At School Board School, we are building a knowledgeable & diverse coalition of equity-focused education advocates who are ready to serve our community.
Our members use their knowledge and network to lead, run, & create.
Lead
Run
Create
Jessica
The self-reflection that's built into our curriculum helped Jessica discover her passion for community organizing.
She changed jobs to work with our school district’s official engagement partner where she regularly brings parents and caregivers together with district administrators so that the people most affected by decisions are at the table with district decision-makers.
Tim’m became passionate about the impact that a school’s governing body, called the Local School Decision Making Committee (LSDMC), can have on a school’s culture and academic outcomes. He joined his neighborhood school’s LSDMC and is now the committee Chair.
In that position, he led a coalition of the school’s staff and members of the surrounding community to bring local artists into the school to share their talents with students, and he is also helping school staff use data to drive academic improvement.
Tim’m
Lead
run
create
Our members run for office - and win-at all different levels, including:
KAREEM & MARY, who won their school board races, and GUS, who managed a successful city council campaign and will now be helping create policy at City Hall.
FOUR MEMBERS who won their races for Democratic Precinct Executive, three of whom served on the school board candidate endorsement committee.
Jasmine
Renee
Sarah
Terana
lead
run
Create
Tess
Tess used her professional expertise
to create the marketing & communications for her neighborhood school’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
MARCIA
Marcia created a community organization
to build a citizens’ advocacy movement among people who have been historically disenfranchised and marginalized by our country's educational, political, and economic systems.
Member stories
Our members work together and push the system from many different angles, creating real change and opportunities that allow every child to succeed in school and in life.
Building a Network
At School Board School, we are building a network of people who have historically been affected by but not included in this work.
To improve outcomes for children and build a more just and equitable city, we must invest in the development of school district leaders and grassroots advocates who reflect the diversity of our community.
Our nearly 100 members are:
Women
There are more women than men working in schools and nonprofits but men outnumber women in school district and nonprofit leadership positions; therefore, we are intentional about recruiting women.
BIPOC
While public school students are now majority kids of color, school district leadership and school board members remain majority White; we are purposefully developing racially diverse leaders.
Economically Disadvantaged
The disparity in achievement between students from high- and low-income families is well documented. We believe people who have experienced being economically disadvantaged should lead this work.
Cincinnati Neighborhoods Represented
We know that some neighborhoods have had more power because they have more privilege. We put together classes that represent neighborhoods across Greater Cincinnati.
GROWING COALITION
We started with 12 members of our first class and have grown to a coalition of 100 aspiring school board members and education advocates.
Investment in Equity
We are the only organization that is bringing diverse leadership to both school board and education advocacy roles, building a coalition between these groups, and providing them with a deep understanding of how their school district currently operates and how to build more just and equitable school systems.
And, all of our programming is free for our members so that cost is not a barrier to joining us in this work.
CINCINNATI STUDENTS DESERVE EQUITY AND THEY DESERVE ADVOCACY FROM ALL PARTS OF OUR CITY, NOT JUST FROM PEOPLE WHO CAN BUY INTO THE SYSTEM.
There are a lot of other leadership programs in Cincinnati that charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars to participate. By doing this, they are sending an implicit message about who deserves to be an advocate and whose voices matter most.
School Board School is free. That’s why when you see our members, you see a truly exceptional level of diversity.
– Indi, Class 2
Class 2 Impact Presentation Night
I DON’T KNOW ANY OTHER PROGRAM OUT THERE BRINGING TOGETHER A COMMUNITY LIKE THIS OF DIVERSE, LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE CITY TO THINK ABOUT ISSUES TOGETHER AND SHIFT MINDSETS TOGETHER. THE MORE PEOPLE WE KNOW WHO ARE OUTSIDE OF OUR NARROW COMMUNITY, THE BETTER ADVOCATES AND MORE EFFECTIVE LEADERS WE WILL BE.
School Board School Member
Class 3
Defining & Measuring Our Impact
To measure our impact on our members and their impact on their communities, we contract with evaluators from the University of Cincinnati. School Board School staff, members, and board members worked with the evaluation team to develop a logic model to define, measure, and track our desired short, medium, and long-term outcomes.
Short-Term Outcomes: What we want our members to learn
Medium-Term Outcomes: What we want our members to do
Long-Term Outcomes: What impact we want our members to make
We measure progress toward these outcomes in our pre-program survey, post-session exit tickets, and post-program survey, as well as in our annual member survey and focus groups. Below, please find some of our key measures. To request the full external evaluation results, please contact us.
Goals & Outcomes: Our Learning Program
During our 7-month learning program, our members have the opportunity to attend school board meetings, visit schools, and engage with school board members, district administrators, and education experts.
100% of our members would recommend School Board School
Every single one of our members who has completed our learning program would recommend it to others interested in being education advocates or serving on school boards.
Each of the 21 sessions in our learning program has specific learning objectives that measure growth in our members' knowledge, skills, mindsets, confidence, and network, and we see growth across every objective measured.
The charts below demonstrate the growth of our members from before our learning program to after the 7-month learning program in some of our key objectives.
"I could be an effective school board member"
44% increase
“I could be an effective advocate in a role other than a school board member.”
28% increase
“I know how to navigate the school system.”
102% increase
“I know how to impact the school system.“
102% increase
“I am part of a diverse network of advocates working to improve our school systems.”
24% increase
“I can identify what the critical education issues are within my community.”
49% increase
“I can identify what policies come from federal and state levels and what a local board controls.“
51% increase
“I understand how school board members work with district administration when discussing and creating policy or policy changes.”
82% increase
*Strongly Disagree (1) → Strongly Agree (6)
Making Change from Many Seats
Our members are not learning just to learn; rather, they are learning in order to figure out their role in positively impacting our local school systems. Therefore, we support our members in finding and getting into the seat from which they’ll make change, and we track these in our medium and long-term outcomes. Below, find some of the roles our members have taken on to impact their school systems.
Our members are making an impact across Greater Cincinnati and beyond:
“I knew nobody in my class and very few people within our larger network, and now I’m part of this amazing community. It doesn’t matter where I go in the city or what I hope to be a part of, I know that somebody from School Board School will have a connection, or know somebody, or introduce me to somebody.”
Coalitions Change Systems
Click through the gallery below using the arrows to read about how our members work together to change systems:
School Board School is an innovative program that motivates and empowers aspiring school board members and education advocates. School Board School has definitely influenced Cincinnati's local climate related to school board races. Graduates of the program leave with a much better understanding and knowledge base of the role of a school board member, lending them to becoming very effective decision-makers.
Carolyn Jones
CPS School Board President
