GroupLiteracy™ Series

Why school boards need a term-length governance program

Governance challenges rarely arise from lack of goodwill. 

They arise when boards lack shared systems for decision-making, role clarity, meeting process, and oversight.

Common Challenges include:

  • Meetings that feel procedural but not productive

  • Unclear boundaries between governance and administration

  • Inconsistent application of rules and policies

  • Trustees entering a new term without a structured, term-length governance learning pathway

  • Governance knowledge that erodes over time

  • Build governance capacity progressively

  • Reinforce shared standards across the board

  • Support trustees at different stages of experience

  • Strengthen decision-making where it actually happens: in meetings

  • Governance knowledge – understanding roles, authority, and responsibilities

  • Insight — interpreting situations, risks, and context with sound judgment

  • Text length of individual points can be shorter or longer depending on your needs

  • Process — using clear meeting and decision systems that support fairness and accountability

The program is delivered over four years, aligned to the typical term of office for elected school boards. Courses are strategically spaced on a quarterly basis to support steady learning without overwhelming trustees. 

This pacing allows boards to absorb concepts, apply them in real meetings, and build governance competence progressively over time.  

Boards are encouraged to enroll early in the term to gain the full benefit of the program’s structured progression, though enrollment remains available at any point.

Each year includes:

  • Four structured governance courses

  • Practical tools and reference materials

  • Scenarios grounded in school board realities

  • Opportunities for reflection and application

How enrollment works

  • Full enrollment for all trustees on the board

  • Access for superintendent & up to two senior leaders, where appropriate

  • Trustees participate individually through the Meeting Literacy Academy platform

  • Program access continues across the full four-year structure

  • Boards seeking consistent governance standards across the term

  • Elected school board trustees

  • Board chairs, vice-chairs, committee chairs

  • Superintendents and senior executive (as applicable)

Optional quarterly group coaching

Boards may also opt into quarterly, multi-board group coaching sessions held at the conclusion of each quarter.

These sessions provide an opportunity for trustees to:

"review and consolidate learning from the quarterly course",

"ask questions arising from real board experience", and

"hear how other boards are interpreting and applying governance concepts".