins, 1994).
  • When a student is being informally assessed, the student does not know that the assessment is taking place. As a teacher, you probably use informal performance assessments all the time.
  • A student who is being formally assessed knows that you are evaluating him/her. When a student's performance is formally assessed, you may either have the student perform a task or complete a project. You can either observe the student as he/she performs specific tasks or evaluate the quality of finished products.
  • You must beware that not all hands-on activities can be used as performance-based assessments (Wiggins, 1993). Performance-based assessments require individuals to apply their knowledge and skills in context, not merely completing a task on cue.
  • • Identify the overall performance or task to be assessed, and perform it yourself or imagine yourself performing it
    • List the important aspects of the performance or product.
    • Try to limit the number of performance criteria, so they can all be observed during a pupil's performance.
    • If possible, have groups of teachers think through the important behaviors included in a task.
    • Express the performance criteria in terms of observable pupil behaviors or product characteristics.
    • Don't use ambiguous words that cloud the meaning of the performance criteria.
    • Arrange the performance criteria in the order in which they are likely to be observed.
  • allow your students to participate in this process
  • asking the students to name the elements of the project/task that they would use to determine how successfully it was completed (Stix, 1997).
  • A rubric is a rating system by which teachers can determine at what level of proficiency a student is able to perform a task or display knowledge of a concept. With rubrics, you can define the different levels of proficiency for each criterion. Like the process of developing criteria, you can either utilize previously developed rubrics or create your own. When using any type of rubric, you need to be certain that the rubrics are fair and simple. Also, the performance at each level must be clearly defined and accurately reflect its corresponding criterion (or subcategory)
  • As with criteria development, allowing your students to assist in the creation of rubrics may be a good learning experience for them. You can engage students in this process by showing them examples of the same task performed/project completed at different levels and discuss to what degree the different elements of the criteria were displayed. However, if your students do not help to create the different rubrics, you will probably want to share those rubrics with your students before they complete the task or project.
  • • Checklist Approach When you use this, you only have to indicate whether or not certain elements are present in the performances.
    • Narrative/Anecdotal Approach When teachers use this, they will write narrative reports of what was done during each of the performances. From these reports, teachers can determine how well their students met their standards.
    • Rating Scale Approach When teachers use this, they indicate to what degree the standards were met. Usually, teachers will use a numerical scale. For instance, one teacher may rate each criterion on a scale of one to five with one meaning "skill barely present" and five meaning "skill extremely well executed."
    • Memory Approach When teachers use this, they observe the students performing the tasks without taking any notes. They use the information from their memory to determine whether or not the students were successful. (Please note that this approach is not recommended.)
  • teachers may wish to allow students to assess them themselves. Permitting students to do this provides them with the opportunity to reflect upon the quality of their work and learn from their successes and failures.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

DiigoNotes - iNACOL's Susan Patrick on Trends in eLearning

Great responses on Susan Patrick's part to David Nagel's interview. I am convinced that we need to abandon the failed technology integration approaches of the last 17 years and switch to online learning. If we were looking for a  movement to get behind, it's clearly not Web 2.0 or Read/Write Web as powerful as that is...it is using these tools within the context of online learning to rethink what we do "for school."

Thanks to Nagel and THE Journal for this interview!

