Questions for Boards

Recommended Resources

All Resources

Why this is important.

Governing boards should recognize that assuring educational quality is at the heart of demonstrating institutional success and that they are accountable for that assurance.

While academic administrators and faculty members are responsible for setting learning goals, developing and offering academic courses and programs, and assessing the quality of those courses and programs, boards cannot delegate away their governance responsibilities for educational quality.

AGB empowers trustees to make sure their board and its appropriate committees not only make understanding the elements of educational quality a central feature of their agendas, but also consistently ensure their institution’s programs and resources are focused on the total educational experience, not just traditional classroom activity.

Sources: Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality (2nd Edition) by Peter T. Ewell, AGB 2012
AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality , AGB 2011

Questions for boards.

Click below to reveal key questions for your board to consider:

Board and Institution Fundamentals

Consequential Questions:

  1. Is our board’s work aligned with our institution’s strategic vision, goals, and priorities? (fundamentals)
  2. What are our basic indicators of student progression and success? (fundamentals)
  3. Are our board meeting agendas concise and developed with clearly stated desired meeting outcomes? (fundamentals)

Sources:

Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality (2nd Edition) by Peter T. Ewell, AGB 2012
AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality , AGB 2011

Board Discussions

Consequential Questions:

  1. Is our board familiar with the various dimensions of academic quality? How apprised is our board of student learning assessments, student retention and graduation rates, stakeholder satisfaction, and academic-program reviews?
  2. Is our academic affairs committee well supported?
  3. Is our board aware of the impact of issues brought before other board committees that deal with academic affairs-related issues?
  4. Does our board translate our charges into annual goals and work plans that align with the board’s governance responsibilities and our institution’s strategic plan?
  5. What kinds of evidence does the institution collect about learning?

Sources:

Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality (2nd Edition) by Peter T. Ewell, AGB 2012
AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality , AGB 2011

Board Relationships

Consequential Questions:

  1. How is our board’s working relationship with our president and chief academic officers? How can we improve it?
  2. How can our board best use its authority to ensure quality without micromanaging the faculty and academic leaders?

Sources:

Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality (2nd Edition) by Peter T. Ewell, AGB 2012
AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality , AGB 2011

We carefully curated these staff-picked resources for you:

AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality

2011
 AGB

Making the Grade - How boards can ensure academic quality

Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality

2012
Peter T. Ewell

Accreditation

FAQs
AGB

The Academic Affairs Committee

2014
Susan Whealler Johnston

Boards’ Engagement with Educational Quality

2019
AGB

Overseeing Educational Quality: A How-To Guide for Boards of Universities and Colleges

2014
AGB

All resources.

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A Question For Terry Rhodes
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A Question For Mary Ellen Petrisko
Both the increased scrutiny placed on accreditation and the recent changes made to it demand that boards understand their roles and responsibilities related to the process. Trusteeship spoke with Mary Ellen Petrisko, president of the WASC Senior College and University …
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Focus on the Presidency: Revising General Education
Over the last generation or so, the process or revising general education— the path of courses every student must take regardless of major—has proven dispiriting and divisive on many campuses. Departments, feeling trapped in a zero-sum game for students and …
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Disrupting Assumptions
Technology has been celebrated by digital innovators, policymakers, and the news media as offering solutions to the many challenges facing higher education. The touted benefits abound: e-learning platforms remove scheduling and geographic barriers to access, and help faculty to address …
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A Question For Kevin P. Reilly
Trusteeship asked Kevin P. Reilly, president emeritus and Regent Professor at the University of Wisconsin System, about his work with a new national teacher training and credentialing program, and why it’s so important that boards understand what good teaching is …
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Focus on the Presidency The Swing of the Pendulum. Or as We Say in French, Plus Ça Change….
Five decades ago, university curriculums were highly structured. Faculty created and selected the most appropriate courses. They carefully defined prerequisites, prescribed the depth and breadth of inquiry, and expected outcomes. University administrators started with the essential courses and built from …
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Focus on the Presidency: Fostering Civil Discourse
News of angry campus protests boiled over from higher education press into popular news media last semester. Students drawing attention to a myriad of “micro-aggressions” based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or other characteristics felt marginalized. Others decrying the …
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A Question For Mary Dana Hinton
We asked Mary Dana Hinton, president of the College of Saint Benedict and an advocate for the liberal arts, about their role in 21st-century education. This summer, the College of St. Benedict and Saint John’s University will host Liberal Arts …
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Trusteeship Article
Using Student Engagement Results to Oversee Educational Quality
Since the advent of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in 2000, more than 1,600 bachelor’s degree- granting colleges and universities have had access to reliable evidence about their students’ engagement in effective educational practices that can inform discussions …
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A Question For Jo Beld
As a fundamental part of their stewardship, governing boards are responsible for assuring the larger community and stakeholders to whom they are accountable that the education offered by their institutions is of the highest possible quality. Jo Beld, vice president …
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