Administrative Policy: Policy and procedures set by the superintendent for the purpose of clarifying the day to day standard operations. [ see Governance Policy definition ]
Adult Outcomes: A measure of school system results that are not student results; outcomes that are not student outcomes. [ see Outcomes, Student Outcomes definitions ]
Adult Outputs: The adult experiences resulting from a particular set of inputs that are usually knowable in the midst of a cycle and that are a measure of the adults’ role in the implementation of the program or strategy. Outputs that are not student outputs. [ see Outputs, Student Outputs definitions ]
Agenda Diet: The process of reviewing and modifying the school board’s agenda and monthly calendar so that the information covered in school board meetings is transparently available, and so that the length and frequency of school board meetings don’t make it impossible for community members to observe the school system’s operations. [ see Policy Diet definition ]
Annual Targets: Goal/interim goal ending points for each year leading up to the ending dates.
Board-Authorized Public Meeting: Any non-privileged meeting authorized by the Board or Board Chair including, but not limited to, Board workshops, Board hearings, and Board committees. Legally mandated hearings are exempted from this definition. Trainings led by a Coach certified in the effective school boards framework may be exempted from this definition. [ see Board Work definition ]
Board Self Evaluation: The process that the board undertakes to track its progress toward becoming more focused on its goals for student outcomes using the ESBF instrument or a similar research-informed instrument. Boards that have currently scored lower than 80 on this instrument should self-evaluate quarterly; otherwise they should evaluate annually.
Board Work: Items that are discussed and/or acted on during Board-authorized public meetings because either state or federal law/rule requires the Board to do so or because the items directly pertain to the Board’s adopted goals or guardrails. Items that are not legally required and that the Board has not designated as Board work through the Board’s goals or guardrails are, by default, Superintendent work. [ see Board-authorized Public Meeting, Superintendent Work definitions ]
Community Engagement: Time invested by the Board in hosting two-way conversations between the Board and community members about the community’s vision and values. [ see Community Outreach definition ]
Community Outreach: Time invested by the Board in participating in two-way conversation opportunities between the Board and community members about the community’s vision and values. [ see Community Engagement definition ]
Consent Agenda: Sometimes referred to as a Consent Calendar, this section of a school board’s meeting agenda allows the school board to vote on multiple items at once with the understanding that all board members are already in consensus regarding the listed items. The intention of using a consent agenda is to be able to better align the school board’s use of time with its goals and guardrails by minimizing time spent on routine items for which there is already a consensus to approve them. [ see Consent-Eligible Items definition ]
Consent-Eligible Items: Matters on the Board agenda that include, but that are not limited to, personnel actions, contract renewals, previous meeting minutes, policy updates, construction amendments, non-monitoring administrative reports, committee reports, enrollment updates, and regular financial reports where financial activities remained within budgetary parameters. [ see Board-authorized Public Meeting, Board Work, Consent Agenda definitions ]
Customers: The organization’s recipients of services and/or transactional beneficiaries – such as students, parents, and staff – for whom the staff is better positioned to address and/or resolve issues in a timely and effective manner. In a school system, customers and owners can be the same people, and therefore care must be taken to distinguish customer issues from owner issues. [ see Owner definition ]
Ending Date: The month/year by when the goal will reach the ending point. In goal setting, the ending date can be no less than one and no more than five years away. The ending date is often represented by the ‘Z’ in sample goals</strong>: “the measure will move from W% on X to Y% by Z.” [ see Ending Point, Goal Setting, SMART definitions ]
Ending Point: The goal’s desired number/percentage at the time of the ending date. The ending point is often represented by the ‘Y’ in sample goals: “the measure will move from W% on X to Y% by Z.” [ see Ending Date, Goal Setting, SMART definitions ]
