Bridging the Governance Gap is a multisession, virtual workshop series designed for boards to address what’s standing in their way when it comes best supporting their school and to generate innovative strategies to cultivate a thriving board structure and culture for the future.
Each year, reflective governance assessments surface critical gaps in board practices—but how often do these insights lead to real change? In this interactive session, heads of school, board chairs, and governance committee leaders come together to identify their most pressing governance challenges and co-design strategies for strengthening board performance. Grounded in data and driven by collaboration, this workshop series offers structured frameworks for translating reflection into actionable next steps. Leave with an individualized professional development plan for your board, as well as a clear set of priorities and innovative approaches tailored to your school’s unique governance journey.
Pre- and Post-Session Details: In the pre-workshop session, registered schools analyze your board assessment data and other sources to guide your strategic work. In the post-workshop session, boards can join to discuss implementation progress, next steps, and strategies for tracking metrics both in the near and long term to maintain momentum around your innovation efforts.
The deadline to register is Wednesday, March 25, 2026 due to the pre-workshop session and the prework required to complete prior to the session start date.
Schools select up to six participants to make up their workshop team. The ideal team includes three to six participants. The minimum number of school participants is three people. Individuals or pairs are not recommended due to the significant amount of teamwork time built into the agenda. You need to know the number of participants at the time of registration. You can make updates to the attendee names that fill your spots until two weeks before the event. There are no discounts for schools that decide not to send participants to either the pre- or post-workshop sessions.
Cancellations must be received in writing at strategylab@nais.org. Cancellations received up to 30 days before the program’s start date (February 23) will be fully refunded, less a $75 administration fee. Cancellations received fewer than 30 days prior to the program will not be refunded.
Please contact strategylab@nais.org or (202) 973-9700 with any questions.
Pre-Session: March 26, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Main Sessions:
Post-Session: June 24, 2025, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
This is a team-based experience (up to six people), so we recommend the head of school, board chair, governance committee chair, and other trustees attend.
