Failure to Govern: Bad Board Behavior Equals Poor Student Performance

Today, a growing research effort is producing reliable data about the kind of boardsmanship related to higher student achievement across the district. Boards that govern districts with higher achievement scores are best described by the essential elements detailed in the Board Self-Assessment Survey (BSAS). Boards and the districts they govern that have yet to address low student achievement continue to be derailed by errors in governance. Recent research has begun to identify specific behaviors that serve to distract school boards from their primary mission of improving student achievement.