"If you truly want to move your schools forward transformatively, my strongest recommendation is to set up a workshop with AJ Crabill for your leadership team. Two days of working with AJ on mindset and the framework provided more forward movement for our district than our previous six months of work."
—Jay Mann, Superintendent, Creighton Elementary School District, Phoenix, AZ
"Anyone with a real heart to serve students well on a local school board will find this book compelling and propelling. It makes crystal clear why we have been blind to the need and asleep at the wheel in school district after school district across the country."
—Donna Bahorich, former Board Chair of the Texas State Board of Education
"AJ's commitment to working with school boards to embrace a student-outcome-focused governance framework is visionary, unwavering, and contagious! Without a doubt, 'Student outcomes don't change until adult behaviors change.'"
—Margo Bellamy, Board President of the Anchorage School District
"Good things happen by design, not by accident. The principles and concepts espoused by AJ create systems that greatly increase positive student achievement outcomes."
—Michael Hinojosa, former Superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District
"In Great on Their Behalf, AJ provides wise advice on improving school governance and does it clearly, directly, and profoundly. School governance leaders across our country should read it carefully and take it to heart."
—Kirsten Baesler, State Superintendent of the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction
AJ brings a level of clarity and intentionality that challenges leaders to focus relentlessly on what matters most—student outcomes. His coaching has helped me navigate the unique dynamics of governance, refine systems of accountability, and strengthen my partnership with the Board of Trustees.
-- Usamah Rodgers, DeSoto ISD (TX), Superintendent
Spending 50% of Board Meeting time talking about student outcomes was a new reality for me. To mandate that principals be in classrooms 60% of the day was a solid mindset shift. BUT, if you really want to improve a district it WILL start with the Board of Education and it will start with effective coaching of the board to EXPECT and be part of the transformation.
-- Tom Burris, Montezuma-Cortez (CO), Superintendent
Effective School Boards provides superintendents and their boards a practical approach to keeping students and student outcomes at the center of their work.
-- Heather Contreras, Pajaro Valley USD (CA), Superintendent
AJ has been instrumental in helping me stay relentlessly focused on student outcomes and block out distractions that might take away from that focus.
-- Jymil Thompson, Dorchester County Public Schools (MD), Superintendent
"AJ Crabill is the authority on building effective school boards. I met Mr. Crabill when I was an elected school board member, and he revolutionized my thinking on both my role as an individual school board member and how to work as a collective board toward improving student outcomes. This book is the guide I wish I had when I was a school board member, and it should be required reading for each of the more than 90,000 school board members serving students throughout our country."
—Elisa Hoffman, Founder and Executive Director of School Board School and former board member of the Cincinnati (Ohio) Public Schools
"If all school board members could have AJ on their shoulders coaching them regularly, we would see marked improvement in student achievement across the nation. His guidance is practical, achievable, and will result in immediate results, if followed."
—Andrea Messina, Chief Executive Officer of the Florida School Boards Association
"Crabill's book provides School Board members a roadmap to impact change in school systems across America on behalf of students. The book is a must for all school board members—recently elected and veterans. America's children are counting on us!"
—Jesus F. Jara, Superintendent of the Clark County (Nevada) School District
"AJ Crabill is already recognized as one of our country's greatest advocates, public speakers, and experts on public school governance. Now he has a masterpiece: Great on Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, How Yours Can Become Effective—a no-nonsense guide to characteristics of successful school boards along with the ups and downs of school board service in these challenging times. You can trust AJ's advice and counsel in person, and you can surely trust his recommendations in this book!"
—Joe Guillen, Executive Director of the New Mexico School Boards Association
"Great on Their Behalf is a valuable resource for school boards who are serious about changing outcomes for kids. AJ Crabill has put forward an easy-to-read-and-follow process which explains the why and the how of improving school board governance. By using this resource, school boards can understand and unlock their power and potential to create positive impact for students."
—Rico Munn, Superintendent of the Aurora (Colorado) Public Schools
"At this point in time, when school board governance is under the spotlight and has become dominant in public opinion, AJ Crabill delivers this powerhouse. He expertly synthesizes current research and offers specific strategies and resources to ultimately benefit the students in our schools."
—Debb Oliver, former Executive Director of the Nevada School Boards Association
"Serving on a school board is the toughest, most important, and most thankless act of public service. AJ Crabill speaks from his own valuable experience as a school board member and provides caring and courageous board members across the country who choose to serve with a practical guidebook on how to keep student outcomes as their North Star. In doing so, Crabill increases the likelihood that board members across the country deliver on their promises to provide the students in their care with the quality education they deserve."
