They may also have a much more realistic idea of what can be accomplished. Board members, then, must be careful to formulate the superintendent's goals carefully and cooperatively. Alienating the superintendent by unilaterally imposing a set of goals would defeat most of the evaluation processes' benefits. It is certainly not necessary to include such routine duties as report writing, unless the superintendent has been deficient in performance. Some districts that use the performance appraisal system choose to include some of the superintendent's personal traits, particularly ones that have interfered with accomplishing important goals in the past.
Goals are often general, slippery statements that are hard to define precisely.
Carefully formulated objectives answer such questions. They define, often with statistical precision, what constitutes success. Objectives, like goals, should be established before the evaluation period begins. Carefully written objectives ensure that the superintendent and board know, in some detail, what is expected of the superintendent. To use the above example, a variety of particular objectives could measure how effectively the superintendent relates to parents.