• Q&A: iNACOL's Susan Patrick on Trends in eLearning -- THE Journal

  • Q&A: iNACOL's Susan Patrick on Trends in eLearning
  • By David Nagel
  • At last count, there were more than 1 million enrollments in K-12 online schools in the United States. And according to recent research, the number of students taking courses online will jump to more than 10 million in the next five years.
  • iNACOL, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. iNACOL is an advocacy and research organization that focuses on issues in K-12 online schooling. It represents a broad spectrum of groups centered around education, including schools themselves, state and local education agencies, non-profit organizations, researchers, and various technology and content providers. Just this month, iNacol released the first-ever standards for K-12 online education programs, National Standards for Quality Online Programs.
  • The first online programs in K-12 education really started in the mid-1990s. Florida Virtual School and Kentucky Virtual School started in 1996. By 2000, there were about 40,000 enrollments in K-12 online learning--the estimate's between 40,000 and 50,000 enrollments nationwide. By 2002, there were 300,000 enrollments in K-12 online learning. By 2005, there were 500,000 enrollments. And the last data that came out last year shows that in 2007 there were more than a million enrollments in K-12 online learning.
  • For an innovation in K-12 education to grow that rapidly--it's growing at more than 30 percent annually--is remarkable
  • National surveys show that more than 40 percent of middle and high school students want to take an online course.
  • The No. 1 reason for a school district to offer an online course is that the course is otherwise unavailable.
  • There are major teacher shortages of math and science [teachers] all over the country, [as well as teachers of] foreign languages.... Forty percent of high schools do not offer AP classes.
  • The second thing is it's really helping to meet the individual needs of students. The traditional model of education is to line 30 kids up in a classroom and teach one way--through lecture--to all of those students with one single textbook. Online learning allows a level of customization and personalization that is otherwise really impossible because of time constraints and capital constraints.
  • [it] is allowing a level of personalization, of flexibility [that's really] allowing students to go deeper than they ever have before.

  • Online learning is the solution for extending learning time....

    The Silent Epidemic study [from] the Gates Foundation [showed] 88 percent of [dropouts] had passing grades and could have finished, but they're dropping out because they're disenfranchised. They feel like they're not challenged. They wish classes were more rigorous. If we keep doing the same thing and just hold them in school for longer hours, to me that doesn't make any sense.

  • taking students only from the neighborhood [in which the graduation rate was] only 40 percent, taking those students and retraining teachers to use online courses and and all of these collaboration and discussion tools. In a traditional class, it's not cool in their neighborhood to raise their hand and have a lot of discussion, so they're doing these ... silent chats, silent discussions, where they're taking the online coursework and having discussions. The teachers think it's amazing because instead of just having one kid raise their hand, they've got 15 different students posting and sharing ideas and making it relevant to their world, and they're getting so much deeper. After the first year, they've got more than 80 percent of their kids on track for graduating on time and getting accepted to college.
  • It's a redesign of the instructional strategy and a redesign of the curriculum away from "stand and deliver" in a single textbook to [focusing on] what ... you really need to do to engage these students and make them active learners who want to be successful in their own lives.
  • The two biggest issues are the funding and the licensure.... It's really the adults learning what online learning is. There's still this misconception in K-12 education that there's a computer screen teaching your student, not that you're connected to a teacher that's leading discussion, that's monitoring your homework, that's doing some live, interactive sessions with you on a whiteboard.
  • A lot of counselors understand intuitively that when a student is advanced and [wants] to take an AP course, they're comfortable with that. But the opportunities for credit recovery for struggling students to have this more personalized dynamic interaction, a lot of people don't understand how helpful it can be.
  • it really comes down to [policymakers adopting] a broader perspective of what's possible in the 21st century.
  • through online learning, K-12 teachers have opportunities to teach one course part-time or be adjunct faculty members or teach full-time and switch their load up so they teach some classes online and some classes face to face.
  • There's a study called Going Virtual! that shows that the average teacher going online has more than seven years of experience. A lot of people left the classroom with all of those years of experience because [of] the environment they were in--a lack of leadership support, whatever reason they left for--are applying at virtual schools, getting retrained to teach online, and then love that added flexibility that they have.
  • Susan Lowes at Columbia University did some research on this and showed that [K-12 teachers are] bringing those technology tools and the new strategies using the Internet back into their face-to-face classes, and it's actually improving the overall teaching and their skill sets and how they can do discussions different ways.
  • [based on] the work from the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, we lose 30 percent of our new teachers within three years and 50 percent of our new teachers within five years in K-12 education. I wouldn't say that the virtual school teachers' retention rates are any worse than that.
  • Taking a really great teacher and then giving them a bunch of technology tools so that that same group of students can do more is fine. But making fundamental shifts in access and teacher quality and how we design education to me is a lot more interesting.
  • If you train somebody how to fully teach online, then they can use those skills in a classroom or virtually.
  • if our digital investments are really underutilized, we really need to look at ways that can profoundly change the learning environment and make sure that those investments are sound.
  • The sunken costs of technology in higher ed also support online learning. That's ubiquitous high-speed broadband. Eighty-three percent of college classes use a learning management system, whether they're face to face or otherwise. And that training for the faculty to use that learning management system--even to post their syllabus or assignments or other things like that--[is] really the first step in that direction. Whereas the sunken costs in school districts and states on technology don't always support virtual learning. You have to find a whole new pocket of money. And to me there's a real disconnect there.