Goals: Policy statements that are SMART, that are student outcomes focused, and that describe the Board’s top priorities during the timeline for which they are adopted. The first priority for resource allocation in the school system should be toward achieving the Board’s goals. Once those allocations are complete, remaining resources may be allocated in a manner that addresses the additional needs and obligations of the school system. Goals generally are set for a three to five year period.Goals generally take the form of “student outcome will increase from X to Y by Z.” [ see Goal Examples section; see SMART, Student Outcome definitions ]
Goal Monitoring: Time invested by the Board in reviewing, discussing and/or accepting/not accepting goal monitoring reports. No fewer than 50% of the minutes spent in Board-authorized public meetings should be invested in goal monitoring or goal setting. Debating and voting on Board items is never a form of goal monitoring. [see Board-authorized Public Meeting, Goal, Goal Setting, Interim Goal, Monitoring definitions ]
Goal Setting: Time invested by the Board in reviewing, discussing, and/or selecting goals. No fewer than 50% of the minutes spent in Board-authorized public meetings should be invested in goal monitoring or goal setting. [ see Board-authorized Public Meeting, Goal, Goal Monitoring, Interim Goal, Monitoring definitions ]
Governance Team: All Board Members and the Superintendent. The Superintendent is not a member of the Board, but is a member of the governing team. The governance team will also include other direct reports of the school board if those individuals serve in an executive-level role administering the school system (e.g. in some states, the chief business officer or chief financial officer are require to report to the school board by law).
Governance Policy: Policy and procedures set by the school board for the purpose of clarifying the community’s vision (goals), clarifying the community’s values (guardrails), clarifying the school board’s relationship to its direct reports (delegation), and clarifying the school board’s ways of operating internally (governing). [ see Administrative Policy, Policies About Delegation, Policies About Goals, Policies About Governing, Policies About Guardrails definitions ]
Guardrail: An operational action or class of actions, usually strategic not tactical, the Superintendent may not use or allow in pursuit of the school system’s student outcome goals. Guardrails are based on the community’s values and should not undermine the school system’s ability to meet the goals — though guardrails will often require the Superintendent to accomplish the goals in a different way. [ see Examples section; see Guardrail Monitoring, Guardrail Setting, Interim Guardrail, Theory of Action definitions ]
Guardrail Monitoring: Time invested by the Board in reviewing, discussing and/or accepting/not accepting guardrail monitoring reports. [ see Guardrail, Interim Guardrail, Monitoring definitions ]
Guardrail Setting: Time invested by the Board in reviewing, discussing, and/or selecting guardrails. [ see Guardrail, Interim Guardrail, Theory of Action definitions ]
Implementation Instruments: Measures that describe the quality of effort that goes into execution of inputs or outputs. This document is an example of an implementation instrument for the governing team’s outputs.
Inputs: Resources and activities invested in a particular program or strategy that are usually knowable at the beginning of a cycle and that are a measure of effort applied. [ see Outcomes, Outputs definitions ]
Interim Goals: A leading measure of progress that can be expressed as a number or a percentage and that, when improving, increases the likelihood that the goal will be achieved. While goals are outcomes, interim goals are generally outputs. Each goal will have between one and three interim goals. Interim goals are SMART. [ see Goal Examples section ]
Interim Guardrail: A measure of progress toward a defined guardrail that can be expressed as a number or percentage. [ see Guardrail Examples section ]
Knowledge: The interwoven network of all information a person has absorbed; all of the things about which someone has gained understanding. The framework identifies knowledge as the least influential lever for inspiring adult behavior change. [ see Mindset, Skill definitions ]
Leadership Evaluation: The Board conducting routine self-evaluations and Superintendent evaluations. It is recommended to include months during which leadership evaluation will take place on the monitoring calendar.
Measure: The instrument, assessment, or other means used to quantify something. In the context of goals, this is often an evaluation of student performance such a school system or state exam. [ see Goal Setting, SMART definition ]
Mindset: One’s view of the world; their way of making meaning of the circumstances occurring around them. The framework identifies mindset as the most influential lever for inspiring adult behavior change. [ see Knowledge, Skill definitions ]
Monitoring: A Board process that includes the Board receiving monitoring reports on the timeline indicated by the monitoring calendar, discussing them, and choosing to accept or not accept them. The intention of monitoring is to determine whether reality matches the Board’s goals / guardrails.
