ESB Writing Style Guide (AJ Crabill’s Voice) – The Complete Screen

The one document every piece of ESB content passes through before it ships. It covers everything: the conviction we write from, the registers, the opener, reading level, the distinctions, the structural moves, the signature phrases, the toolkit, the mechanical fingerprints, the full NEVER rules, the complete avoided-language standard, the ESB-vs-Policy-Governance vocabulary, and the specific ESB terms to get right. Built from Great On Their Behalf (3rd edition), the newsletter Q&As, AJ’s voice profiles (ajc-long, ajc-short, aj-esb-context, openings, voice-authoring), and the mechanical anti-slop scanner. Self-contained: esb_language_guide.md holds the deeper rationale for avoided terms, but everything actionable is reproduced here so a single pass catches it all.

1. The one conviction

We write from one place: student outcomes don’t change until adult behaviors change. Not test scores. Not graduation rates. Student outcomes – what students actually know and are able to do. That is the point, and adult behavior change is the only lever that moves it. Every document reflects this, opens near it, and ends by bringing it home to students.

1. The registers

Know which one you are in before you start.

Guidance / webinar register (most “Effective " docs). Instructional and definitional. ~14-16 words/sentence. Opens with the framework, not a story or a contradiction. This is the default for ESB guidance documents.

Newsletter register (Q&A and short articles). ~14 words/sentence. Second person, direct, 2-4 sentence paragraphs. A Q&A leads with a reframe; a standalone article leads with a contradiction.

Book register (GOTB-style long form). ~23 words/sentence. Story-led for persuasive chapters, direct for definitional ones. Rarely the register for a guidance doc, but the distinctions and NEVER rules still apply.

1. The grounding opener (required for guidance docs)

Open by stating why school systems and school boards exist, then connect that to the topic. The frame is the hook.

School systems exist to improve student outcomes. This is the only reason school systems exist. School boards, in pursuit of this singular purpose, exist to represent the vision and values of their community. This is the only reason school boards exist. To [do the topic of this document], boards must…

Vary the wording, keep the move: purpose of the system, then purpose of the board, then the topic. (For a newsletter Q&A the opener is a reframe of the question; for a standalone newsletter article it is an unexpected contradiction. Match the opener to the register.)

The opening paragraphs ARE the “Why” section, and they carry no header of their own. Do not put a “Why this document exists” or “Introduction” header above the opener. It sits right under the title as plain prose. Because the opener is unheadered, the section headers that follow carry more load – make each one count. Do not add a subtitle under the title, and never add source-attribution or “this document is grounded in…” explanation text anywhere (the reader does not have “the attached dataset” or “the affidavit”; state the substance, not the sourcing).

Openers by format (match the opener to the medium). The grounding “Why” above is the guidance-doc opener. The other formats each have their own required opening move:

Guidance / webinar doc: lead with the framework (the “Why”). Alternative for a problem-first topic: open with “the most common mistakes,” list three, then pivot to the framework as the fix.

Newsletter Q&A: the reframe IS the opener. Name the assumption hidden in the question and reframe it before you answer (“It depends on what you mean by…”, “Your framing is well intended but can have unintended consequences”). Do not answer first and add the reframe after.

Newsletter standalone article: open with an unexpected contradiction (“Weak boards attract weak staff”). Test: does it make a board member think “wait, really?” then “oh, of course”? If it just summarizes the topic, it is not ready.

Book, persuasive/reframing chapter: lead with a true story (personal, coaching, or a historical parallel), then bridge with “I share this story because it illustrates…” Never a fictional composite.

Book, definitional/instructional chapter: lead direct. The precision is the hook. State a tension inside the framework, not a story.

Book, taxonomy/archetype chapter: lead with a short pattern-recognition hook that establishes credibility (“I learned to spot the pattern”), then work each type as identify, strategy, trap.

1. Reading level

Target 8th grade or below. Never above 10th. Board members are overwhelmed volunteers, not governance scholars. The vocabulary is not the place to show off; governance is already complicated enough. Short words, short sentences, short paragraphs. When you can say it in 6 words instead of 12, do that. Simple is hard-won clarity, not talking down.

1. Voice and audience

“We recommend,” not “I recommend” or “you must.” We work with hundreds of boards; we share what we see, not what we theorize. The reader is a volunteer who chose to serve.

Direct. Tell them what works and what does not. Do not hedge, do not soften, do not sell. The framework sells itself.

Diagnose, then prescribe: “Here’s what often happens… The result is… Instead…”

Warm and plain. Second person (“your board,” “you”). “y’all” is welcome where it fits – direct and inclusive.

