Education Week - October 2, 2013 - 8

Gallup/Education Week Superintendent Panel
Superintendents Wary
Of Boards, Poll Finds
By Lesli A. Maxwell
Most of the nation’s superintendents
do not issue strong approval
ratings when it comes to judging
the ability of school boards to
govern districts, according to new
results from a Gallup/Education
Week survey.
While school district chiefs were
more likely to express confidence
in their own school boards’ success
at governing, only a small sliver—
just 2 percent—said they strongly
agree that districts across the nation
are effectively governed at the
board level.
“These are our most visible, vocal
school leaders coming out to say we
could definitely do better with our
boards,” said Brandon Busteed,
the executive director of Gallup’s
education division. “School boards
are reviewing superintendents, everyone
is reviewing teachers, but
no one is really reviewing boards,
or having conversations about the
need to have really competent governing
boards.”
While school boards in some districts
are appointed by mayors or
governors, most board members
are elected by local voters. One of
their main duties is to hire superintendents.

The Web survey, done between
June and July of this year, drew responses
from 1,169 district chiefs.
It’s the second in a series of Gal-
lup/Education Week polls of district
chiefs’ thinking on major issues
facing the K-12 field. (See Education
Week, July 10, 2013.) Before
the inaugural survey earlier this
year, Gallup invited every superintendent
in the nation to participate
in the ongoing panel. About 20
percent agreed, but they are not a
BULLYING
On a five-point scale, indicate
your level of agreement
with the following statement:
Student bullying is a major problem
within my school district.
43%
1%
5%
94%
Do you provide the teachers
in your school district with
training to prevent student
bullying?
lYes lNo lDon’t know
8 | EDUCATION WEEK | October 2, 2013 | www.edweek.org
l1 Strongly disagree l2 l3 l4 l5 Strongly agree lDon’t know/Does not apply
Note: Numbers may not add up to 100 because of rounding.
l1 Strongly l2 l3 l4 l5 Strongly lDon’t know/
disagree
agree
Does not
apply
43%
33%
34%
45%
34%
43%
Students are able to identify
effective teachers
1% 2%
11%
17%
nationally representative mix.
In other key survey findings,
only 1 percent of superintendents
strongly agree that student bullying
is a major problem in their
districts. But nearly all of them
reported that their teachers are
trained to prevent bullying.
Also on the topic of school safety
and climate, more than 60 percent
of respondents said their districts
do not have armed security personnel
or police officers in schools. Of
those superintendents, 28 percent
report that they are considering
adding armed personnel.
On the subject of teachers, just
16 percent of district chiefs said
that value-added models of student
achievement are “very effective”
measures of teacher performance.
A majority of the respondents,
however, said they agree with the
statement that students are able to
identify which teachers are effective.
But despite that confidence in
their students’ judgment, only 17
percent said they strongly agree
that they give regular consideration
to student feedback when
making decisions for their districts.
When asked about their districts’
collaboration with colleges and universities,
78 percent of the respondents
said that K-12 leaders, and
not higher education officials, are
leading the alignment of precollegiate
courses with the academic demands
of colleges and universities.
Mr. Busteed said the finding that
only 4 percent of superintendents
think their districts do well at
teaching about entrepreneurship
does not bode well for the economy.
“We are missing a huge spectrum
of our talent pool by not doing more
to develop entrepreneurship in
kids,” he said.
1%
7%
15%
Using a five-point scale, please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements:
I regularly consider student feedback
in the decisions I make for
the school district.
2%
13%
37%
My school district makes effective
use of data to measure
and improve student outcomes.
1% 3%
15%
KEY FINDINGS
GOVERNANCE AT THE BOARD LEVEL
On a five-point scale, indicate your level of agreement with each of the following statements:
l1 Strongly disagree
l2
l3
l4
l5 Strongly agree
lDon’t know/
Does not apply
1% 3%
8%
37%
14%
2% 7%
20%
6%
22%
36%
I am confident that my school
district is well-governed
at the board level.
Does your school district have armed security
personnel or police officers in school?
38%
62%
lYes lNo
If the answer was no:
Has your school district
considered adding armed
security personnel or
police officers in school?
28%
72%
42%
I am confident that school
districts in the U.S. are wellgoverned
at the board level.
STUDENT OUTCOMES
10%
On a five-point scale, indicate how effective you
think value-added models of student achievement
are in measuring a teacher’s performance.
l1 Not effective at all l2 l3 l4 Very effective lDon’t know
16%
5%
15%
54%
Scan this tag with your smartphone for a link to the complete findings from
the “Gallup/Education Week Superintendent Panel” survey at edweek.org/links

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Education Week - October 2, 2013

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