QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES
Question: How can a board know whether it is actually being effective? -- Board Member in Colorado
TESBM: Boards sometimes rely too heavily on activity as a proxy for impact. Meeting more often, approving more items, or launching more initiatives does not necessarily translate into improved student outcomes. We use three different metrics to help school boards self-identify where they are being effective and where they need to grow. Most boards don’t have clear metrics like this so “effectiveness” is more of a vibe check than a performance indicator. Having these three performance metrics sets boards up to have a more rigorous relationship with reality.
Quarterly Self Evaluations: This metric, self-scorable from 0 to 100, uses the ESB implementation instrument to gauge the alignment of the board’s behavior with evidence-based practices. A higher score means board behavior is more focused on improving student outcomes. Boards self-evaluate four times per year and effective boards are at 80 and above.
Monthly Time Use Evaluations: This metric, self-scorable from 0% to 100%, uses the ESB time use instrument to evaluate how each minute of the board’s time was used for the month. A higher score means board behavior is more focused on improving student outcomes. Boards self-evaluate each month and effective boards are at 50% and above.
Daily Monitoring Evaluation: This metric, self-scorable from 0% to 100%, uses the ESB monitoring question instrument to determine how strategic, measure-focused, asked-oriented, results-focused, and time-bound the questions asked during the monitoring session are. A higher score means board behavior is more focused on strategy and organizational effectiveness. Boards self-evaluate after each monitoring session and effective boards are at 80% and above.
The board’s primary work is not to manage programs, but to ensure that the organization is moving steadily toward the student outcomes that matter most to the community. Without clear measures of effectiveness, it becomes easy to confuse motion with progress.
Question: How should boards respond to intense political or community pressure around a single issue? -- Board Member in Minnesota
TESBM: Pressure from the community is inevitable, especially around emotionally charged topics. The question is not whether boards will feel that pressure, but whether they will allow it to displace their strategic focus. Effective boards listen carefully, but they make decisions through the lens of their Goals and Guardrails, not through the urgency of the moment.
When boards consistently anchor their decisions in previously adopted priorities, they build trust over time — even with those who disagree. Predictability, transparency, and principled decision-making are more sustainable than reactive governance.
This is a simple answer to articulate but an incredibly difficult one to implement. The reality is that political incentives for board members rarely align with a disciplined focus on student outcomes. Board members will be cheered for chasing every urgent adult issue; they should not expect the same reinforcement — and often will be openly chastised — for focusing on the student outcome Goals and Guardrails. Each board member will have to choose for themselves what they will prioritize above other things: adult inputs or student outcomes.
Again, this doesn’t mean that it’s appropriate to simply ignore intensity around a political issue. Rather, effective board members must listen generously and be open to sharing what their priorities are even when it’s not what people want to hear. Sometimes doing the job is not well aligned with keeping the job.
POLL
Which best describes how your board uses its Goals and Guardrails?
INTERESTING READS & LISTENS
With thoughtful leadership, here’s what can happen when Guardrails — constraints based on the community’s values — are in place.
Sharing — again — this reminder of why Goals & Guardrails (the big rocks) matter so much.
A useful explainer video about why Goals & Guardrails are the way they are.
BOARD MEETING ANALYSIS
A subscriber asked us to watch the October meeting of a school board in California. Here are the highlights from the Regular Board Meeting:
Total Minutes:100mins
Minutes Focused on Student Outcomes: 0mins
Key Topics: Student achievement data, Attendance improvement, Special education overview
What Coach Celebrates:
Inclusion of student performance data (ELA, math, attendance) in the school site report reflects movement toward outcomes transparency.
Board maintained orderly procedural flow and completed required statutory actions efficiently.
Recognition of schools and community engagement demonstrates strong relational culture.
What Coach Recommends:
Reallocate at least 50% of meeting time to Goal monitoring, as this is the behavior most correlated with improving student outcomes.
Convert presentations into formal Goal monitoring reports that explicitly compare current performance to board-adopted targets and include superintendent strategy adjustments.
Increase the volume and quality of monitoring questions—specifically strategic, measure-focused, and results-focused questions tied to board Goals.
Reduce time spent on adult inputs (recognitions, reports, extended public comment) or move portions outside regular meetings to create space for student outcomes work.
Align action items explicitly to Goals and Guardrails so voting time reinforces—not distracts from—student outcomes priorities.
UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES
Effective Superintendent Search Process
During our monthly free 30-min webinar, we'll go over what to do before, what to do during, and what to do after a superintendent search. We’ll cover the role of search firms, effective interview question design, and more.
11am central on Friday, April 10, 2026
Did you miss last month's 30-minute free webinar? Email Greg for a make-up session on any of our growing list of topics, including governance policy, delegation policy, effective budgeting, superintendent evaluation, professional services management, strategic planning, consent agendas, and more.
Teachers need coaches to be their best. Principals need coaches to be their best. Superintendents need coaches to be their best. School boards need coaches to be their best. If your school board wants support to be great on behalf of the students you serve, click below for a free consultation.
BONUS MATERIALS
For paid subscribers, here are links to additional resources (to gain access to the links below, please consider subscribing):
Additional details about the analyzed meeting:
Board Meeting Video
Meeting Agenda
Time Use Analysis
Guidance documents related to this issue:
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