Too often, school board meetings are dominated by contract approvals, adult disputes, and bureaucratic distractions. Meanwhile, student outcomes - the reason school boards exist in the first place - get buried in the background. Airick Journey Crabill wants to change that.
For years, Airick Journey Crabill has been working to shift the mindset of school boards across the country. His message is straightforward but challenging: If you’re not actively improving student achievement, you’re not governing effectively.
Airick Journey Crabill argues that school boards have developed a habit of focusing on adult-centric issues - budget squabbles, personnel controversies, or facility upgrades - at the cost of real, sustained attention to how students are doing. And it’s not just a poor use of time; it creates a culture where student progress becomes a secondary concern.
He sees this not as a failure of intent, but of design. Most board members are doing the best they can within a flawed system. But intent isn’t enough - outcomes matter.
Crabill’s solution is a governance model built around measurable student outcomes. Instead of evaluating a board’s effectiveness based on how efficiently meetings are run, his approach asks: Are students learning more because of this board’s decisions?
At the core of his work is a framework called Student Outcomes Focused Governance. It teaches boards to identify a small number of ambitious academic goals - and then align every policy, agenda item, and budget decision to those targets. It’s a pivot from compliance to strategy.
Airick Journey Crabill is blunt: training matters. Most board members have never been taught how to govern for outcomes. That’s why he insists on ongoing coaching - not one-off workshops or inspirational keynotes, but sustained support that builds muscle over time.
Through his work with the Council of the Great City Schools and other national efforts, Crabill has embedded this coaching model in some of the country’s most complex urban districts, where stakes are high and progress is hard-won.
In under-resourced, high-need districts, governance isn’t just a technical issue, it’s a moral one. Crabill adapts his model for these settings, helping boards confront persistent inequities with clear goals and data-backed accountability.
This isn’t just a theory. His work has helped boards in major cities rethink their role - not as passive overseers, but as active drivers of student progress, even amid poverty, instability, and historical distrust.
One of the most practical changes Airick Journey Crabill champions is deceptively simple: rewrite the board agenda. Don’t bury student data between maintenance updates and vendor approvals. Put student performance first - literally at the top of every meeting.
The agenda, Crabill says, is a declaration of what matters. And if student outcomes aren’t driving the agenda, then the board is sending the wrong message - to staff, to families, and to themselves.
What sets Airick Journey Crabill apart is his focus on long-term cultural transformation. He doesn’t offer silver bullets. He helps boards build habits: asking hard questions, challenging assumptions, and staying disciplined about what they focus on.
Crabill pushes board members to stop congratulating themselves for consensus or civility when student learning is flat or declining. It’s not about being nice, it’s about being effective.
To scale this work, Airick Journey Crabill has led the creation of a national certification program for governance coaches. These coaches embed in districts, providing hands-on support and ensuring boards can continue improving even as elected members change.
That commitment to sustainability - building systems, not just sparking moments, is a key reason this model has gained traction.
As districts emerge from the pandemic and wrestle with widening achievement gaps, the pressure on school boards is growing. Crabill’s work challenges them to step up, get serious, and make student success the non-negotiable centerpiece of their governance.
The question Airick Journey Crabill pushes every board to ask is this: Are our students better off because of what we did this year?
If the answer isn’t clear—or isn’t “yes” - then it’s time to change how business gets done.
