The newsletter for chairs of theological school boards, Vol. 5, No. 1
Paying attention to the core four
Everyone has dashboards or key indicators they watch, but do you ever wonder what you really ought to track as a board? That’s one of the big questions we get asked at the In Trust Center, and new research has identified what we call the “core four” things boards should pay attention to.
This year, In Trust magazine began examining findings from an unprecedented survey by our Governance Initiative into governing boards and advisory bodies of theological schools in North America. In the latest issue of the magazine (soon to be in mailboxes), we look at the “core four” metrics that every board should track. While every board has many things to focus on, these four predict institutional effectiveness across the sector. They are:
- High student-to-faculty ratio;
- Low CEO turnover;
- High student persistence rate;
- High frequency of annual budget surpluses.
We explain that in more detail, particularly what high or low may mean, here. Again, that doesn’t mean that schools shouldn’t track other things – they absolutely should. But these four areas showed up time and again across schools, denominational affiliation, and size.
Other articles include one that lays out how the research challenges the conventional wisdom (here) and how clarity in governance model matters more than the model (here).
What of this resonates with you? What questions do you have about the research or about what you track? We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to our team here.
As well, I’ll note that we just completed the fourth year of this newsletter. We’d be curious to know your thoughts about the newsletter and what topics you’d like to see covered. Email us here.
Thanks for all you do for theological education.
Amy Kardash
President, In Trust Center for Theological Schools