—Chris Barbic, Partner at City Fund
"When it comes to educational leadership and school board governance, AJ Crabill is a force of nature. He couples an unrelenting insistence that leaders focus on what matters for kids with painstaking attention to the actions and data that matter. His vision is one that every school board member should study."
—Frederick Hess, Director of Education at American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
"Airick Journey Crabill is spot on when he says, 'student outcomes don't change until adult behaviors change.' Fortunately, for adults genuinely determined to improve outcomes for students, this book is right on time! In America, our over 15,000 local school boards are ground zero for our collective failure as a country to serve our most vulnerable. Fortunately, they are also ground zero for change! Great on Their Behalf is a must-read for adults dedicated to revolutionary change for all of America's schools!"
—Curtis Valentine, member of the Prince George's County (Maryland) School Board and the Council on Urban Boards of Education Steering Committee
"When I read the phrase, 'why school boards fail,' it triggered my self-deception, so I first rejected the idea before honestly considering whether or not I was part of failing children. In classic AJ fashion, this book provides a pathway for my own transformation so that my school board can be effective and, through us, our students can be successful. This book can both awaken us from our collective self-deception about school boards and provide us a path to improving student outcomes." #OurChildrenMatter
—Rodney Jordan, board member of the Norfolk (Virginia) Public Schools
"AJ is an amazing advocate of making school board governance effective and focusing on student outcomes. Working with AJ has allowed my mindset to shift. I know my behavior can have a negative or positive impact on our students. When adult behaviors change, so do our students."
—Dwana Bradley, Chair of the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools Board
"There were several 'aha' moments during our retreat with AJ and Mike Casserly. The most startling was that Philadelphia's student achievement for students in both traditional and charter schools is among the lowest in the nation. We learned that historically, the District's governing body spent less than 10 percent of its time talking about student achievement. We also discovered that when we returned from state to local control as a new board of education, we struggled to even agree upon and articulate our mission: educating children.
"Since that retreat, our pivot to student-outcomes-focused governance and our laser focus on student achievement have been transformative. It is clear, if we don't change, nothing will change for our children."
—Joyce Wilkerson, Chair of the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) School District Board
"AJ captures the practical and challenging conversations that must be had and actions that must be taken to hold any educational system accountable for improving student outcomes."
—Dr. Jeannie Meza-Chavez, Superintendent of the San Elizario (Texas) ISD
"In an absolutely compelling call to action, AJC offers school boards the script for effective governance: own a laser-like focus on that which should always matter the most and the sole reason why school systems exist: the improvement of student outcomes. AJC lays out the reality that the future of students relies upon effective school governance."
—Jeff Cottrill, Superintendent of the IDEA Public Schools
"The most powerful and essential job for a school board is to provide a school district with clear direction towards expected student outcomes, regularly monitor progress towards goals, model a culture of accountability, support, and continuous improvement, and then let the professionals do the work they've been hired to do. Some school board members recognize this and some do not; very few know how. The student-outcomes-focused governance framework shows how. With AJ Crabill's guidance, our board has fully embraced the work of getting better at governance. Our students need us to be the best we can be. The stakes are incredibly high. The work is hard, but our board's sharpened focus and strengthened governance ability are leading to better results in the classroom. AJ's training has been a godsend."
—Elyse Dashew, Chair of the Charlotte Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Schools Board
"When I was elected to my local school board, I was shocked at how little time the school board spent helping students know more. I had been an educator and was elected to try to help the students in my district get a better education. Instead, my board spent most of our time arguing over vendors or other adult issues. That changed when my school board decided to concentrate on student-outcomes governance and work with AJ Crabill. AJ has been instrumental in helping my school board change our meetings from spending the majority of our time arguing over vendors and adult issues, to spending half of our time focused on student outcomes. His book Great on Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, How Yours Can Become Effective will help you understand how your school board may not be as effective as it should be and give you the foundation to become a student-outcomes-focused school board. By using the detailed methods that AJ has spent years perfecting, your board can spend most of its time on the most important job of a school, which is educating students."
