In Their Own Words: What School Leaders Say They Need to Succeed - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

In Their Own Words: What School Leaders Say They Need to Succeed Key Findings from Principal Survey OCTOBER 23, 2018 1

We received 146 responses from principals representing a variety of school types; this represents a 42% response rate…. Full v. Partial Respondents Respondent School Type Respondent Type % of all respondents % of all respondents % of all respondents n=146 n=146 n=146 100% 100% 31% 34% 80% 8% 9% 60% 82% 5% 14% 20% 40% 32% 21% 20% 8% 18% 12% 7% 0% 1% Total Respondents Total Respondents Total Respondents Traditional district (Boston & Other) Fully completed survey Elementary Autonomous BPS (i.e., pilot, innovation, Horace Mann ) Middle Partially completed survey High Commonwealth Charter (part of network) Elementary and Middle Diocesan/Parish Catholic Middle and High Private Catholic Elementary, Middle, and High Standalone Commonwealth charter Unknown 2

Principals spend significant time working with the Central office; productivity varies…. Q: How much time per week do you spend interacting with Q: How productive are your interactions with the the Central/Network office? Central/Network office? % of all respondents % of all respondents 100% 4% 4% 4% 4% 13% 7% 25% 80% 40% 50% 48% 44% 60% 64% 40% 75% 56% 50% 40% 44% 20% 24% 2% 0% Traditional or Commonwealth Diocesan/Parish Traditional or Commonwealth Diocesan/Parish Autonomous District Charter (network) Autonomous District Charter (network) Extremely productive Moderately productive Less than 1 hour Between 1 and 5 hours Somewhat productive Not at all productive Between 6 and 10 hours More than 10 hours 3

Schools experience mixed quality of critical services…. Q: How effective or ineffective is the current provider? % of all respondents 3% 6% 8% 9% 9% 11% 13% 14% 15% 15% 19% 18% 16% 25% 19% 17% 25% 19% 62% 54% 52% 56% 53% 50% 51% 58% 56% 22% 21% 20% 20% 16% 16% 15% 11% 8% Human Community & Academic & Student Support Finance Facilities School Safety Student Data & Other Services Resources, Family Professional Services Management Accountability Capital, & Talent Engagement Learning Highly effective Moderately effective Moderately ineffective Highly ineffective Note: Percentages are averages across all surveyed sub-categories. Respondents who said “not applicable” are excluded. 4

There is variation in quality of service by school type; principals from traditional district (Boston and other) and autonomous BPS schools are less likely to rate their service provider as “highly” or “moderately” effective…. Traditional or Autonomous District Q: How effective or ineffective is the current service provider? Commonwealth Charter (network) % of all respondents who respond “Highly Effective” or “Moderately Effective” Diocesan/Parish 100% 99% 95% 93% 92% 91% 91% 90% 90% 89% 87% 87% 85% 83% 82% 80% 79% 74% 70% 70% 65% 63% 59% 57% 54% 51% 51% Human Community & Academic & Student Support Finance Facilities School Safety Student Data & Other Services Resources, Family Professional Services Management Accountability Capital, & Talent Engagement Learning Note: Percentages are averages across all surveyed sub-categories. 5

The quality and effectiveness of Central office services varied by school type…. Qualitative commentary School type ▪ “It’s just too hard to get the folks at central to understand what it's really like in the schools…[t]oo many problems…and not enough support.” ▪ “Every school is different and there are some schools that have extensive needs and limited resources Traditional and supports..[w]e need to look at schools individually to see what resources are needed for each and school.” Autonomous ▪ “Centralizing…workers who are supposed to be serving the schools makes for a bottle neck; [m]ore would District be accomplished if central office was spread out across the city to serve schools.” Schools ▪ “Not that I want to be fully responsible for items such as transportation or food services or athletics, but it would be nice for central office to at least listen to schools, or ask our opinions before making decisions.” ▪ “The central office has always been a tremendous resource.” ▪ “Have a wonderful working relationship and interactions with the Catholic School Office.” Diocesan/ ▪ “Everyone at the CSO works diligently to assist RCAB [Roman Catholic Archdioceses of Boston] schools to Parish Catholic the best of their ability.” Schools ▪ “When ever needed the central office / RCAB OFFICES are very helpful.” ▪ “Central Office is limited by their lack of autonomy over the schools.” 6