Don’t condescend, don’t pitch. Say “here’s what effective boards do,” not “this framework will transform your board.”

Attribute the work to ESB, not to AJ. Write “One of ESB’s primary teaching methods,” not “AJ’s.” We write in the collective “we recommend” voice, so the framework and its methods belong to ESB.

Don’t assert beyond the source. If a source happens to mention a few items, do not present them as “the” canonical or complete set. Say only what the source supports.

1. The distinctions that matter

Draw these lines cleanly. Missing them means it does not sound like AJ.

Adult inputs vs. student outcomes. Inputs are what adults invest; outcomes are what students know and can do. Always ask, “So what did students get out of it?”

Board work vs. superintendent work. The board governs (sets Goals and Guardrails, monitors). The superintendent manages the how.

Monitoring vs. managing. The board monitors results against Goals and Guardrails after the fact. The superintendent manages the process.

Clarifying priorities vs. monitoring progress. First clarify (Goals and Guardrails), then monitor against them.

Project management vs. progress monitoring. Project management tracks the steps of an initiative. Progress monitoring is the board checking results against its Goals and Guardrails. Use these two terms consistently, and normalize board-side “performance management” or “performance check-in” to “progress monitoring.”

Listening vs. deciding. The community gives you their voice; you give them your judgment.

Issues vs. values. An issue is specific (a bus route, a boundary line, a curriculum complaint). A value is a durable commitment (student safety, academic rigor). The board’s job is not to solve every issue that walks in the door. It is to filter issues through values and decide from there.

Pretraining vs. retraining. Pretraining sets someone up before they start a role (orientation, onboarding). Retraining is what you do after they have already drifted or failed. Pretraining is cheaper, faster, and more effective. We recommend investing there first.

Owners vs. customers (the hats model). The same people can be both, and families and students are owners too, not just customers. The role switches by how they show up: “How are they showing up at that moment?” Do not present owners and customers as two separate groups of people. Telling an owner issue from a customer issue is the Practitioner’s or the board’s job, not the community’s. The owner community is all community members with an interest in the long-term success of the school system, not just residents and taxpayers.

Goals vs. Guardrails vs. Initiatives. Goals are the student outcomes you’re moving toward. Guardrails are the operational actions the superintendent may not use. Initiatives are the superintendent’s strategies. Goals and Guardrails belong to the board. Initiatives belong to the superintendent.

1. Structural moves

Start with the why. Purpose before method, every time.

Define terms before building on them. If you use “Guardrails” in paragraph three, define it in paragraph one.

Frame problems as patterns, not incidents. One member out of position is a governance problem, not a personnel problem. Systems create patterns; change the system.

Use scannable lists for strategies. Three concrete steps beat a paragraph of explanation.

For an IRR classification-guide entry, use a consistent four-part shape: what the item is, what it is commonly miscoded as, why that is a miscoding, and what it should be coded as.

End by bringing it back to student outcomes. Every piece. The reader should finish thinking “this is about kids.”

1. Signature phrases (use naturally, never forced)

“Student outcomes don’t change until adult behaviors change” – the thesis. Open or close with it. This exact tagline is trademarked to ESB, LLC, so treat it as ESB’s mark, not a phrase to reword.

“We recommend” / “Here are general principles based on what we see most often.”

“It depends on what you mean by…” – the disarming reframe.

“The first step is clarifying…” – most problems are clarity problems.

“Effective school boards [do X]” – declarative, observation-grounded.

“This is a critical distinction” – a signpost that says pay attention.

“Predictable systems create stronger feedback loops than informal conversations” – reach for it when a board asks for more information instead of better structure.

“Here’s what often happens…” – the setup for a pattern, then the alternative.

“The board’s job isn’t to [X] – it’s to [Y]” – the most AJ move. Use sparingly, and only when the contrast is real.

1. The toolkit (optional structural moves)

Reach for one when the writing needs a pivot – a new section, a key point landing, a hard truth. Roughly one per 400+ word section; never forced at intervals.

Hard Truth Preface – signal discomfort (“As tough as this is to swallow…”). Once per piece, for the sharpest claim.

Distinction Move – two things that seem the same are different. The distinction is the teaching.

Spectrum / Scale – put numbers on the abstract (“think of this as a 0 to 5”).

List of Three – three reasons, examples, or steps. Not two, not four.

Specific-to-General Bridge – lead with the concrete case, land on the principle.

Coach-in-the-Room (long form) – first-person narration of a real coaching moment, with dialogue and silence. Only works with a true story.

Repetition for Emphasis (long form) – restate the core phrase in different words.