—John Croisant, Vice-President of the Tulsa (Oklahoma) Public Schools Board
"AJ Crabill is like a marriage counselor for local school governance—the person struggling or dysfunctional school boards call in to help them mend their ways. This book examines his approach, and its underlying philosophy: (1) schools exist to educate kids, not serve adult interests or agendas; (2) student outcomes don't change until adult behaviors change; and (3) how school boards spend (and don't spend) their time matters."
—Vladimir Kogan, Associate Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University
"While perhaps it does not sound particularly provocative to say, 'student outcomes don't change until the adult behaviors change,' in reality the statement is profound. School boards across the country are elected or appointed to serve as leaders of complex systems responsible for student outcomes. However, most of the activity in the boardroom does not reflect this responsibility. Agendas do not include substantial discussion about student outcomes, and the adult behavior associated with leading a system on behalf of students is often misaligned with this purpose.
"In his book, Great on Their Behalf, Airick Crabill documents the reasons that adult behaviors must change in order to improve student outcomes and provides the tools to transform the work of governance teams. Airick has worked with school boards and superintendents across the nation in assessing their governance practices, looking in the mirror at their behaviors, and creating a plan to transform their behaviors and agendas to ensure that students succeed. The LBUSD Board of Education and I have greatly benefitted from the tools that you will find in Great on Their Behalf—tools that form a roadmap for a governance team to use in gaining focus, creating goals, and aligning adult behavior to the student outcomes that are desired in the system.
If you believe that your students deserve for you to be great on their behalf, this is a must-read!"
—Dr. Jill A. Baker, Superintendent of the Long Beach (California) Unified School District
"AJ Crabill is an advocate for students. In Great on Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, How Yours Can Become Effective, AJ reminds us that school systems exist to improve student outcomes. Adult behavior reflects whether improving student outcomes is the focus of your learning organization. This is a must-read for school board members, superintendents, and anyone who wants students to succeed."
—Veronica Vijil, Superintendent of the Fabens (Texas) ISD
"AJ has been one of the best resources in my personal 'cabinet' of education advocates. He has helped me to develop as a leader and remain focused on my why—our students! His passion for helping to shift the mindset in the education space to one of true accountability for student outcomes is inspiring. I look forward to working with him and continuing to learn from him for years to come!"
—Felicia Ortiz, President of the Nevada State Board of Education
"AJ gives it to you straight, no chaser. Student outcomes won't change until there is a change in adult behavior. Adult behavior won't change until YOU become the genesis for that change. Great on Their Behalf gives you the background, framework, and mindset necessary to lead this shift in your governance structure with confidence. It challenges you and the stories you've been telling yourself; it shifts you from a place of worry and despair to a place of hope, empowerment, and action. The work isn't easy, but it's worth it."
—Aretta L. Baldon, Vice Chair of the Atlanta (Georgia) Public Schools Board
"Great on Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, How Yours Can Become Effective is a must-read for school board members far and wide. Serving on school boards is a thankless job that often leads to very little knowledge or training on how to effectively govern with a focus on student outcomes. This book is a stepping stone for board members to lead in a way that puts student success before the needs and desires of adults."
—Devon L. Taliaferro, Vice-President of the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Public Schools Board
"If you really are concerned about your school district's student outcomes, have your school board read this book! Both sobering and enlightening, it offers practical exercises to structure your board's actions and meetings to better focus on improving student outcomes. Written by Council of Great Cities Board coach, AJ Crabill, this book will help even the most dysfunctional board to embrace the idea that student outcomes won't change until behaviors do!"
—Jeri Robinson, School Committee Chair of the Boston (Massachusetts) Public Schools
"AJ provided the San Francisco School Board with invaluable insights and perspectives that enabled us to refocus on our commitment for improving student outcomes. AJ's coaching provides groups with the guidance they need to move past obstacles for more effective results."
—Jenny Lam, San Francisco Unified School District, Board President
"Public education has the potential to be a massive lever for equity in our society. Unfortunately, too often, that potential is not realized, and our students are the ones who suffer for it. Crabill's clear thinking—realized here as clear writing—cuts to the core of the issue and provides a focused, practical plan for school boards to focus their mindsets and align their actions around student outcomes so all our students have the best chance to succeed in our schools and in their lives."
—Sendhil Revuluri, Vice President of the Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools Board of Education
"AJ is an expert leader in training school board members on how to be effective. This is a must-read for any school board member or those supporting school board members. Whether a novice or a veteran, governance focused on the outcomes of students will be a game-changer for your students."
—Judith Cruz, Chair of the Houston (Texas) Independent School District Board of Trustees
