Sensing Needs and Opportunities: Tuning Into Your Environment
By Brenda Welburn

Having worked at the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) for twenty-one years, the one thing I am certain of is that change is inevitable in state education governance. This is something that is felt particularly acutely by state boards of education, given the high degree of turnover in their membership. As a service provider to State Boards of Education, NASBE's can only be successful to the extent that we are vigilant about "tuning in" to our environment so that we can understand the needs, priorities and concerns of our membership. We must also always keep an open mind in using strategies and proven practices from traditional and non-traditional partners, and we must be willing to reinvent ourselves to keep up with the times.

NASBE members are, by definition, a heterogeneous lot. Our members are volunteers, and most are not education professionals. As a result they often have a limited appreciation for the sundry education organizations and for the contributions NASBE has made to the field of education and to the efficacy of State Boards of Education and their members. Communicating what our role is and what we bring to the table, while simultaneously understanding these individuals' perspectives and working together with them to improve the productivity and efficiency of the State Board system, is a constant challenge.

Many new state board members have no institutional or continuous memory to draw from in determining and evaluating the intended and unintended consequences of state education polices and new members who are seasoned in local education governance are often surprised at the differences of serving on a state as opposed to a local board of education.

Over the last several years, the turnover on State Boards of Education has risen significantly. The result is sometimes friction between new members and established board members, many of whom, in addition to being vested in policies they fought long and hard for, are apprehensive toward new colleagues, especially those from a different political party or those appointed by a new governor.

The NASBE New State Board Members' Institute plays a central role both in educating new members of State Boards of Education and ascertaining the interests and concerns of state school board members in general. In addition to serving as an educational institution, the Institute creates a safe environment for new members to voice concerns and ask questions, helping NASBE to understand the changing perspectives of State Boards of Education and the impact it has on the policymaking process. This helps NASBE to anticipate changes in state education governance as it views new challenges to lay leadership through the eyes of new members. Finally, the Institute also serves to demonstrate to new members the depth and breadth of the knowledge of NASBE, which includes our keen familiarity with the models of board leadership; our deep understanding of operations that generate policies with proven results in student achievement; and our solid working relationships with a myriad of education partners.

NASBE can be a change agent for public education through informing policymaking practices, but only if we keep the trust of our members and the Boards. This trust is based on open and frequent communication about key education issues with effective research and data. This open communication also allows us to provide more personalized service as we support the developmental needs of our members and support the work of state education agencies by providing services to the members, and thus to the agencies.

The challenges we face at NASBE are not unique. For education professionals, anticipating the needs of an ever shifting set of stakeholders – students, parents, policy- makers, boards of education – requires constant, multi-faceted communication built on a foundation of trust and mutual respect. While, in most instances, there are differences in the expectations, culture and mores of these different groups, the needs of students, even those with special needs and educational challenges, are fairly consistent across states. And hearing the voice of these many constituencies will be fundamental to the work of all educators in the years ahead. Reinventing education is not simply about reinventing classroom practice and district directions, it's about leveraging the strengths of all contributors to the enterprise from policy to practice. That's what we work to support each and every day at NASBE.