A new resource, from the Aspen Institute’s Education & Society Program, challenges state chiefs and their leadership teams to consider their local context and capacity in determining essential, possible, and unsuitable roles for their agency and to make staffing and funding decisions that reflect this context. This discussion guide helps state leaders consider what roles and responsibilities they can realistically shoulder long-term and is informed by the experiences of SEA and LEA leaders from over 25 states.
Some of the key questions ask leaders to reflect on what should be done BEFORE trying to define roles and responsibilities. They engage leaders in:
- Articulating the SEA’s specific goals. What is it trying to accomplish?
- Clarifying the SEA’s core values. For example, if a culture of service, responsiveness, and transparency is valued, what does that mean for what work the SEA takes on? What other values might drive decisions?
- Understanding the agency’s statutory responsibilities and areas of discretion. What is the SEA legally responsible for? What is the state board charged with?
- Making an effort to understand what external stakeholders—districts, educators, parents, citizens, and other policymakers—expect from the SEA.
- Once the SEA’s role is defined, consider an agency capacity review, such as the Capacity Review Rubric offered by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the Education Delivery Institute (EDI) to decide how best to allocate resources to support those priorities and determine where more capacity is needed.
- Developing and executing a plan for communicating this information to key stakeholders including agency staff, state leaders (board of education, governor’s office, and legislators), educators, LEA staff, and the public.
The guide then takes leaders through Essential Roles, Possible Roles, and Unsuitable Roles in the areas of Funding and Oversight, Policy Leadership, Communications, and Implementation. It concludes with foundational questions about authority, will, and resources.
For more information, see the full guide.
