Why ESBI?

How many times have you left a school board meeting frustrated by the feeling of not having made the difference you wanted to make? How many times have you secretly wondered if joining the board was really the best way to make a difference for students? One of our challenges: quality evidence describing how we as school board members can best support our students is in short supply. In the absence of more evidence, many school board meetings — while well intentioned — end up being a colossal waste of our time and energy as public servants. As school board leaders, we deserve more answers. Unfortunately, research into this area is minimal compared to other education leadership research. But when we come together as a community of school board leaders, we can be the solution to our own challenges rather than waiting around for someone else to create solutions for us.

How To Join ESBI

The intention of the ESBI participant experience is for school board leaders to gain insights into how best to use school board meeting time in service of improving outcomes for their students. Participation in the Effective School Boards Initiative process involves attending an orientation workshop, coding three board meetings using the ESBI-provided tools, and attending a reflection workshop. There is no cost to board leaders.

Participants will receive pre-reading material that provides more details about ESBI and the coding process. The first workshop is a day-long workshop that covers identifying student outcomes, data gathering, and coding school board meetings. After the orientation workshop, participants will then independently code three school board meetings — one from their own district and two for districts outside their state. The out of state meetings will be assigned by ESBI. Once the coding is complete, participants come back together for a reflection workshop where board members plan for implementing the learnings they’ve gained For more information, contact us.