Warm to Sharp (short form) – validate first, then deliver the hard truth.

1. Mechanical fingerprints

No horizontal rules (—) anywhere. Not under the title, not between sections.

No em dashes. (This supersedes the older voice-profile fingerprint that preferred them.) Where an em dash would go, use –, sparingly. Better, split into two sentences.

No semicolons in body prose. Use a period.

No en dashes; no ellipses; no exclamation marks (at most one per ~4,000 words, and only in a call-to-action or sign-off).

Straight quotes only. Never curly/smart quotes.

Oxford comma, always, in lists of three or more.

Contractions where natural (“it’s,” “doesn’t,” “you’ll”).

Capitalize after a colon when it introduces a complete sentence; lowercase when it introduces a list fragment.

Sentence-initial “But,” “And,” “So” are fine and characteristic. Capitalized.

In the newsletter register, prefer “First… Second…” over “1. … 2. …” and short bolded lead-ins (“Focus:”, “Redirect:”).

Short, standalone section headings (“What Is Goal Monitoring?”, “Why It Matters”).

No italics for emphasis. Carry emphasis with sentence structure and word choice, not italic type. (Italics for a book title or a defined term are fine.)

Paragraph length by register: newsletter 2-4 sentences (never more than 6), book 4-8. Short and scannable.

Generated or normalized prose: keep all names and characters in Latin script (no Cyrillic look-alikes or other homoglyphs), and normalize punctuation the same way we do by hand (em dashes become commas or split sentences, straight quotes, no en dashes or ellipses). Grep new generated content for stray homoglyphs before it ships.

10b. Document format (when exported to doc or PDF)

The ESB formatting standard for a finished “Effective " document:

Margins: 0.5 inch left and right; 0.5 inch top and bottom (0.2 inch top/bottom when a header/footer is used, 0.5 inch when it is not).

Spacing: single-spaced.

Title: 18pt, centered, bold. No subtitle. Nothing above or below it but the body.

Section headers: 14pt, bold, left-aligned.

Body text: 11pt.

No horizontal rules anywhere in the document.

1. NEVER rules

AI-tell words, Tier 1 (kill on sight – rewrite the sentence): delve, utilize, facilitate, elucidate, endeavor, encompass, embark, pivotal, tapestry, realm, landscape (metaphorical), beacon, harness, underscore, bolster, multifaceted, foster, seamless, transformative, revolutionize, testament (as in “a testament to”), paradigm, synergy, synergize, holistic, catalyze, catalyst, juxtapose, myriad, plethora, nuanced (as filler). AI-tell words, Tier 2 (suspicious in clusters – rewrite the paragraph if three or more land in one): comprehensive, cutting-edge, innovative, streamline, empower, enhance, elevate, optimize, scalable, intricate, profound, resonate, cultivate, galvanize, cornerstone, game-changer. Provisional (AJ uses these at low frequency, grounded context only – cut them anywhere else): “leverage” (monitoring, “leveraged into future monitoring”), “robust” (once, “deserves robust exploration”), “illuminate” (“illuminates options”), “navigate” (“navigate conflict”). Sentence-initial transitions (never start a sentence with): Moreover, Furthermore, Additionally, Notably, Consequently, Ultimately, Therefore, Indeed, Thus, Subsequently, Nonetheless, However, Nevertheless, Meanwhile, In conclusion, In summary. AI-hallmark / filler phrases (never): “provides valuable insights,” “plays a crucial role,” “in today’s digital age,” “in the fast-paced world,” “at its core,” “that being said,” “it’s worth noting,” “it’s important to note,” “importantly,” “interestingly,” “a nuanced understanding,” “opens new avenues,” “paves the way,” “stands as a testament,” “a rich tapestry,” “a beacon of,” “dive into,” “let’s dive into,” “let’s explore,” “as we can see,” “as mentioned earlier,” “at the end of the day,” “it goes without saying,” “without further ado,” “when it comes to,” “in the realm of,” “one might argue that.” Voice blocks (never): “I feel / I think / I believe” as hedging (descriptive “boards feel reactive” is fine); unqualified absolutes about board behavior (use “commonly,” “often,” “typically,” “we recommend” – the only absolute we use is about student outcomes); acronyms without spelling out first; opening a Q&A with “Great question!” or booster language; ending an answer with a rhetorical question (“Does that make sense?”). Structure (never): tricolon abstractions (rule-of-three abstract nouns as flourish); soft repetition (restating the same point with minor rewordings); the formula cappers “there’s a difference between X and Y,” “those are different things,” “which means either X or Y,” “not just X, but Y,” and “in a world where…”; building every paragraph around “it’s not X, it’s Y.” Contrastive negation is allowed and characteristic when both sides are specific and grounded – the “not X but Y” move is AJ’s signature, not a slop tell. Fiction tells (“a sense of,” “the weight of,” “a wave of X washed over,” “heart pounded in his chest,” “eyes widened”) are narrative-prose tells. They should not show up in ESB guidance content at all, so they are not the focus here, but the same instinct applies: show the specific thing, do not name a generic feeling. Mechanical backstop: a zero-cost regex anti-slop scan (Tier 1/2/3 words, em-dash density, transition over-openers, average sentence length) runs before human review. It is calibrated to AJ’s voice: the “not X but Y” move is NOT penalized, and leverage/robust/illuminate pass at low frequency. Under 1.5 is clean; over 3.0 triggers a voice re-alignment pass before anything else.

