A new report from the Learning First Alliance, A New Philosophy on Education Decision-Making, calls for unique collaboration between governors and practitioners in K-12 policymaking.
Governors and state education officials can provide direction to empower local leaders by supporting a collaborative decision-making system that brings a new relationship between policy and practice. The report offers a set of principles from LFA’s member organizations on how states can use Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to promote this level of collaborative decision-making.
Specifically, governors are asked to show:
Commitment to the stakeholder engagement process.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes a process to create more effective education policies by ensuring that parents, educators, and other leaders working with, and on behalf of, students every day inform the development of policies and practices. This goes beyond information-sharing—it acknowledges that education decision-making needs to be a collaborative process. The state can model this type of engagement and remove the policy barriers preventing schools from working in this way.
Commitment to collaborative leadership at the local level.
One trait that successful schools and districts have in common is a commitment to shared leadership. In these environments, teachers, administrators, specialized educators, policymakers and community members work together, with each taking a leadership role to ensure educators have the supports they need to serve students effectively. This collaboration occurs within the school building as well as with the larger community, including with families, colleges of teacher education, businesses and others.
For more information, see http://www.learningfirst.org/node/4331
