School boards have one employee. One. The superintendent.
School boards are charged with hiring, supervising, evaluating, and, when necessary, terminating the superintendent. Every other employee in the district ultimately reports through that position. As such, the superintendent evaluation should be the single most important governance tool available to a board of trustees. Yet, evaluation practices remain inconsistent, subjective, and often disconnected from superintendent contracts and district outcomes.
As both a former school board trustee and the author of a doctoral dissertation on superintendent evaluations, I believe school boards need a more disciplined, data-driven approach to governance. More importantly, they need tools that help trustees stay focused on their statutory responsibilities, monitor performance, document accountability, and maintain public trust.
This is where governance platforms such as Diligent Community can become part of the solution.
One of the most significant findings from my research was that trustees frequently rely upon personal interactions and observations when evaluating superintendents. While relationships matter, public education should never operate on assumptions, personalities, hearsay, or politics. Trustees need objective data and measurable outcomes.
A strong superintendent evaluation system should measure:
The challenge for many boards is not identifying what should be measured. The challenge is organizing, tracking, documenting, and monitoring those measures over time.
A governance platform like Diligent provides a centralized location where trustees can consistently access board goals, superintendent performance metrics, strategic plans, financial reports, policy updates, evaluations, supporting documents, and historical records. Instead of relying on memory or scattered documents, board members can make decisions using real-time information and documented evidence.
Constituents have long supported local control. But local control only works when local leaders are accountable. Far too often when districts face academic struggles, operational failures, financial problems, or public controversy, responsibility is directed everywhere except where it belongs—the governance team. If the superintendent is the board's only employee, then the board bears responsibility for effectively supervising that employee.
When superintendents succeed, boards deserve credit for setting expectations and maintaining accountability. When superintendents fail, boards must examine whether they properly monitored performance, documented concerns, provided direction, and conducted meaningful evaluations.
Governance tools such as Diligent can help boards create that accountability by establishing clear performance dashboards, documenting board actions, tracking strategic goals, and maintaining a permanent record of superintendent evaluations and progress monitoring.
Parents deserve transparency.
Yet we continue to see examples of costly superintendent buyouts and separation agreements. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent nationwide on superintendent contract settlements. Those payouts often raise the same question: Was performance being monitored before the relationship reached a crisis point?
A superintendent contract should function as a performance agreement, not simply an employment agreement. Compensation, incentives, renewals, and extensions should be tied to documented results. This is where technology can help trustees move beyond annual evaluations and toward continuous oversight.
With governance-management software, boards can monitor:
Instead of waiting until the annual evaluation, trustees can engage in year-round performance monitoring.
Another finding from my research was the need for stronger board member training and greater consistency in superintendent evaluations. Trustees overwhelmingly reported that student outcomes, district goals, leadership quality, and financial management were among the most important measures of superintendent performance. However, many boards struggle to stay focused on governance rather than operations.
Board members should spend their time:
They should not be micromanaging daily operations.
Governance platforms like Diligent help maintain this distinction by clearly organizing information around board responsibilities and strategic priorities. When boards have immediate access to performance indicators and governance documents, they are better equipped to stay focused on oversight rather than management.
Parents trust school boards to act as stewards of their children's education. Taxpayers trust school boards to protect public resources. Communities trust school boards to uphold transparency and ethical leadership. That trust is strengthened when boards have systems that document decisions, preserve accountability, improve communication, and focus attention on measurable results.
The conversation should no longer be about whether school boards need stronger superintendent evaluations. The real conversation should be how we equip trustees with the tools necessary to perform their responsibilities effectively.
A comprehensive superintendent evaluation system, directly connected to superintendent contracts and supported by governance technology such as Diligent, would help school boards improve accountability, strengthen oversight, enhance transparency, and maintain focus on what matters most:
Student success, fiscal responsibility, ethical leadership, and stewardship of the public trust.
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