Board decisions crafted by descending size. System-focused superintendent evaluation. Ends and means are the only criteria on which a superintendent should be assessed. Under the arrangement, the superintendent gets full authority to run the district, but his actions must be aligned with board policy and with a set of limitations the board chooses to place on the superintendent. The board treats the superintendent as its only employee and holds the superintendent accountable for district progress.
Superintendents rise or fall according to how well the district meets goals set by the school board.
Dallas, a district notorious for governance problems, is considering the Carver model. Conn. Phillip Virden, a board member in the Hinsdale School District in Lake City, Colo., was a big proponent of the Carver model when his board adopted it. Virden's thinking changed a year later when, after attempting to change an administrative decision without a majority of the board behind him, he was asked by fellow board members to resign his presidency. Policy Governance in East Allen County, Ind., has in part survived because the district has chosen to tweak Carver's rules. In that district, board members have free access to staff members.