  • Teacher shortages are a major problem. It is a solution for teacher shortages, changing the distribution of teachers.

    Engagement is a huge problem for students in the current model. Dynamic online courses and curriculum and training teachers in new strategies to improve that engagement and personalize instruction: [online learning] is a huge solution for that.

  • Omaha Public Schools just switched all of their credit recovery and remediation in summer schools into online format. They're ... using MITE open courseware to do that. So those are some solutions to major problems that are happening in our schools.
  • There are huge opportunities in connecting students globally.... The International Baccalaureate program, which is one of our members, they have started an IB diploma program online, and they have students from 125 different countries participating, collaborating, sharing ideas, communicating, building their second language fluency. Giving kids opportunities that are truly globally connected and academic in nature, I think, is so important in the world that we live in.
  • There's a study called the Florida TaxWatch Report on the Florida Virtual School [downloadable in PDF form here, approx. 800 KB] that compared all the data both for the AP courses and for the end of course exams in Florida and found that Florida Virtual School, through their online courses, was serving a higher number of minority and underserved students than traditional schools, and those students were performing better on the AP exams than traditional students in traditional schools and better on end of course exams.
  • The study found the average AP exam score for FLVS students was 3.05 versus 2.49 for public school students. FCAT reading and math results were also markedly better for FLVS students than for public school students. Complete details and caveats can be found in the report itself.]
  • Every major study that's been done has shown that online learning is "as good as or better" when based on student achievement. And this last report that ... came out of the Department of Ed [early this summer] shows that it's better. And considering that kids wouldn't have access to these classes anyway, even if they were just as good, that would be a huge step in the right direction. But the fact that they're actually academically more engaging and better is a real sign that we can learn things and shift things.
  • Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education publications and electronic newsletters. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com. He can now be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/THEJournalDave (K-12) or http://twitter.com/CampusTechDave (higher education).

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DiigoNotes -Lawsuit Facebook

• Hey, kids! Hate school? Don't tell Facebook! - Technotica- msnbc.com

  • High school sucks. Did you forget? Don’t believe it? Check out Facebook.
  • At least that’s the opinion of a Nicholas Blacconiere, an academy student under legal fire for enshrining his negative opinions and those of others on a private page he posted on the world’s most popular social networking site.

  • “Facebook 'suck sites' to be tested in court,” proclaimed the Chicago Tribune in reporting the academy’s $50,000 suit against Blacconiere for unauthorized use of the school's logo and for emotional damage caused by defamatory comments posted on his page, titled “Tspa RobinHood.”

    Other media followed suit, with headlines such as “ ‘My School Sucks’ pages under attack,” and the like. Why it’s as if just now, a couple of months short of 2010, the First Amendment rights of Internet-savvy students are under fire and not, in fact, an ongoing and troublesome issue.

  • “Forty years ago, the Supreme Court resoundingly affirmed that young people attending public schools do not ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,’ ” writes Frank D. LoMonte in “Reaching Through the School House Gate: Students’ Eroding First Amendment Right,” his February 2009 brief for the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.

    Recent developments in the law of online speech, however, are rattling the certainty of that assumption,” the Student Press Law Center executive director continues. “In the view of at least some federal judges, students do not enjoy — anywhere, anytime —the same right to comment on school as ordinary citizens.”

  • It was hardly the first Facebook page posted by a disgruntled student. Even now, a Facebook search for “student organizations” with “high school” and “sucks” in the title returns hundreds of results augmented with the names of specific schools, pages that have been online for months, even years.