School principals want more input regarding key school services—especially Facilities Management; they would also like more support from the Central office for Community and Family Engagement…. Q: Please indicate your current and preferred service provider? % of all respondents Community & Student Support Academic & Human Resources, Finance Family Engagement Services Professional Learning Capital & Talent 4% 3% 1% 2% 3% 3% 11% 15% 14% 21% 20% 26% 24% 10% 31% 40% 44% 15% 32% 20% 10% 43% 21% 30% 32% 24% 41% 6% 25% 32% 31% 28% 12% 3% 61% 3% 29% 8% 5% 7% 4% 14% 29% 28% 30% 11% 19% 21% 19% 11% 11% 7% 1% 2% 1% 3% 1% 1% Current Preferred Current Preferred Current Preferred Current Preferred Current Preferred Student Data & School Safety Other Services Legend Facilities Management Accountability 3% 7% 7% 9% 20% 19% 30% 41% 31% 39% 14% 46% 21% 41% 17% 11% 24% 8% 14% 27% 5% 18% 40% 11% 10% 24% 12% 14% 3% 10% 15% 12% 27% 29% 5% 27% 22% 20% 7% 13% 14% 4% 8% 4% 6% 3% 3% 4% Current Preferred Current Preferred Current Preferred Current Preferred 7

Principal comments reflected both frustration with facilities and ideas for improving community and family engagement…. Many principals expressed frustration with the state of their buildings; one stated that “our schools are a mess” and that “the right resources [are not] provided to maintain respectable school yards or facilities.” Several principals suggested “[i]t would be really helpful for [the] central office to provide some more direct assistance and guidance on best family and engagement practices and supports.” Note: Photo Source: https://www.bostonpublicschools.org/cms/lib/MA01906464/Centricity/Domain/2301/Opportunity%20Portfolio%20Catalog%202017- 2018.pdf Some principals suggested putting in place “school based staff [to] manage the community and family engagement pieces” and others expressed a desire to work with service providers to help with community and family based engagement. 8

Principals from traditional district (Boston and other districts) or autonomous BPS district schools are least likely to report that their Central office is “extremely” or “moderately” customer service oriented…. Q: How customer service-oriented is the Central/Network office to your school's needs? % of all respondents 100% 8% 20% 80% 32% 50% 60% 47% 40% 25% 60% 20% 27% 25% 7% 0% Traditional or Autonomous District Commonwealth Charter (network) Diocesan/Parish Extremely customer service oriented Moderately customer service oriented Somewhat customer service oriented Not at all customer service oriented 9

Principals of traditional district schools noted inconsistency in the customer service orientation from the Central office…. “It really depends on the department. ON QUALITY OF SERVICE: Some are really trying. Others just “Central office staff do not view that don't get it that they are supposed to their work is to support schools.” be supports for us.” “Certain offices are more effective than “Depends on others and often who we are times success is working with.” determined by personal relationships.” “[E]verything at scale across the 120 schools…compromise[s] quality. Also, depending on who you know at central office, you get different degrees of service.” 10 10

Autonomy for key school services is very important to principals…. Q: How important is it to have autonomy in the following areas? Traditional or Autonomous District % of all respondents responding “Extremely Important” or “Very Important” Commonwealth Charter (network) Diocesan/Parish 94% 93% 92% 92% 92% 91% 90% 88% 87% 83% 75% 75% 72% 67% 63% Human Resources, Capital, & Academic and Professional Student Support Services Finance Other Services Talent Learning 11 11