Student outcomes don’t change until adult behaviors change. Or said differently, when placed in the context of governing, patterns of behavior that are exhibited in the boardroom can reasonably be expected to be found paralleled in the classroom. This concept, which offers a summation of the current literature on board behaviors and their relationship to improving student outcomes, is as simple as it can be confounding. 

To support this work, the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) makes certified school board coaches available to its member districts. Our coaches provide 1-on-1 coaching support for school board members, whole board coaching and training, as well as coaching for the superintendent and their leadership team to support with implementing effective school board governance practices.

The Council has developed a framework to coincide with the coaching -- one that takes a student outcomes-focused approach to school board governance. The intention of CGCS' Student Outcomes Focused Governance (SOFG) framework is to translate existing research and the collective experience of dozens of CGCS board members and superintendents into a set of tools that boards can use to identify their strengths and weaknesses as well as to track progress along their journey toward improving student outcomes.

Learn more about the Student Outcomes Focused Governance framework