Each of Ohio's public school boards should appoint one member, at the January organizational meeting, to serve as its district's student achievement liaison. School district personnel should inform OSBA of the appointment as soon as possible and it should be reflected on the OSBA roster.  Student achievement liaisons are a vital part of OSBA's Student Achievement Initiative serving as the link between individual school boards and the association's Student Achievement Leadership Team (SALT).

The Student Achievement Initiative was created approximately 20 years ago by the OSBA Board of Trustees and by approval of the Delegate Assembly.  The initiative created the Student Achievement Leadership Team which consists of 15 board members from around the state and the 3 OSBA officers. One of the first actions of the Student Achievement Leadership Team was the creation of Student Achievement Liaisons.  

What is the role of the student achievement liaison?

Student achievement liaisons have three overall objectives:

1. To share with fellow board members, on a monthly basis, information about ways to improve student success and promote student achievement within the district;
2. To encourage school board colleagues to keep student achievement at the forefront of board action and;
3. To participate in SALT activities such as summer regional meetings and Capital Conference events, encouraging other board members to do so as well. 

Each student achievement liaison receives Success, OSBA's monthly SALT newsletter, and a monthly student achievement email update. Success contains summary highlights of current innovative instructional programs while the monthly update provides the liaison with announcements from ODE, OSBA, the state board of education, etc. There may be items in the monthly update or in Success that you may want to share with your board of education at the next month's meeting.  This is not an OSBA requirement, it's simply one convenient way for board members to share student achievement matters with their colleagues, making certain that student achievement and or student success are discussed and promoted regularly on your district's board agenda.

Finally, student achievement liaisons are encouraged to familiarize themselves with our student achievement resources listed and linked below:

• board's role in student achievement - this series of pages details and shows the relationship between specific board roles and student achievement. The site is full of downloadable resources, short overview videos and substantial information about each role.
• student achievement promotion - this site provides a complete downloadable tool kit for student achievement. The kit and its inidvidual components are easily customized for your district's use.
• student achievement fair - here you will find up-to-date information on the OSBA Student Achievement Fair.
• Achievement Matters - the OSBA student achievement blog 

For more information, contact Senior Student Achievement Consultant Kim Miller-Smith at (614) 540-4000, (800) 589-OSBA or kmillersmith@ohioschoolboards.org.