INTERVIEW: Arnold Shober On The Importance Of School Board Leadership
Birmingham– Across the country, school boards have been losing power to state and
federal authorities, and some experts see local boards as increasingly ineffective. But last month the Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank, released a national report on the influence of school board leadership. According to the report, local boards actually do impact student achievement. Given recent events in Birmingham City Schools and other area systems, WBHM’s education reporter Dan Carsen caught up with co-author Arnold Shober, who says the overall vision of a school board is key, as is the way members are elected:
Below is a subject index with time pegs for the extended interview:
0:05 — Dr. Shober shares his professional background and how he got involved with the project.
1:30 — Perspective on the Fordham Institute, its partners, and the basics of how the data were compiled and analyzed.
3:22 — The researchers found a strong correlation between student academic achievement and school boards who’d made that a clearly stated goal.
4:11 — Students in systems with board members elected by sub-district (as opposed to “at large”) typically don’t do as well academically.
4:40 — Board members elected in November — during “normal” elections — tended to be more informed. But there’s a caveat.
5:08 — School board members are not terribly well informed, at least as measure by the survey questions.
6:15 — But that “disconnect” between realities on the ground and board members’ perceptions of their districts actually doesn’t matter for academic achievement.
7:00 — Carsen brings up “micromanagement” as related to recent events on the Birmingham Board of Education.
8:00 — School board members are “educational visionaries” and “elected overseers.”
8:35 — Carsen asks about the structural problem of sub-district-elected board members looking out mainly for their sub-districts.
9:15 — Shober says big-city mayors have good reasons to want to usurp school boards’ functions.
10:53 — School boards are often critiqued as ineffective, but the Birmingham situation shows how important they are: “… they can make things very bad or very good … [and] there’s something to be said for a working relationship with Superintendents. When that goes bad, bad things happen.”
12:23 — Carsen brings up the example of Hoover, where citizens have felt frozen out by an appointed board. Shober details the pros and cons.
14:15 — A caveat: other factors affect student achievement much more than the make-up of school boards does … but, “every point you can get is a good one.”
15:15 — Other research has shown that in non-white districts, having non-whites elected to school boards is positively correlated with student achievement.
15:37 — Carsen asks about the report’s surprising finding that liberal and conservative board members are less informed about their own districts than moderates are. Shober explains why that might be, and what it actually means for conducting the business of a school board.
18:30 — Carsen asks about the report’s surprising finding that people who’ve worked as educators tend to be less informed about their own districts. Shober explains.
21:30 — Carsen asks about the difficulty and validity of drawing conclusions about institutions (local school boards across the country) that are so numerous and so diverse.
23:35 — Carsen asks Shober to address some of the limitations and criticisms of the study.
25:35 — Final points?
26:20 — A note of humility in the face of complexity.
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
Nonprofit erases millions in medical debt across Gulf South, says it’s ‘Band-Aid’ for real issue
Undue Medical Debt has paid off more than $299 million in medical debts in Alabama. Now, the nonprofit warns that the issue could soon get worse.
Roy Wood Jr. on his father, his son and his new book
Actor, comedian and writer Roy Wood Jr. is out with a new book -- "The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir." He writes about his experience growing up in Birmingham, losing his dad as a teenager and all the lessons he learned from various father figures throughout his career.
Auburn fires coach Hugh Freeze following 12th loss in his last 15 SEC games
The 56-year-old Freeze failed to fix Auburn’s offensive issues in three years on the Plains, scoring 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 league games. He also ended up on the wrong end of too many close matchups, including twice this season thanks partly to questionable calls.
In a ‘disheartening’ era, the nation’s former top mining regulator speaks out
Joe Pizarchik, who led the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from 2009 to 2017, says Alabama’s move in the wake of a fatal 2024 home explosion increases risks to residents living atop “gassy” coal mines.