Monitoring Calendar: A Board-adopted multi-year schedule that describes months during which goals, interim goals, guardrails, and interim guardrails are reported to the Board.
Monitoring Report: A report that provides evidence of progress to the Board regarding their adopted goals and guardrails. Each monitoring report must contain 1) the goal/guardrail being monitored, 2) the interim goals/guardrails showing the previous three reporting periods, the current reporting period, and the annual and ending point numbers/percentages, 3) the Superintendent’s evaluation of performance (“red/yellow/green” or “on track/partially off/off track” or “compliant/partially compliant/non-compliant” or whatever other status labels the school system uses for progress monitoring), and 4) supporting documentation that shows the evidence and describes any needed next steps.
Outcomes: The impact of the program or strategy that is usually knowable at the end of a cycle and that is a measure of the effect on the intended beneficiary. [ see Adult Outcomes, Inputs, Outputs, Student Outcomes definitions ]
Outputs: The result of a particular set of inputs that is usually knowable in the midst of a cycle and that is a measure of the implementation of the program or strategy. [ see Inputs, Outcomes definitions ]
Owners: The organization’s moral and legal authority – such as residents and taxpayers – for whom the board is better positioned to address and/or resolve issues in a timely and effective manner. In a school system, owners and customers can be the same people, and therefore care must be taken to distinguish customer issues from owner issues. [ see Customers definition ]
Policies About Delegation: Effective Board policies answer one of four questions: what’s the community’s vision, what are the community’s values, what’s the Board’s relationship with itself / members / owners, and what’s the Board’s relationship with employees who report directly to the Board. Policies about delegation are about the Board’s relationship with its direct reports and the nature of the authority handed to the employee(s) by the Board. [ see Governance Policy, Policies About Goals, Policies About Governing, Policies About Guardrails definitions ]
Policies About Goals: Effective Board policies answer one of four questions: what’s the community’s vision, what are the community’s values, what’s the Board’s relationship with itself / members / owners, and what’s the Board’s relationship with employees who report directly to the Board. Policies about goals are about the Board representing the community’s vision for what students should know and be able to do. [ see Governance Policy, Policies About Delegation, Policies About Governing, Policies About Guardrails definitions ]
Policies About Governing: Effective Board policies answer one of four questions: what’s the community’s vision, what are the community’s values, what’s the Board’s relationship with itself / members / owners, and what’s the Board’s relationship with employees who report directly to the Board. Policies about governing are about the Board’s relationship with itself and expected Board practices, with Board Members and expected individual behaviors, and with the legal/moral owners of the school system – the community. [ see Governance Policy, Policies About Delegation, Policies About Goals, Policies About Guardrails definitions ]
Policies About Guardrails: Effective Board policies answer one of four questions: what’s the community’s vision, what are the community’s values, what’s the Board’s relationship with itself / members / owners, and what’s the Board’s relationship with employees who report directly to the Board. Policies about guardrails are about the Board representing the community’s non-negotiable values that must be honored through all of the school system’s actions. [ see Governance Policy, Policies About Delegation, Policies About Goals, Policies About Governing definitions ]
Policy Diet: The process of reviewing and modifying the school board’s policy manual so that the information covered in governance policy is transparently available, so that the length the governance policies don’t make it impossible for community members to observe and understand the school board’s policies (as distinct from the administration’s policies), and so that the school board can actually monitor all of the governance policies at least once during the length of time of board member terms. [ see Agenda Diet, Policies About Delegation, Policies About Goals, Policies About Governing, Policies About Guardrails definitions ]
Population: The group of students who will be impacted and/or who are being measured. [ see Goal Setting, SMART definition ]
Skill: One’s ability to utilize the knowledge that they have gained; the capacity for practical application of what is known. The framework identifies skill as the second most influential lever for inspiring adult behavior change. [ see Mindset, Skill definitions ]
SMART: An acronym for “specific, measurable, attainable, results-focused, time-bound.” Goals and interim goals partially accomplish SMART-ness by having a specific measure, population, starting points, ending points, starting dates, and ending dates. [ see Ending Date, Ending Point, Measure, Population, Starting Date, Starting Point definitions ]
Starting Date: The month/year that the goal is set. The starting date is often represented by the ‘X’ in sample goals: “the measure will move from W% on X to Y% by Z.” [ see Goal Setting, SMART, Starting Point definitions ]
Starting Point: The goal’s current number/percentage at the time of adoption. The starting point is often represented by the ‘W’ in sample goals: “the measure will move from W% on X to Y% by Z.” [ see Goal Setting, SMART, Starting Date definitions ]
Self Evaluation: The process of a person or team examining the extent to which their behaviors have aligned with their intentions. The effective school board framework’s implementation integrity instrument can be used by school boards as a quarterly and/or annual self evaluation tool.