1. Language to avoid (the governance standard)

Never use these in any ESB content, even to label a wrong answer. Describe the specific behavior instead.

“Micromanage / micromanaging” – describe whether the behavior belongs to board work (monitoring results against Goals/Guardrails) or superintendent work (directing implementation).

“Rubberstamp / rubber stamp” – describe whether the board is exercising informed judgment against the adopted Goals and Guardrails.

“Stay in your lane” – reference the board’s governing policies or the board-work vs. superintendent-work distinction.

“Good / bad / right / wrong” as judgment – frame as effective vs. ineffective at creating the conditions for improving student outcomes. (Literal correctness and direct quotes are fine.) Even affirmatives carry this judgment: replace “the right framing” or “the right type of data for the right purpose” with neutral wording that just describes the thing.

Power-over framings – avoid framing the board as a passive recipient (“trust the superintendent’s expertise”), as an obstacle to manage around, or as subordinate to staff expertise; avoid framing disagreement as dysfunction or efficiency as the primary goal.

“District / school district” -> say “school system.” ESB principles apply wherever a board governs public school children, including charters. One carve-out for Q&A: the questioner’s question can keep “district” (the questioner can use any words), and direct quotes stay exactly as quoted (an advance-praise doc that is nothing but quotes stays untouched). In our own authored text, responses, and titles, always use “school system.”

“Equity” – describe the specific thing (unequal access, resource gaps, “reading rates vary by 30 points across schools”). Reserve only where a quoted statute requires it.

“Achievement gap” – describe the gap with data, or name the system failure directly.

Politically-coded terms (“DEI,” “anti-racist,” “woke,” “parents’ rights” as a contested framing, “social-emotional learning” as a wedge) – ESB is intentionally non-partisan. Name the concrete concept instead.

“Non-essential activities” for the other things a board could spend time on – that is a judgment call only the board can make. Say instead that a focus “frees time for strategic conversations about improving student outcomes such as goal monitoring.”

12b. ESB vocabulary, not Policy Governance

We write in ESB language everywhere. We do not use Policy Governance (PG) terms in our own content. Use the ESB word, not the PG word:

Goals, not Ends.

Guardrails, not Executive Limitations.

Governing, not Governance Process.

Delegation, not Board-Management Delegation.

Sometimes a PG term has to appear, like a glossary entry people look up. Keep the headword (“Ends,” “Executive Limitations”) but write the definition the ESB way.

Do not describe ESB as built on, adopted from, or an extension of Policy Governance. ESB was independently developed. It is grounded in widely-recognized principles of a policy-based approach to governance, adapted for school systems. Use that phrase, “principles of a policy-based approach to governance,” not PG-branded phrasing. Do not name “Policy Governance” or “PG” in our content, except in a glossary that intentionally cross-references it.

The four policy types. The board adopts four kinds of policy on its own: Goals, Guardrails, Delegation, and Governing. There is no category called “Policies About Goals” or “Policies About Governing.” You can write “policies about Goals” or “policies about Delegation” as a plain lowercase description, but the policy-type name is the single word. Do not treat “policies about” as part of the name.

Prioritized, not exhaustive. ESB does not try to cover everything in policy. In Goals and Guardrails, ESB is prioritized: a board adopts just 1 to 3 of each. In Delegation and Governing, ESB is exhaustive. Do not say ESB policies are “exhaustive in each category.” That is the PG framing, not ours.

A Goal is always a student outcome. Never call an adult or operational metric a Goal, even in SMART format. Teacher retention, vacancy or fill rates, work-order closure, and on-time reporting are not Goals. Build a Goal as a SMART target through Proficiency, Growth, or Comparison. Do not build a Goal with the effect/recipient/worth structure, which is Carver’s PG Ends structure, not ours. When you describe Comparison, say “another group,” not “control group.”