  • "It is ironic that high school is where students first learn about First Amendment rights, including the right to free speech, yet it is Katy's high school that unconstitutionally trampled those very rights," ACLU cooperating attorney Matthew D. Bavaro, said in a press release announcing the suit last December.
  • Appeals are still pending for the case of Avery Doninger, who in 2007 was not permitted to run for senior class secretary after she referred to faculty at Lewis Mills High School in Burlington, Conn., as “douchebags” on her LiveJournal blog. Faculty called the student, who’d previously never been in trouble, a cyberbully.

  • “You have sort of an Orwellian atmosphere at universities, and especially at high schools, Shibley says. “Administrators feel they have to tamp down (online speech) or somebody's going to sue the high school.”

    “It’s a big mess, and it’s just coming out everywhere.”

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TCEA Area 20 Council

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in the TCEA Area 9 Conference in Jacksboro, Texas. It was a fun event for me--I moodled all day; check here for workshop materials--and I had the opportunity to meet folks like Don Sewell (TCEA Area 9 Director).

One of the intriguing conversations I had on Saturday was with members of the TCEA Area 9 Council, which evidently had been around for quite a few years. It is something I've admired from afar in Area 20.

The benefits of an Area Council for TCEA Area 9 included the following:

• Scholarships for students
• Officers to serve on Area Council
• Better representation from local districts
• Organization of area events
  

Area Councils are provided for in the TCEA organization bylaws:

ARTICLE VIII. AREA COUNCIL

Section 1. Area Council Members

The Area Council shall consist of the Area Director, who shall serve as chairperson, and members recruited from the general membership of that area.

Section 2. Qualifications for Area Council

Any Regular Member, who is a teacher, administrator, or other employee of an educational entity in the state of Texas, shall be eligible to serve on the Area Council. Area Council members must reside or be employed in the TCEA area they serve.

Section 3. Terms of Area Council Members

Membership on the Area Council shall be reviewed annually by the Area Director.

Section 4. Selection of Area Council Members

The Area Director shall recruit and appoint Council members from the general membership of that Area. An equitable geographic balance shall be maintained, insofar as possible. The Council may establish an officer structure comparable to the existing structure of TCEA.

Section 5. Duties of the Area Council

Area Council members shall assist the Area Director in planning, organizing, and implementing Area activities, promoting Area membership, contributing to the TCEA communications network, budgeting and directing the Area funds, working on various committees as assigned, and promoting the use of computers and technology in educational settings.

Section 6. Duties of the Area Director

The Area Director organizes specialized Area activities, promotes Area membership, contributes to the TCEA communications network, budgets and directs the Area funds, works on various committees as assigned, chairs the Area Council, advises Local Chapters, in that Area, and promotes the use of computers and technology in educational settings.

What are your thoughts about establishing a TCEA Area 20 Council? Is that something of interest and worthwhile?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

DiigoNotes - Building an Effective Board of Directors

What a phenomenal article by Frank Martinelli (Texas NonProfits) on building an effective Board of Directors! I really enjoyed reading some of the strategies suggested by Frank and there are some obvious connections/suggestions applicable to the work of organizations I'm familiar with, such as TCEA, that I'm hoping to be elected to office for. These points are ones I'm going to keep in mind as I pursue elected office with TCEA, but you know what, these are just excellent suggestions for ANYONE who gets elected to Board or is interested in holding their Board members accountable.

While I cite other key take-aways from the article below via my DiigoNotes, I found four critical take-aways for me that made me leap out of my chair. Those take-aways included the following:

1. Your Board of Directors needs to have a plan for ROTATION of Board members. One of the big problems with some organizations--such as TCEA--is the lack of term limits. This means Board members hang around forever and no fresh ideas are introduced, even if the Board members are committed individuals...failure to get new Board members results in a "closed" Board. Valuable, valuable feedback for any organization and its membership!
2. The need for a public and easily available, written job description for Board Members. One of the frustrating things about running for TCEA office is that you're elected to serve on the Board by the membership in your geographic area, however, there is no job description (that I'm aware of) posted for being a Board member where it's easily accessible to all. While I'm sure there must be a job description somewhere, I hope new Board members aren't confronted with one immediately prior to "swearing in" and expected to agree to it. I love this quote:
   
