The Taking Action Guide for the Governance Core: School Boards, Superintendents, and Schools Working Together

Practical resources for building cohesive governance teams

As a supplement to the best-selling The Governance Core, this practical guide will help trustees and superintendents adopt a governance mindset and partnership that creates coherence throughout the district. With a systems thinking approach, the authors provide readers with the strategies and tools needed to build cohesive teams and engage in deeper learning and decision making. The Taking Action Guide for the Governance Core offers readers:  

• a deeper understanding of core governance and how to build it
• a planning guide to help new trustees get started
• protocols and sample agendas for focusing on strategy and systems during open board meetings

Educational leaders will find this guide offers them a foundation for building strong, flourishing school districts that are equipped to adapt to and meet the daunting challenges of our time. 

Davis Campbell is the former Executive Director of the California School Boards Association and is Chair of the University of California Davis, School of Education Advisory Board and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Applied Policy in Education.

Campbell has a deep and broad background in public education. He served for 12 years in the California Department of Education, serving six of those as Deputy State Superintendent of Public Instruction in charge of all education programs. In 1988 he was appointed Executive Director of the California School Boards Association, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 2001. He has also served as an elected trustee on the Yolo County Board of Education. In 2020, Campbell was awarded the 2020 University of California Davis Alumni Association Distinguished Achievement Award.

Campbell maintains an active consulting practice in effective governance in education as well as nonprofit agencies at both the state and international level. In California, in addition to continuing education governance programs with school districts, Campbell has provided workshops for nonprofit organizations as well as governance workshops and presentations with cities, counties, and special districts. Campbell’s international work includes governance support for American and International schools in Madrid Spain (15 years), Barcelona Spain, Lisbon Portugal, Paris France, Rome and Milan Italy, Tunis Tunisia, Cairo Egypt and British Columbia Canada.

Michael Fullan, Order of Canada, is the former Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and Professor Emeritus of the University of Toronto. He is co-leader of the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning global initiative. Michael served as Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Special Policy Adviser in Ontario from 2003-2013. He received the Order of Canada (OC) in December 2012 and holds five honorary doctorates from universities around the world. His ‘interim autobiography,’ Surreal Change, covers his pre-Covid-19 era to 2018. Michael and his colleagues are now working diligently on field-based comprehensive system change in several countries. Under the umbrella of what they call the ‘humanity paradigm’ ―equitable-equal deep change that integrates local (school and community), middle (district/regional), and centre (policy) entities. Michael’s latest books are: Spirit Work and the Science of Collaboration (with Mark Edwards, 2022), The Principal 2.0 (2023), The Drivers (with Joanne Quinn, 2023), and The New Meaning of Educational Change, 6^th Edition (2025).

For more information on books, articles, videos, podcasts please go to: www.michaelfullan.ca

Babs Kavanaugh has a diverse management background. She has over thirty years’ experience in organizational development. Her professional background includes: governance consultant and trainer; human resource director; marketing director; community health center executive director; and small business owner.

Babs began her consulting career in the U.S. health care system in 1992, focusing on community-based primary health care services, as executive director of a rural community health center in Point Reyes CA.

In 1999 Babs expanded her focus into the education system, joining the staff of the California School Boards Association (CSBA), as a governance trainer. She has worked with over 350 school districts throughout California, training school district governance teams in effective governance and leadership skills. She assists them in improving their organizational effectiveness, keeping the district’s efforts focused on all students’ learning, achievement, and well-being.

One important aspect woven through Babs’ work is the support of styles of communication and learning. Babs has a strong foundation as a trainer in conflict management, supporting organizations to strengthen their leadership skills and improve overall effectiveness. She works from the premise that mutual respect and trust are essential to the development of successful and cohesive teams. She believes that highly functional groups are systems unto themselves and that they flourish when the focus is on group relationships rather than on individuals. Her focus is on facilitating the flow of communication in which positive interactions become the norm rather than the exception.

Bring Babs Kavanaugh to your school or district! Learn more at babskavanaugh.com 

Eleanor Adam consults internationally in the areas of leadership, change and learning and is a Senior Consultant for the Michael Fullan Enterprises Capacity Building team. She has worked with educators in a variety countries and states to improve and deepen learning for all students through excellence in classroom instruction and principal and district leadership. Her recent work has focussed on whole system change through the development of coherence at the state and district levels.

 

She has served as a teacher and principal in both elementary and high schools as well as an acting Superintendent and Supervisor of Special Education for a school district. At the provincial level, Eleanor facilitated the implementation of education policy in 5,000 schools. In her role as the Program Manager for Continuing Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, she worked collaboratively to enhance additional qualifications courses that were both engaging and meaningful for all educators in the province. Developing and leading meaningful professional learning is a passion that Eleanor has pursued throughout her career. She facilitates relevant learning that is grounded in her experiences but incorporates new research and encourages critical thinking and collaboration.