Student Outcome Focused Governance 2.0

 Student Outcome Focused Governance (SOFG) is picking up steam. 

It has because - and this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone - they got a grant from the Gates Foundation a couple of years back. Now that means two things for SOFG - money and more attention.

Recalling what I reported about how SOFG's lead coach/guru, AJ Crabill, stated in a panel discussion that he thinks school board directors should get an automatic recall election if student scores drop AND that anyone who wants to run for school board should be REQUIRED to take a governance course before they file, it should come as no surprise that there is a new group. Effective School Boards. It leads with Crabill's mantra - Student outcomes don't change until adult behaviors change. 

(But under "Partners" at their website, there is no mention of the Gates Foundation so keep that on the downlow.)

School boards can be a powerful lever for creating the conditions to improve student outcomes. But that requires that they behave both professionally — which the vast majority of school boards do, conducting themselves in a manner that allows for the business of the district to be accomplished — and effectively — conducting themselves in a manner that is intensely focused on improving student outcomes which most of them do not. (bold mine)

And here's how he says it should work:

An initiative like this works best when the state agency and the school board association (the “partners”) work collaboratively. Steps in team building include:

• Identifying an initiative owner from each partner organization (the “champions”) who will be responsible for guiding their organization’s role in the partnership
• Identifying a 3rd party facilitator who will guide the team through the process and provide examples from implementation in other states
• Identifying a near-term and then long-term funding source
• Scheduling a time for the champions to attend a 2-day orientation workshop if they haven’t already
• Scheduling standing every other week champion check-in meetings for the next six months

So OSPI and WSSDA (Washington State School Directors Association) would be the partners? Ignoring the question of who that is, check out bullet #2 - Here's how we make money. This is followed by bullet #3 which is - Where do we find the money for all this work? Plus the time and money for bullets #4 and #5.

What is interesting as well is that Mr. Crabill's name doesn't appear anywhere on the site except in the recommendation of his book, Great on Their Behalf, that he wrote under his former professional name, Arick Journey Crabill. 

The "team" page does not include anyone from SPS. Which I would say is a good thing but Chandra Hampson has to land somewhere; I'd bet it'll be working on SOFG.