There is a lot to learn - whether you are a newly elected or veteran school board member. Fortunately, IASB offers a wide range of board development opportunities to get the knowledge, skills and resources to become an effective school leader.

The links below will direct you to a number of professional development options designed to enhance and enrich your school board service.

Two-Year Board Development Calendar

To help school board members plan their training, IASB has created a new two-year 'Calendar of Events' that lists all of the professional development opportunities available in the years 2011-12 and 2012-13. This calendar includes pre-conference workshops and regional workshops held throughout this year and next.

School Board LeaderShop

School Board LeaderShop is a curriculum of core and elective workshops for school board learning and networking. Core programs directly relate to principles of effective school district governance; Elective programs focus on additional board and board member skills that promote effective school district leadership.

Mandatory Board Member Training

Recent legislation in Illinois has provided for mandatory school board member training. For information about training requirements, who must receive training, timelines, and IASB professional development opportunities designed to enable board members to meet the statutory requirements, please click HERE.

School Board Governance Recognition

School Board Governance Recognition is designed to acknowledge those school boards that have engaged in activities and modeled behaviors that lead to excellence in local school governance in support of quality public education. The focus of this program is on full board development and participation rather than individual board member efforts.

LeaderShop Online Learning Center

Courses offered through the LeaderShop Online Learning Center are designed to complement those made available by the Illinois Association of School Boards at in-district, regional and statewide workshops. This page includes a description of each course, how online learning works, cost, and link to online registration.

Joint Annual Conference

This three-day event is one of the nation's largest state education conferences. Participants can confer with experts, hear from knowledgeable speakers, attend workshops and panel discussions, visit commercial exhibits, meet with colleagues, and get help with their special school problems.

IASB Division Meetings

Semi-annual dinner meetings are offered in the fall and spring in each of the Association's 21 divisions. Most of these events are held at local schools and rotate locations. Division business, keynote speakers and panel sessions are featured at most meetings, and all provide excellent networking opportunities for board members and superintendents alike.

If you want to know when a board development event is scheduled, please visit the Events Calendar. You can search this Calendar for a list of events in a drop-down menu sorted by division, area, type or subject. You can also search for training events with a keyword search.

IASB staff is also available to offer custom workshops and training for school boards in their home districts. Contact your IASB field service director to learn more about these choices:

• Board self-evaluations
• Targeting student learning process coaching
• District planning
• District performance monitoring
• Targeting Achievement Through Governance (TAG)

Field Services Staff

Board Training Home

IASB Home