Related Frameworks | Effective School Boards

  1. Home
  2. Framework

Related Frameworks

Multiple Frameworks, One Vision

Many different school board governance frameworks have emerged over the past decade, but overall they have more in common than not. For starters, each of them attempts to bring a student outcomes focused approach to school board governance. And each of them are grounded in roughly the same set of research insights. But the similarities extend beyond even those things.

Each of these variants offers to enhance organizational alignment through the deployment of techniques popularized by thinkers such as Covey, Marzano, and Collins. And each of them borrow heavily from the governance and governance vs management ideas offered by Alsbury, Carver, and Drucker.

But while they all share common roots, they have each grown in unique directions. Here’s an attempt at summarizing some of the key variations.

Effective School Boards, EffectiveSchoolBoards.com
  • Origin: Created by school board coaches in 2021, this framework was popularized by the book, Great On Their Behalf and has been utilized by school boards is several countries and in states all across the US.
  • Page-by-Page Structure: This framework is based on the five-step continuous improvement cycle described in Great On Their Behalf.
  • Left-to-Right Structure: ESB is organized by implementation timeline -- early implementation items are on the left while later implementation items are on the right
  • Coach Certification: Currently, ESB and SOFG coach certification are 100% aligned so SOFG Coaches are granted ESB certification as well. Coaches with LSG certification are about 70% of the way to ESB certification; ESB coaches only have to pass a Texas-specific quiz and are then also LSG certified. Be Legendary and SSG coach certifications are still under development. ESB Coach certification is open to anyone who meets the certification requirements. ESB certification is always intended to be the open, national standard for school board coach certification. As such, it is the most rigorous process for achieving certification out of all of the following frameworks.
  • Website: http://www.EffectiveSchoolBoards.com
  • List of Coaches: ESB Coaches


Student Outcomes Focused Governance, Council of the Great City Schools
  • Origin: A group of school board members and superintendents with the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) began development of the Student Outcomes Focused Governance (SOFG) framework in 2014. It has since been adopted by dozens of the nation's largest urban-serving school systems.
  • Page-by-Page Structure: This framework is based on the National School Board Associations, "Key Work of School Boards".
  • Left-to-Right Structure: The SOFG framework is organized by evidence of impact on improving student outcomes -- items with less research-based evidence are on the left while items with a stronger evidence base are on the right.
  • Coach Certification: Currently, SOFG and ESB coach certification are 100% aligned so all SOFG Coaches are immediately recognized as having earned ESB ceritifcation as well. SOFG certification generally requires participation in the SOFG coach pipeline or some other CGCS affiliation.
  • Website: http://www.StudentOutcomesFocused.org
  • List of Coaches: SOFG Coaches


Lone Star Governance, State of Texas
  • Origin: A group of school board members and school board trainers, convened by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), began development of the Lone Star Governance (LSG) framework in 2016. Each year, school boards all across the state compete to gain access to grants that support LSG implementation.
  • Page-by-Page Structure: LSG is designed around the Texas Framework for School Board Development adopted by the Texas State Board of Education.
  • Left-to-Right Structure: The LSG framework is organized by evidence of impact on improving student outcomes -- items with less research-based evidence are on the left while items with a stronger evidence base are on the right.
  • Coach Certification: Of the three states with effective school board governance frameworks, only Texas has a robust coach certification process. Coaches with LSG certification are roughly 70% of the way toward earning their national school board coach certification. Discussions are underway to further close that gap.
  • Website: http://tea.texas.gov/LSG/
  • List of Coaches: LSG Coaches


Be Legendary Governance, State of North Dakota
  • Origin: Developed in 2020 through a partnership between the North Dakota School Board Association and the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, the Be Legendary School Board Leadership Institute has rapidly been embraced by the state's highest performance school boards. Be Legendary is explicitly customized to the unique needs and context of school boards in North Dakota.
  • Page-by-Page Structure: Be Legendary is based on North Dakota's six critical pillars to transform school board performance.
  • Left-to-Right Structure: This framework is organized by evidence of impact on improving student outcomes -- items with less research-based evidence are on the left while items with a stronger evidence base are on the right.
  • Coach Certification: The Be Legendary team is still completing development of its coach certification framework.
  • Website: http://www.nd.gov/dpi/SchoolBoardLeadership
  • List of Coaches: Coming soon


Silver State Governance, Nevada Association of School Boards
  • Origin: Created by the Nevada Association of School Boards in 2020 in partnership with the Nevada State Board of Education and the Nevada Department of Education. SSG was written to address the needs and legal realities of Nevada school boards.
  • Page-by-Page Structure: This framework is based on the Eight Characteristics of Effective School Boards.
  • Left-to-Right Structure: The SSG framework is organized by evidence of impact on improving student outcomes -- items with less research-based evidence are on the left while items with a stronger evidence base are on the right.
  • Coach Certification: SSG does not yet have a unique coach certification pathway.
  • Website: http://www.nvasb.org/page/silver-state-governance
  • List of Coaches: NA


Policy Governance Principle Consistency Framework, Govern for Impact
  • Origin: Govern for Impact, formerly the International Policy Governance Association, is a global standard bearer for the style of governance popularized by John & Mariam Carver. The framework was originally developed by Govern's Principle Consistency Committee in 2012. While this framework shares many governance theory similarities with the ones above, it was created for general governance applications, not specifically for public school board governance like the ones above were.
  • Page-by-Page Structure: This framework is based on the ten principles of policy governance consistency.
  • Left-to-Right Structure: NA
  • Coach Certification: Govern provides certification through its Policy Governance Proficiency program.
  • Website: Principle Consistency Framework
  • List of Coaches: Consultant Registry