Trustees told to be leaders

Lack of leadership by school boards of trustees is a key factor in student under-achievement, an American education specialist says.

Mary Delagardelle, deputy executive director of the Iowa Association of School Boards, said the issue wasn't one of blaming school boards, but acknowledging that good governance had a big part to play in pupils' learning.

Ms Delagardelle is the keynote speaker at the three-day School Trustees Association conference in Auckland.

Her organisation has carried out extensive research into the role school boards play in student achievement. The study compared high-achieving school with low-achieving ones in Iowa and other US states with a similar school governance system to New Zealand.

Ms Delagardelle said that while lower-achieving schools might have well-intentioned boards with positive relationships, what was missing was the willingness to take on a leadership role.

"Leadership proved to be one of the major missing ingredients," she said.

- NZPA