Are school boards and educational quality related? Results of an international literature review

Abstract

School boards have a central position in educational governance. They have to guarantee quality, monitor results and intervene if needed. In this article we report the results of a systematic literature review meant to identify what school boards do to contribute to educational quality. After five steps of literature selection and refinement, our initial database of 4939 was reduced to 16 empirical articles. This shows that there is actually very little empirical research on the relation between boards and educational quality. Looking more closely at the 16 remaining studies, we notice differences in the reach, quality and applied methods. Moreover, the differences between boards are considerable when looking at board composition and the scope of their autonomy. Altogether, these differences make it difficult to come up with general findings on how boards can contribute to educational quality. Nevertheless, we also found promising large-scale studies that offer a better understanding of the complex nature of the effects that boards may have on educational quality. Furthermore, in almost all of the studies, educational quality is operationalised as students' test results, indicating a narrow perspective on educational quality.

Schoolboards' expectations of the superintendent – a Swedish national survey

“…Surprisingly the chairs place parents in third place even though existing research evidence argues that family background is hugely important for school performance (Hattie, 2009). Honingh et al (2020) argue that schoolboards set prerequisites for the schools' work policies and Hooge and Honingh (2014) note that the board's governance is a precondition for those who are directly responsible for the teaching. Honingh et al (2020) further state that the relationship between schoolboards and the superintendent is essential to educational quality.…”

“…In the final sections results of the study are reported and the main outcomes are discussed. Honingh et al (2020) note that there are differences between boards within countries as well as between countries and one cannot draw general conclusions or transfer ideas of working methods from one country to another. In Sweden, neither the role of nor the expectations of the superintendent by local schoolboards have been subject to extensive research.…”

“…Regardless of board members' other obligations ("spare time" politicians, etc. ), the expectations of what the schoolboard should achieve are high (Honingh et al, 2020).…”

“…The oversight for this rests in the chain of governance (SOU 2015:22). On the local level, schoolboards set prerequisites for the schools' work policies, which means that the effects boards may have are indirect (Honingh et al, 2020). Accordingly, schoolboard governance can be seen as a precondition for those who are directly responsible for the teaching (Hooge & Honingh, 2014).…”

“…Today, there is a strong focus on student achievements as the most important indicator of educational quality. However, there is little evidence to be found on how schoolboards and educational quality are related, but studies that focus on the dynamics and relation between boards and school leaders do show that the relationship between schoolboards and the superintendent is essential to educational quality (Honingh et al, 2020).…”