QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES
Question: How should the board use data dashboards to effectively monitor progress toward its adopted Goals and Guardrails? -- Board Member in Alabama
TESBM: This question is trickier than it sounds because even though it comes from a well-intentioned place, we’ve seen this approach add value and we’ve seen it only add distraction. In most cases, data dashboards will be more useful to the administrative team for managerial purposes than to the school board for governance purposes. So if your board is going to use data dashboards as an element of your monitoring practices, you will need a clear framework for ensuring that they don’t get used as a tool for managing staff work or diagnosing operational issues.
Effective use begins with tight alignment. Dashboard data should consist solely of Goals, Interim Goals, Guardrails, and/or Interim Guardrails. Even adding Goal-aligned or Guardrail-aligned Initiative data — which is clearly aligned data — invites a slide into adult inputs monitoring rather than student outcomes monitoring.
In addition, the board’s focus as it draws meaning from data dashboards should be on trends over time, not on operational explanations or recommendations for fixes. Dashboards help the board assess direction, pace, and sufficiency of progress relative to the timeline in its adopted Goals. The board monitors whether performance is on track, off track, or stagnant, while the superintendent remains responsible for interpreting causes and adjusting strategies. This separation preserves accountability without drifting into management.
Dashboard review should occur within the structured goal-monitoring conversations in board meetings, not as general updates, open-ended discussions, or private discussions. Predictable, disciplined monitoring ensures the board’s time is spent evaluating progress toward priorities rather than reacting to individual data points or curiosities.
During conversations that include dashboard data, the board’s focus is revealed by the questions it asks. Student outcomes focused questions are strategic and evidence-based, focusing on what the data indicates about student progress relative to the Goals and what the superintendent is learning from system performance. Questions that probe technical details, assign blame, or suggest solutions undermine the board’s role and dilute accountability.
If a school board can operate within this framing, then it’s possible that data dashboards could be a value add to their Goal monitoring practices.
Question: In the ESB framework, it suggests that the board should try to ensure that the community expresses ownership of the Goals. What does it look like when the community has internalized the Goals? -- Board Member in Arizona
TESBM: Thank you for this question. The short answer is that this is a judgment call of the board. The board members collectively, as part of the board’s quarterly self evaluation, either reach consensus that they believe this to be true or they do not. What’s important to note is that this question isn’t about the intention of the board or their efforts, but about the impact on the community and their experience.
That said, here are the types of things that board members might look for:
Was community voice heavily included in the development of the Goals?
Do teachers and principals know the Goals and discuss them?
Do grassroots community leaders know the Goals and discuss them?
Do elected officials at the city/county level know the Goals and discuss them?
Do school system partner organizations know the Goals and align their partnership with the school system around them?
Can all of the superintendent’s direct reports explain the why behind the Goals and the strategies to accomplish them?
Would parents and families defend the Goals even if the board was gone?
The more that board members can answer “yes” to these types of questions, the more likely it is that the community has internalized the Goals.
Question: What techniques improve board collaboration and trust? -- Board Member in California
TESBM: First, it’s helpful to distinguish between what’s being asked — collaboration and trust — and what’s not being ask: how do we get board members to like each other, or be friends, or get along, or all believe the same things. There is some evidence that collaboration and trust are positively correlated with school board effectiveness; we’re not familiar with evidence that board members being best friends or all agreeing or all voting the same way is positively correlated with school board effectiveness. Collaboration and trust are a worthwhile objective.
The primary technique we coach for collaboration is Goal and Guardrail setting, and then monitoring. The board that lacks a shared set of priorities is unlikely to collaborate effectively. Doing so also clarifies what the board owns and what it is delegating to the superintendent. Explicit agreement on what is board work and what is superintendent work helps eliminate suspicion and second-guessing.
The primary technique we coach for trust building is 1) giving your word and then 2) honoring your word. Board trust is not built through chemistry or goodwill. It is built through predictable, disciplined behavior that reduces ambiguity and friction.
A few other strategies for consideration:
Keep board work relentlessly centered on improving student outcomes. When disagreement is about evidence and strategy—not motives—trust follows.
Use consistent processes for goals, monitoring, agenda setting, and decision-making. Members trust systems more than individuals.
Protect meeting time for goal monitoring. Purposeful meetings signal seriousness and respect.
Train members to ask questions for clear reasons (decision-making or monitoring) and avoid operational or opinion-driven inquiry.
Regular board self-evaluation normalizes accountability and reduces defensiveness.
A neutral coach helps surface tension productively before it becomes personal.
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.
INTERESTING READS & LISTENS
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Marguerite Roza offers thoughts on waste, fraud, and abuse.
BOARD MEETING ANALYSIS
A subscriber asked us to watch the December meeting of a school board in Tennessee. Here are the highlights from the Regular Meeting:
Total Minutes: 138mins
Minutes Focused on Student Outcomes: 0mins
Key Topics: Awards & Recognitions, Director’s Report, Charter Renewal
What Coach Celebrates:
Strong community and staff recognition culture was evident.
Efficient handling of the consent agenda minimized time spent on individual transactional items.
What Coach Recommends:
Re-design agendas so that at least 50% of meeting time is dedicated to monitoring progress toward board-adopted student outcome Goals.
Convert Director’s Reports into formal Goal Monitoring reports tied explicitly to SMART Goals with clear progress data.
Establish a predictable monitoring calendar so student outcomes, rather than adult inputs, become the organizing center of board meetings.
UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES
Effective Student Voice in Governance
Join us for a conversation about ways to responsibly and effectively include student voice in the board’s work.
11am central on Friday, February 13, 2026
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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
Strategic Plan
Time Use Analysis
Guidance documents related to this issue:
Effective Goal Monitoring
Effective Student Voice in Governance
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