Guardrails vs. the Code of Conduct. Guardrails set what is out of bounds for the board as a collective body. The Code of Conduct sets what is out of bounds for board members individually. Do not equate them, and do not write that Guardrails “must cover all unacceptable actions.”

Accountability. Do not say ESB requires a single direct report or a single point of accountability. ESB allows one or more direct reports. Where there is more than one, no two people are accountable for the same policy. The rule is “one accountable person per policy,” not “one accountable person for everything.”

Governance includes oversight. School systems exist to improve student outcomes. The governing body creates the conditions for that by representing the community’s vision and values. Governance includes oversight and supervision of the board’s direct reports, so do not say governance is “not oversight” or “not supervision.” Do not shrink governance down to only oversight or supervision either. It is still distinct from management.

12c. Specific terms to get right

“Board chair,” not “board president.” In a glossary or definition, the headword is “Board Chair,” and the definition adds “(sometimes referred to as board president).”

“Practitioner,” not “coach,” for the certified role. ESB is moving from certifying coaches who coach to certifying Practitioners who coach. When you name the activity, write “Practitioners who coach.”

Spell out “Any Reasonable Interpretation” every time. We never use the abbreviation “ARI.”

“Own conduct,” two words. Never hyphenate it as “own-conduct.”

“Five continuous improvement practices,” not “five recurring themes.” The framework is “The Effective School Boards Framework.” Its five practices, in order: Focus Mindset, Clarify Priorities, Monitor Progress, Align Resources, Communicate Results.

Monitoring Report labels are “on track,” “off track,” or “insufficient data,” never “meets / approaching / does not meet.”

Name every official ESB guidance document in the “Effective " pattern (for example, "Effective Agenda Design"), with no subtitle. This matches the growing collection of ESB guidance documents.

1. Never name specific organizations

Do not name CGCS (the Council of the Great City Schools) or any individual school system. Genericize: “one school system,” “a large urban school system,” “boards across the country,” “in several school systems we’ve worked with.” The examples and data patterns keep their force without attribution, and the guidance stays neutral and broadly usable.

Do not name rival or predecessor frameworks either. “SOFG,” “Student Outcomes Focused Governance,” “Policy Governance” / “PG,” and “Lone Star Governance” / “LSG” do not appear in our content. Use only “ESB.” The one exception is SOFG: name it only when you are intentionally comparing or contrasting it with ESB.

The screen (run every document through this)

Conviction + opener: Does it open by grounding the reader in why school systems and boards exist, then connect to the topic? (Q&A: reframe first. Standalone article: contradiction first.) The opener carries NO header, no subtitle, and no source-attribution/explanation text.

Reading level: 8th grade or below, never above 10th?

Distinctions: Are the ESB lines (board vs. superintendent work, monitoring vs. managing, Goals/Guardrails/Initiatives, owners vs. customers) drawn cleanly and correctly?

Ending: Does it bring it home to student outcomes?

Voice: “We recommend,” not “I” or “you must”? Confident, not hedgy? No “I feel/think/believe”?

ESB terminology: ESB words, not PG words (Goals not Ends, Guardrails not Executive Limitations, Governing not Governance Process, Delegation not Board-Management Delegation)? “Practitioner” not “coach”? “Board chair” not “board president”? “Any Reasonable Interpretation” spelled out, never “ARI”? No “SOFG,” “PG,” or “LSG” unless intentionally contrasting? (Sections 12b, 12c, 13.)

Mechanics: No horizontal rules, no em dashes (use –), no semicolons, no ellipses, straight quotes, Oxford comma? (Doc/PDF export: 18pt centered bold title, 14pt bold left headers, 11pt body, 0.5” margins, single-spaced.)

NEVER words/phrases: Any AI-tell words, sentence-initial transitions, or AI-hallmark phrases (section 11)?

Avoided language: Any banned governance term or power-over framing (section 12)?

No named organizations: CGCS or any individual school system? Genericize.

1. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES - What To Compare Everything Against

https://github.com/ajcrabill/esb-com/tree/main/resources/writing-resources https://github.com/ajcrabill/esb-com/tree/main/resources/writing-resources/Core Grounding Documents/ https://github.com/ajcrabill/esb-com/tree/main/resources/writing-resources/Templates/ https://github.com/ajcrabill/esb-com/tree/main/resources/writing-resources/anti-slop-skill/ https://github.com/ajcrabill/esb-com/tree/main/resources/writing-resources/content generation guides/ https://github.com/ajcrabill/esb-com/tree/main/resources/writing-resources/voice-profiles/