Our Schools Coalition

The Our Schools Coalition (OSC) builds broad-based community awareness of the skills and characteristics common to highly effective School Boards through Board Corps. OSC is Seattle’s largest K-12 education coalition, comprised of a diverse set of community organizations, education advocates, parents, businesses, and elected officials. OSC members employ collective impact strategies to improve the quality of education for students in Seattle Public Schools.

Research has identified the skills and characteristics that define an “effective” School Board. The essential elements are unity, stability, good governance and a cohesive vision for high achievement for all children. An effective school board:

  • Works as a whole and does not push the agendas of individual members or constituents
  • Has a coherent theory of action for change and advances an agenda consistent with its theory
  • Governs by policy and eschews micromanagement
  • Focuses on academic outcomes
  • Reaches out to its community to build public support and bring resources into the schools
  • Hires an effective superintendent/CEO and establishes a close relationship of trust