The good Governance project

An Initiative of the Office of Overseas Schools

The United States Department of State

BUILDING EXEMPLARY OVERSEAS SCHOOLS’ GOVERNANCE CAPACITY

Governance continues to be the most discussed leadership topic across international school regions, as confirmed by ongoing AAIE surveys of school heads across five continents.  Board trustees and head of school form the single most important team within a school. If the school head and board team are not in harmony and productive, then all other functions across a school are compromised.

If it could be measured across overseas schools around the world, it would surely be found that boards and school heads in “high-achieving schools” come together to create a strong working relationship, where shared vision and action over time promotes continuous improvement– guided by high-quality board policies, procedures and strategic intent.

The Most Successful Schools

The A/OS Good Governance Project seeks to ensure best practices in board governance and to teach key leadership behaviors that ensure school heads can best “lead-together” with her/his board chair and trustees, supporting a high-performing school. The hallmark of good overseas school governance is a solid relationship, strong operational agreements and productive expectations between the head of school, board chairperson and all trustees. Establishing high-performing governance practices builds from leadership capacity of the school head and board trustees.

THE GOOD GOVERNANCE CURRICULUM

The Good Governance Project came about through support from the US State Department Office of Overseas Schools to assist international schools’ Boards of Trustees in meeting the challenge of governing their schools during these volatile times. The core of the Project is the A/OS International School Board Development Curriculum, a succinct compendium of the critical performance standards characterizing effective governance. 

This curriculum was developed based on extensive review of proven practice, established guidelines of the leading international school and non-profit governance consulting organizations, accreditation standards, and the wise input of scores of Board Chairs and Heads of Schools. The curriculum then led directly to the production of a Board Evaluation Instrument, serving as a self-assessment tool for Boards interested in assessing and strengthening their governance capacity.

The Curriculum, comprised of seven modules, is designed to serve as a guide for Boards in forging their own learning journey.  Using the Evaluation Instrument, Boards can bring focus to strengths and needs, and make the changes they need to optimize their work.

Supporting these anchor documents are a number of related resources, prime among them is the Leading Together initiative.  Given that the prime responsibility for effective governance and leadership in a school belongs to the Chair-Head of School team, that partnership and how it serves the Board is the focus of the Leading Together Curriculum, a research-based roadmap for the work of that team.

Other resource materials within the scope of the Project include model foundational documents (Articles of Association and Bylaws), a guideline and exemplar of a sound International School Policy Manual, a practical Board Handbook template, complete with links to over thirty supporting documents, and guide-sheets/instruments for Head of School evaluation and the Head search process.

Finally, the Good Governance Project offers a host of training opportunities and consulting services to Boards and their Heads, primarily orchestrated through the regional associations.

We welcome your exploration of the resources and services provided by this Project.  Further inquiries can be made through your regional association or directly to AAIE.

EXCELLENCE IN GOVERNANCE

Key Exemplary Governance Resources

Consulting SUPPORT and seminars

how to participate

The A/OS - AAIE Good Governance Project is designed to serve all member schools, as a resource for ready reference and as a foundation for consulting services provided by Good Governance Project trained consultants.  Member schools are free to access the resources provided herein within the guidelines of the Creative Commons License (see below) and contract with endorsed consultants for related support and services.

The US Department of State Office of Overseas Schools, through a grant administered by AAIE, provides financial support for excellence in governance to Office of Overseas Schools sponsored schools. That support is managed by each regional association as noted below. The funding may  be used as they determine, to support governance training at regional conferences or as a subsidy to individual Office of Overseas Schools sponsored schools. Sponsored schools may apply to their respective Regional Director for financial support for work related to the Good Governance Project. AAIE is pleased to support the furtherance of effective governance through the Good Governance Project.

The AAIE International School Board Development Curriculum is a component of the AAIE Governance Suite by David Chojnacki and Rick Detwiler, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. Under this Creative Commons license, you are free to share this material — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, under the following terms:

• Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
• Non Commercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
• No Derivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.