Student Outcomes: A measure of school system results that are student results rather than adult results; outcomes that are a measure of what students know or are able to do. Student outcomes are distinct from adult outcomes. [ see Adult Outcomes, Goals, Outcomes definitions ]
Student Outputs: The student experiences resulting from a particular set of inputs that are usually knowable in the midst of a cycle and that are a measure of the students’ role in implementation of the program or strategy. Student outputs are distinct from adult outputs. [ see Adult Outputs, Outputs definition ]
Superintendent Evaluation: The annual process that the board undertakes to determine whether the superintendent has met the annual targets they have set toward achieving the board’s goals and guardrails. [ see Goals, Guardrails definitions ]
Superintendent Work: Items that are not legally required and that the Board has not designated as Board work through the Board’s goals or guardrails. [ see Board Work definition ]
Theory of Action: A set of high level strategies to which all school system inputs and outputs must be aligned. Unlike other guardrails, theories of action do not have interim guardrails. [ see Examples section; see Guardrail definition ]
Time Focused On Student Outcomes: This indicator includes periods when the Board is either setting goals or monitoring progress toward its goals. This does not include guardrail setting or monitoring, or any adult input-focused activities. [ see Goal Monitoring, Goal Setting, Monitoring definitions ]
Time, Talent, & Treasure: These are the fundamental resources that all school systems have at their disposal. Alignment of these resources with the Board’s goals and guardrails creates a greater likelihood of the accomplishment of the goals and guardrails. Conversely, if the Board is not increasingly focusing its influence over the school system’s time, talent, and treasure on accomplishment of the goals and adherence to the guardrails, it is actively disincentivizing the school system to generate alignment as well. Typical Board-appropriate training topics for time alignment include time use evaluation, agenda evaluation, committee diet, policy diet; for talent alignment include superintendent evaluation, Board self evaluation, ethics/conflicts of interest; and for treasure alignment include four policy types, budget adoption, board meeting item adoption.
Values: The shared understanding of what the community considers important but that is not the vision. Where the vision describes what the community wants to see happen, values describe what the community does not want to see happen. Values describe protections the community wants to see put into place. It is not appropriate for the Board to allow the community’s values to be violated, even if doing so would support the accomplishment of the vision. The values are most often expressed as a guardrail or a theory of action. Guardrails generally are set for a three to five year period; theories of action generally are set for a five to ten year period.
Vision: The shared understanding of what the community ultimately desires to accomplish for all students. Where values describe what the community does not want to see, vision describes what the community does want to see happen. Vision describes the direction the community wants to see the school system go. A vision is most often expressed as an aspirational policy statement that describes what the Board understands the community’s desire for the future to be. Vision statements generally are set for a five to ten year period.
Voting: Time invested by the Board in debating and voting on any item. Unless indicated elsewhere in this document, these activities are never a form of goal monitoring or guardrail monitoring.