Any study of independent school governance starts with the reminder that the most important thing a board can do is hire and support the Head of School. Yet too often boards assess heads poorly – if at all – and focus on narrow questions of salary and tenure. Feeling that void, SSL offers a dramatically different approach, one that is head-centered and developmental. It is designed to help a head grow and thrive.
SSL’s Return on Character assessment is derived from a professional development opportunity for leaders that the firm KRW International created over the last two decades. The ROC’s premise for school leaders is simple. Leaders of high character – of responsibility, integrity, compassion, and forgiveness – lead more successful schools. As a kind of 360 assessment, the ROC helps the school leader understand if the people of the school see his or her work the same way the leader does. More than just a review of confidential questionnaires and interviews, the ROC suggests specific ways the school leader might change in order to align the leader’s heartfelt intentions with the community’s perception of those intentions.
The yearlong, challenging ROC program is a superb investment for schools. It is comprehensive, touching every group a school leader impacts via thorough, creative feedback. It studies the lessons learned from the lifelong path the leader followed to the current position. The ROC is developmental, owned and directed by the school leader – not the board – creating a path for improvement through a change in habits. It is research-based, benchmarking performances with other school leaders and creating a measurable impact study. And it is character-focused, for it believes that the traits mentioned above – integrity, responsibility, forgiveness, and compassion – sustain a community that nurtures and educates children and fulfills adults in their vocation.