The consequences of this practice are serious. For one thing, the constant fresh starts wipe out the institutional memory within districts. As a result, a new superintendent comes in without any knowledge of what previously existed in the district. As one new superintendent said at a recent national meeting, the only thing he received when he started his job was a phone list.

In addition, the frequent stops and starts and changes in direction breed cynicism within districts. Teachers may be reluctant to try a new approach, knowing that a new leader might arrive two years from now and call for yet another way of doing business. Parents and community leaders may look warily at promises that the new approach will produce results, since the last approach, equally heralded, did not seem to yield dramatic gains.

Perhaps the most damaging consequence of the continual change in direction is the cost to district improvement. The evidence shows that reforms take several years to gain traction and produce results, yet the continual policy churn never allows them to take root. Only by holding on to what's working while addressing what isn't can a new leader enable a district reform to thrive.

What do you get out of a District Transition Review?

A District Transition Review can help engage the community in education, can assist district leadership to improve policies and develop new policies, and can help board members select and evaluate superintendents more effectively.

Specifically, the review helps district and community leaders take three steps before undergoing a major change. These are:

• Take stock.
• Listen to the community.
• Use data to identify strength and needs.

Take Stock

The District Transition Review can help district leaders, community members and district partners identify the progress the district has made and the challenges that remain. These findings, which might be surprising, can help frame the task of searching for a successor superintendent by beginning to establish the skill set that the new leader must have.

Listen to Your Community

The District Transition Review should include interviews and focus groups with a broad range of individuals, including parents and community leaders as well as educators and administrators in the system. These interviews are likely to unearth perceptions about the district that leaders might not have been aware of.

A school committee or board that creates opportunities for school/community conversations will hear valuable information that will add to the search framework. It is possible that observations from diverse communities will, in fact, yield a fairly common theme, at once reinforcing strengths and identifying needs.

Use Data to Identify Strengths and Needs

The District Transition Review will provide a clearer sense of district strengths and needs, adding further to the understanding of the skill-set a new leader should bring.

After spending thoughtful time taking stock, listening to the community, and defining strengths and needs, the school board should have a clearer sense of the kind of leader the district should seek. Now the challenge lies in finding the person with the skills to build on those strengths and address unmet needs. To be sure, a candidate's personality and management style are important considerations and need to be part of the decision. But by taking the time to analyze the district and the community through the District Transition Review, the board is more likely to continue its reform agenda in a successful direction.