Board Responsibility for Equitable Student Success
Board Roles and Responsibilities
Ensuring that the board’s business is conducted in an exemplary fashion, that its governance policies and practices are kept current, and that the performance of the board, its committees, and its members are periodically assessed
- Boards work to hold other groups accountable for equitable student success.
- Boards hold themselves responsible for equitable student success through appropriate trainings, consultation, policies, and composition.
Action Items
- Conduct regular assessment and reporting.
- Be proactive and not just reactive.
- Ensure the board organizes committees and its work to effectively advance equitable student success.
Metrics and Assessment Tactics
- Survey responses
- Sense of belonging
- Familiarity with diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Diversity of board members
- Knowledge of equitable student success issues
- Climate survey
- Board survey
- Interviews
- Questionnaires
- Annual goal-setting for the board and committees—and annual review of goal status
Questions to Pose
- How often should we assess the board?
- What do we do with the assessment data?
- With whom do we share the data?
- How do our data compare with the institution’s data?
- What expertise and experience do we need on the board?
Previous Responsibility:
←Engaging regularly with the institution’s major constituencies
What does success look like?
An Institutional Example:
The Adler University Board of Trustees committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals for student success and undertook changes to board composition, orientation, and ongoing training in DEI to address its own role in remedying structural racism.
Sources:
Adler University Board of Trustees Named Recipient of 2022 John W. Nason Award for Board Leadership by Association of Governing Boards
Extraordinary Board Leadership: The Inspiring Stories of the 2022 Nason Award Winners
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