   "prospective board members want to know what is expected of them along with an estimate of the required time. Avoid the temptation to downplay the responsibilities of board membership. New board members will eventually find out what the true expectations are and if they are different from what they were told before coming on to the board, you're in trouble! "
   
3. Follow effective committee structure. In my experience (not being organization specific in this critique, so don't misunderstand), ad-hoc committees are poorly organized and thrown together at the last minute. It usually falls on the person chosen to chair the committee to draft the members, usually using up "favors" or relying on friendship to pull together. I like the author's discussion of six elements of successful, effective committees, as well as committee member selection as shared below:
   
   They can be a mix of board and non-board members and should be recruited with the following question in mind: What tasks is the committee responsible for and who among our members and supporters possess the skills and experience needed to complete those tasks? As is the case with other forms of volunteer recruitment, every effort should be made to match the needs and requirements of the committee and the skills, knowledge and interests of prospective committee members.
   
4. Creating a matrix of current Board members skills. Wow, what a great idea to better get to know what people know how to do and can do. Consider these instructions:
   
   Key factors that define sought-after expertise, knowledge, skills, experience, as well as relevant demographic factors are arranged along the top of the matrix. The names of current board members are listed down the side of the matrix. The Committee then uses the matrix to complete the profile.

There are many other great nuggets of information in Martinelli's "Building an Effective Board of Directors," including the self-assessment tool for Board members. Here are my notes and, of course, you're encouraged to read the full article and check out the tools included at the end of the article.

• Texas Non Profits - Building an Effective Board of Directors - Lessons and Great Forms, Agendas, and a Pledge

