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IASB trainer tells Chicago board to use a ‘balcony’ view, data and consistent goals to monitor district progress
Summary
An Illinois Association of School Boards presenter trained the Chicago Board of Education on governance roles, monitoring performance and using clear, disaggregated data to assess whether district goals are being met.
Sandra Kwasa, director with the Illinois Association of School Boards, told the Chicago Board of Education on May 7 that board members should adopt a governance posture she described as a "balcony perspective," set clear district ends and monitor performance with consistent, disaggregated data.
"Think of a balcony: you have a panoramic view of the entire district," Kwasa said during a training session that followed ISBE’s school improvement presentation. She explained that boards set direction and policy while the CEO/superintendent executes the plan. "The board is like the rudder on a big ocean liner," she said.
Kwasa offered six foundational governance principles: clarify district purpose, connect with the community, employ and evaluate the CEO, delegate authority, monitor performance and take responsibility for board practices. She emphasized that monitoring should be continuous and data‑based. "Monitoring is an ongoing process... to ensure performance and to promote accountability, learning, and continuous improvement," Kwasa said.
To make data useful, Kwasa advised boards to use consistent color coding and visualizations, ask guiding questions (compared to what, trends over time, how different groups perform) and disaggregate results by student groups. She pointed members to the district goal in CPS’s strategic plan — increasing advanced course credits and career credentials for graduates — as an example of a SMART objective the board should track.
Kwasa also reviewed practical governance tasks: distinguishing public policy questions from customer‑service complaints and following a chain of command for constituent issues. She closed by noting the board’s legal options for conducting its self‑evaluation in closed session and by encouraging members to use IASB webinars and resources for ongoing learning.
Ending: Kwasa urged board members to align strategic ends, superintendent goals and school practices, and to monitor progress with clear visuals and disaggregated measures so the board can judge impact over time.
