Oklahoma State School Boards Association

Board Development

Boards ask staff and students to seek life-long education. Why should it be any different for board members?

Equipping school board members with information and training to become effective leaders is at the core of OSSBA’s mission. OSSBA offers several opportunities for school board members to improve governance:

Board development will build your capacity and skills to:

  • Understand and effectively carry out the legal and financial oversight responsibilities of a board member.
  • Govern as a team with a focus on students as the foremost concern for all decision making.
  • Learn, analyze and evaluate how your decisions and actions support and strengthen the classroom.
  • Establish an organizational framework and environment to support and align all resources to your district’s mission and goals.
  • Collaborate with all members of your community to establish standards for student performance using data.
  • Honestly examine and evaluate current district strengths and weaknesses to make meaningful changes.
  • Acquire techniques to process information you receive productively.
  • Build a climate for success.
  • Use principles of ethical management for your district.
  • Celebrate all successes and make student success a top community priority.

Let us come to you!

Whole board development sessions are a great opportunity for boards and district leaders to work together on issues that will improve the board’s effectiveness. Let our team customize a training based on your board’s needs. Common whole board development topics include:

  • Roles & responsibilities
  • School finance
  • Board self-evaluation
  • Goal-setting
  • Planning & bond issues
  • Board-superintendent relations
  • Board role in student achievement

Our programs use facilitators to serve as mentors to the board and superintendent.  Facilitators use inquiry and probing questions to guide the leadership team to strategies for confronting and solving problems within an organized framework.  In this manner, future issues can be resolved in a thoughtfully reasoned, data-based way using the techniques acquired through board development.

Call or email Terri Silver at 405.528.3571 or [email protected] for more information about board development opportunities or to schedule whole board development.