  • The first, planning and policy development, includes determining the mission and vision that charts the future direction of the organization.
  • The second area, community and organizational development, means broadening the organization's base of support in the community; interacting with the community to bring new issues, opportunities and community needs to the attention of organization; maintaining accountability to the public, funders, members, and clients. It also includes training and developing current and new leaders within the board and committees, and assuring that the same development is occurring within the professional staff through the leadership of the Executive Director.
  • The third area, fundraising and support development, includes giving personal time and money; developing donors, members, and supporters; leading and supporting fundraising campaigns and events as well as maintaining accountability to donors and funders.
  • If the Board is going to make decisions that reflect the true interests and needs of the organization's constituents, board members must be in tune with those constituents and the wider community of which they are apart. If the Board is expected to raise funds to support the programs and services of the organization, then board members must be involved in planning and decision-making in meaningful ways so as to feel in a strong sense of individual and collective ownership. If the organization is counting on board members to raise funds from the community, then board members need to maintain relationships with individuals and institutions in that community.
  • Barriers to Board Effectiveness
  • Temptation to micro-management.
  • It is critical that the board focuses its attention on items of critical importance to the organization. In order to do this, the board must avoid the temptation to micro-manage or meddle in lesser matters or in areas that are more appropriately handled by the professional staff.
  • Ineffective Nominating Committee
  • the work of the nominating committee has lasting impact on organization -- and this committee's work determines who board leaders will be for many years for years into the future. The nominating committee should be well organized, have a clear sense of recruiting priorities as well as expectations for individual board members especially in the area of fund-raising.
  • the lack of a plan for orderly rotation of board members on and off the board. If the same people serve year after year, there is no way for new blood and new ideas to come into the board. Despite their sense of commitment, these same people will make the organization a "closed corporation." Rotation prevents the ingrown possessiveness sometimes found on self-perpetuating boards. In a time of rapid change, the presence of new people who bring a new perspective will promote creativity and innovation in board decision-making.
  • No Plan for Rotation.
  • Failure to remove unproductive members. Another problem that leads to poor performance is the failure to remove unproductive board members. People who are not carrying out their commitments as board members become major blocks to overall board effectiveness. There needs to be a process for evaluating board member performance and making recommendations regarding their future service with the board.
  • Too small. Sometimes a board is ineffective because it is simply too small in number. When we consider the awesome responsibilities of board leadership, it's easy to see why we need enough people to do the work. While it is difficult to specify an appropriate size for all boards, in general, a board should range in number from 11 to 21 members. We need enough members to lead and form the core of the committees and, in general, share in the other work of the board. We also need sufficient numbers to reflect the desired diversity in the board as well as assure the range of viewpoints that spurs innovation and creativity in board planning and decision-making.
  • Lack of functioning committee structure. The lack of a functioning committee structure is another reason why boards fail to perform at an acceptable level. While it is true that major decisions are made in board meetings, it is also true is that most of the work that supports and implements this decision-making occurs at the committee level. If the board has a committee structure that functions inadequately, this can lead to poor performance in general.
  • No strategic plan. The lack of a strategic plan, in most cases, will also lead to poor board performance. If the organization lacks a strategic plan that provides clear direction -- so critical in this period of rapid change -- the board can spend significant amounts of time talking about topics that simply don't matter. Related to the absence of a strategic plan is the lack of a long-range service delivery and financial development plan that will advance the strategic plan.
  • No plan for orientation of new and old members. Boards also fail because they have no plan for orientation of new and old members.
  • Who will be serving on and leading the board over the next five years? What is our plan to scout board leadership talent for the future? How will we go about fostering and developing future board leadership? What we're really talking about here is extending the timeline for board development and recruitment activities. In many organizations, board recruitment and nominations activities are really ad hoc in nature. Typical bylaw language describes a process in which the board president appoints a nominations committee whose short-term task is to recruit candidates that will fill a specified number of vacancies at the upcoming annual meeting.
  • Year-round committee.
  • Board Development Committee because developing leaders includes more than nominating people to serve on our boards. It truly is a year-round function: prospecting, contacting, recruiting, orienting, supporting, providing ongoing training, and evaluating.
  • Link to the strategic plan. It is important to match board recruitment and development activities with the new requirements and demands of the strategic plan.
  • The board reviews the mission, vision, goals and strategies, and then determines any new skills, knowledge, personal contacts and other attributes future board members will need to possess in order for the board to do its part in advancing the strategic plan.
  • Profile of the current board
  • Key factors that define sought-after expertise, knowledge, skills, experience, as well as relevant demographic factors are arranged along the top of the matrix. The names of current board members are listed down the side of the matrix. The Committee then uses the matrix to complete the profile.
  • Focused recruiting priorities.
  • Written member job description.
  • For a board to operate successfully each member must understand and accept the specific duties and responsibilities that come with board member ship. More and more organizations have found it helpful to develop a written statement of agreement for board members. This statement serves as a job description and clarifies board responsibilities. The job description, in very clear language, sets forth the expectations the organization has of its board members. The most effective job descriptions are those that state in behavioral terms precisely what board members are expected to do.
  • For most organizations, key responsibilities include the following: consistently attendance at regular board meetings, participation as an active member on it least one committee, participation in the fund-raising activities of the organization in a manner appropriate for that board member, as well as preparation in advance before regular board meetings by reading and studying materials sense in advance regarding key actions the board is expected to take at the next meeting.
  • many organizations now expect their board members to attend an annual board planning or education event sometimes held on an evening, or a weekend.
