Meet the team shaping student-outcomes-focused governance

We are a practitioner and researcher community helping school boards change adult behaviors to improve student outcomes. Our senior coaching bench and Initiative collaborators have supported boards and districts nationwide, and we work shoulder to shoulder with state associations and urban systems. (effectiveschoolboards.com)

Leadership - AJ Crabill, Senior Coach - Bio: AJ is the author of Great On Their Behalf and serves as Director of Governance at the Council of the Great City Schools. He received the ECS James Bryant Conant Award for contributions to K-12 education and has led student-outcomes-focused governance work with boards across the country. Prior roles include Deputy Commissioner for Governance at the Texas Education Agency and board chair for Kansas City Public Schools. (effectiveschoolboards.com) - How AJ helps: coaches boards to adopt goals and guardrails, build monitoring calendars, and redesign meetings to invest time where it most benefits students. (effectiveschoolboards.com) - Profiles: CGCS staff bio, Author page, Personal site (cgcs.org)

Research collaborators and advisors via the Effective School Boards Initiative - Dr. Richard Blissett, University of Georgia - Studies democratic structures in education governance and education policymaking. Former section chair in AERA Policy and Politics. (explore.coe.uga.edu) - Profile: UGA College of Education feature. (explore.coe.uga.edu) - Dr. Leslie Finger, University of North Texas - Focus on state and local politics, education policy, and interest groups. (class.unt.edu) - Profile: UNT faculty. (class.unt.edu) - Dr. Vladimir Kogan, The Ohio State University - Research on state and local government, education and social policy; faculty leader and widely published scholar. (polisci.osu.edu) - Profile: OSU Political Science. (polisci.osu.edu) - Dr. Bradley D. Marianno, University of Nevada, Las Vegas - Associate professor directing the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment; research on education governance and teacher labor policy. (unlv.edu) - Profile: UNLV directory. (unlv.edu)

Advisors and partners highlighted by the Initiative include Thomas Alsbury (Northwest University), Jason Grissom (formerly Vanderbilt, now Stanford), and Michael Casserly (Council of the Great City Schools), alongside state association partners in Florida, Nevada, and North Dakota. (effectiveschoolboards.org)

How we work with you - We pair a certified ESB Coach with your governance team and build capacity through workshops, public meeting practice, and quarterly self-evaluations. (effectiveschoolboards.com) - For statewide partners, we customize an adoption path using the State ESB Toolkit and help train a bench of local coaches. (effectiveschoolboards.com)

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