Superintendent Mid-Year Check-In: Evaluating Progress Against the Adopted Goals
May 16, 2028
January seems like a long time ago. You adopted goals. You aligned the budget. You closed the engagement loop and voted on four commitments.
Now it is May. What is happening in the schools?
The superintendent mid-year check-in answers that question. But here is the critical distinction: This is not a performance review.
A performance review evaluates the person. This check-in evaluates progress toward goals. They are not the same thing, and confusing them is one of the fastest ways to damage the board-superintendent partnership.
The four questions
1. For each goal, what has been accomplished since January?
Get specific. Not “we are making progress” — that is a feeling, not data. Ask for: What milestone was targeted? What was actually achieved? What is the current status — on track, off track, or unknown?
If the superintendent cannot answer with data, you have a monitoring system problem, not a superintendent problem.
2. What implementation issues have surfaced?
Every plan hits reality. The question is whether your superintendent is transparent about it. Listen for staffing challenges, student population shifts, curriculum implementation delays, resource constraints not anticipated in the budget.
The board’s role here is to understand — not to solve. Solving is the superintendent’s job. Understanding is the board’s job.
3. What support does the superintendent need from the board?
This is the most important question in the conversation. Some superintendents will ask for more money. That is obvious. But the most valuable requests are non-monetary: “I need you to stop second-guessing the curriculum team.” “I need you to speak with one voice about this initiative.”
When a superintendent asks for board-level support, it is a sign of trust. Do not waste it.
4. Are any goal targets in need of adjustment?
Mid-year is the appropriate time to adjust interim targets — not the goals themselves, but the trajectory markers along the way. The board authorizes the adjustment. The superintendent proposes it. Together, you keep the goals alive.
The board’s role: Listen, clarify, offer support
Three verbs. That is your job description for this meeting.
Listen. Do not jump to solutions. Hear what the superintendent is saying about what is working and what is not.
Clarify. “Can you show me that data?” “What does ‘on track’ mean for that goal?”
Offer support. “We can reinforce the message about Goal 2 at the next community meeting.”
What you do NOT do
Do not manage. Do not tell the principal how to run the reading intervention. Do not suggest a different vendor for the math curriculum. Do not ask why a specific teacher has not improved.
That is micromanagement. And micromanagement is what happens when a board confuses goal monitoring with operational control. A partnership that stays in its lane stays aligned.
Your free CTA: Reply with keyword MidYearSupt and I will send you the Superintendent Mid-Year Check-In Kit — the four-question conversation protocol, the goal progress tracker, board questions for each goal, and the support identification template.
Your paid CTA: I offer a Superintendent Partnership Coaching Session — a facilitated virtual session with the board president and superintendent to prepare for and conduct the mid-year check-in conversation.
This is part of the Post-Adoption Implementation arc. Next week: End-of-Year Data Review — what to gather before the June Progress Monitoring check-in.