This book examines how local education governance- school boards in collaboration with district and school leadership- could, in every district, become an exemplar of highly effective decision-making, leadership and action.
The authors believe that most trustees (board members) want to make a difference in the lives of students, and to improve the district and the system and as a whole. Their vision is of a governance system, school board and superintendent; working together as a cohesive, unified team with a common vision driven by a shared moral imperative. This is a dynamic, powerful role for school boards.
?Education cannot be expected to solve all of our social ills, but it is increasingly clear that it is the one social institution that has the potential to make a major difference for humanity in a troubled world.
While it has often been shown that districts and boards don't have close working relationships, this book takes a different view. We go to the core, basic foundation of understanding local efficacy: the mindset of high performing trustees and superintendents carrying out the critical function of governance. We believe that school boards are vastly underutilized at precisely the time when they are most needed. We hold another fundamental premise which we will position in the course of this book: the vast majority of school board members want to improve the public education system.
Finally, decisions are made within a political context. Our main goal in this book is to spell out what good governance consists of at the local district level so that well-intended politics can combine with the governance core to produce education results never before seen.
Author Biography:
Davis Campbell is the former Executive Director of the California School Boards Association and is Chair of the University of California Davis, School of Education Advisory Board and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Applied Policy in Education.
Campbell has a deep and broad background in public education. He served for 12 years in the California Department of Education, serving six of those as Deputy State Superintendent of Public Instruction in charge of all education programs. In 1988 he was appointed Executive Director of the California School Boards Association, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 2001. He has also served as an elected trustee on the Yolo County Board of Education. In 2020, Campbell was awarded the 2020 University of California Davis Alumni Association Distinguished Achievement Award.
Campbell maintains an active consulting practice in effective governance in education as well as nonprofit agencies at both the state and international level. In California, in addition to continuing education governance programs with school districts, Campbell has provided workshops for nonprofit organizations as well as governance workshops and presentations with cities, counties, and special districts. Campbell’s international work includes governance support for American and International schools in Madrid Spain (15 years), Barcelona Spain, Lisbon Portugal, Paris France, Rome and Milan Italy, Tunis Tunisia, Cairo Egypt and British Columbia Canada.
Michael Fullan served as Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Special Policy Adviser in Ontario from 2003-2013. He received the Order of Canada (OC) in December 2012 and holds five honorary doctorates from universities around the world. His ‘interim autobiography’, Surreal Change, covers his work to 2018. Michael and his colleagues are now working diligently on field-based comprehensive system change in several countries. This work operates under the umbrella of what they call the ‘shared humanity paradigm’ —Equity, Engagement, Excellence--Deep change that integrates local (school and community), middle (district/regional), and state (policy) entities.
Fullan’s favorite method of learning is to partner with groups that are engaged with change; and to learn together with them. (And then to write another book about the experiences, and what was learned).
Michael Fullan’s latest books are: Nuance (2019), Spirit Work and the Science of Collaboration (with Mark Edwards, 2022), The Principal 2.0 (2023), and The Drivers (with Joanne Quinn, 2023).
For more information on books, articles, videos, podcasts please go to: www.michaelfullan.ca