  • New board members will eventually find out what the true expectations are and if they are different from what they were told before coming on to the board, you're in trouble! It includes some of the basic expectations that most organizations have for their board members. It is not intended to serve the needs of every organization; consider the starting point in the design of a job description that matches your needs.
  • the Executive Committee consists of the four executive officers of the Board: the president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer. Sometimes other members of the board are included as part of the Executive Committee: for example chairs of the standing committees or at-large members from the board to assure representation of diverse viewpoints.
  • The Executive Committee plays three critical roles: planning the agenda of board meetings, making decisions on behalf of the full board, and serving as a communication link with other members of the board, especially the committee chairs.
  • Making decisions on behalf of the full board: In between the regular meetings of the board, the Executive Committee, during its own meeting, is able to make decisions that can't wait for the next regular board meeting or on matters that the full board has delegated authority to the Executive Committee. In both cases, the Executive Committee receives its authority from the full board and needs to report on its decision-making at the subsequent meeting of the board.
  • To facilitate its work, the Executive Committee should meet on a regular basis.
  • When the Executive Director and board president meet, they should begin by identifying agenda items that can be appropriately handled by the Executive Committee itself. These items would be placed on the Executive Committee's meeting agenda than as action items. In placing such items in this category, board president and Executive Director are assuming, based on past practice as well as relevant bylaw language and board policy, that such items are appropriate for Executive Committee decision-making. The next agenda category includes those items that would be appropriate for executive committee discussion and/or referral to the full board as action items or as information items. In this instance, the Board President and Executive Director are making the judgment that that the executive committee lacks authority to act directly on such items. Their discussion of such items during the Executive Committee meeting may lead to recommendations for future action by the board as a whole but the Executive Committee will stop short of making a decision on its own.
  • The Committee Structure
  • An effective committee structure helps to increase the involvement of board members because it gives them an opportunity to use their skills and experience. They provide a training ground for future leaders -- both for individuals who are currently board members as well as non-board members who may be asked to serve on the board in the future. They increase the visibility and outreach of the organization by including non-board members in committee membership. Committees provide a means for information to flow from the community, clients, and line staff to the board. Committees also give members the chance to freely and discuss issues in an informal setting. Finally, committees serve as excellent problem-solving and decision-making groups because of their small size.
  • Written Committee Description. First, there should be a written description of what is expected of each committee to guide the chair and members. The description should summarize the purpose of the committee, its composition and selection procedure, and the specific duties of the committee.
  • An effective committee chair. The next element is an effective chairperson. In general, the committee chair should a board member.
  • Members thoughtfully appointed. The next element of committee effectiveness is members who have been thoughtfully appointed. Each standing committee is generally composed of a core of five to eight members. They can be a mix of board and non-board members and should be recruited with the following question in mind: What tasks is the committee responsible for and who among our members and supporters possess the skills and experience needed to complete those tasks? As is the case with other forms of volunteer recruitment, every effort should be made to match the needs and requirements of the committee and the skills, knowledge and interests of prospective committee members.
  • Accountability to the board. The next element of committee effectiveness is clear accountability to the Board of Directors. This begins with a written committee description that describes what the board expects from the committee. There should also be an effort to link the committee description with relevant strategic plan language.
  • Well -- run meetings. The last element of committee effectiveness is well run meetings. In a sense, if a committee reflects the first five indicators of effectiveness -- a clear description of its work, a chair that knows how to lead, a solid match between the interests, skills and experience of individual members on the one hand, and the needs and requirements of the committee on the other, a good mix of board and non-board members, and direct accountability to the board --we will have the makings of excellent committee meetings. It will still be important to provide for meeting space that matches the needs of the group, a written meeting agenda and any necessary information mailed out to members in advance of the meeting.
  • An effective board evaluation process includes the following features:
  • Annual process. An effective process for self-evaluation of the board will be conducted on a regular, yearly basis.
  • Two-way Communication. In order to have board member support for the process, the evaluation will need to be viewed as a vehicle for two-way communication to provide feedback on performance to individual board members and also to solicit feedback from individual board members on the performance of a board as a whole and the level of support that they receive from their leaders as well as staff.
  • Follow-through. An effective evaluation process will also lead to concrete plans for corrective action including a commitment on the part of the board to follow through so that the results of evaluation process lead to measurable improvements in board performance.
  • Board member accountability. The results of this assessment can then used by the President and Executive Committee to determine which board members deserve positive feedback for acceptable performance and which board members, because of inadequate performance, need to be reminded of their responsibilities.
  • Just-in-time Board Orientation
  • Another component of board effectiveness is training and orientation provided in a timely manner. The problem for many organizations is that it can sometimes take new board members several months and even a full year before they begin to function effectively in their role as board members.
  • Here's how such a board orientation program might work: even before a prospective board member is voted on to the board, he or she will receive detailed information about the organization, the workings of the board, expectations for individual board members, and other vital information. An effective "just-in-time" board orientation program will also focus on the strategic plan of the organization.
  • The first is a thoughtful nominations and recruitment process that is viewed as parts of a broader effort to identify, involve, and develop board leadership. The second is the presence of an executive committee that facilitates the effective decision-making on the part of a board is a whole. The third practice is establishment of a committee structure.

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