National Association of State Boards of Education

What National Association of State Boards of Education does

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 membership association founded in 1958 that serves as the only national organization dedicated solely to supporting state and territorial boards of education in the United States. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia with 11-50 employees, NASBE provides policy guidance, professional development, peer networking, and advocacy across four core policy areas: college, career, and civic readiness; education governance; safe and healthy schools; and teachers and leaders. Its membership comprises 50 state boards plus territories, with an emerging constituency of 400 student board members across 33 states.

NASBE's product portfolio is content- and convening-centric rather than technology-centric. Core offerings include a peer-reviewed journal (The State Education Standard), policy updates, state innovations reports, and education leaders reports; recurring events (Annual Conference, Legislative Conference, New Member Institute) and webinars for member engagement; and several state-level collaborative networks including the Principal Collaborative (supported by The Wallace Foundation), the High School Transformation State Network, the Early Literacy Work Group, and the Early Childhood Education State Network. The State Policy Database on School Health, built with Child Trends, extends the portfolio into structured digital resources. Core technology is explicitly noted as not applicable.

Revenue is generated through a mix of recurring membership dues from state boards, event registration (conferences and professional development programs), publication distribution, and foundation grants/partnerships (notably with The Wallace Foundation, Learning Policy Institute, and Child Trends). Go-to-market is sales-led and direct, focused on government buyers at the state level, with no public pricing disclosed. Operating leadership is led by President and CEO Robert Hull, supported by a small team of policy directors and project leads.

Name

National Association of State Boards of Education

Legal name

National Association of State Boards of Education

Website

https://nasbe.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1958

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

NASBE is a nonprofit 501(c)3 membership association founded in 1958 that serves as the only national organization dedicated to supporting U.S. state and territorial boards of education through policy guidance, professional development, peer networks, and convening.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Policy Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Regional Education Service Agencies (ESAs/BOCES/Intermediate Units) (EDADABAC)

Keywords

• Education policy advocacy
• Education governance support
• Professional development services
• Policy research publications
• Membership association services

Headquarters

HQ city

Alexandria

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: NASBE generates revenue through membership dues from state boards of education across the United States. Membership provides access to resources, professional development, networking opportunities, and policy guidance.
2. Events and Conferences: Revenue generated from Annual Conference, Legislative Conference, and New Member Institute events including registration fees.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

NASBE is a nonprofit membership association that represents U.S. state and territorial boards of education. It sells membership services that include policy guidance, professional development, peer-reviewed publications (The State Education Standard, Policy Updates, State Innovations, Education Leaders Reports), events (Annual Conference, Legislative Conference, New Member Institute, Webinars), and access to state policy databases covering education governance, college/career/civic readiness, safe and healthy schools, and teachers and leaders.

Product overview

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) is a membership organization offering a platform of publications, events, professional development programs, and collaborative projects. The core offerings include The State Education Standard (peer-reviewed journal), Policy Updates, State Innovations, and Education Leaders Reports for informed policymaking; Annual Conference, Legislative Conference, New Member Institute, and Webinars for professional development and networking; and collaborative projects including the Principal Collaborative, High School Transformation State Network, Early Literacy Work Group, and Early Childhood Education State Network. The State Policy Database on School Health provides research-based policy resources aligned to the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model. The portfolio is structured around member services, policy resources, events, and state-level collaborative initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annual Conference

Quantifiable outcome

• 18 states adopted or revised strategic education plans supported by NASBE resources in 2025-26
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Learning Policy InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Learning Policy Institute supports NASBE's Whole Child Policy Study Group with research and policy expertise to help state boards lead on whole child policymaking in the wake of COVID-19.
• Child TrendscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Leadership Exchange for Adolescent Health Promotion (LEAHP) and other school health initiatives, providing research and analysis support for state education policy.
• National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Leadership Exchange for Adolescent Health Promotion (LEAHP) focused on adolescent health policy in schools.
• Aspen InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with NASBE on sessions about rethinking the principalship and how state boards can address school leadership challenges.
• Elevate (Water Safety Organization)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to uncover challenges of school testing programs for lead in water and identify best practices for policy guidance and lead remediation efforts.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• National Education Association: NEA is the largest U.S. educator labor union and a major force in K-12 education policy advocacy. It operates on a much larger scale than NASBE but addresses many of the same policy domains (funding, curriculum, teacher quality, equity) from an advocacy rather than governance-support angle.
• National Governors Association: NGA serves governors who appoint many state board members and influence state education policy at the highest level. While broader in scope than NASBE, NGA's education division produces policy guidance that overlaps with NASBE's remit and shares state-policy convening duties.
• National Conference of State Legislatures: NCSL serves state legislators who fund and pass education laws. While not a direct member-services peer, NCSL's education committee produces comparable state-policy research and convenings that intersect with NASBE's state board audience.

Others

• Child Trends: Child Trends is a research organization that co-hosts NASBE's State Policy Database on School Health and partners on adolescent health initiatives. It serves adjacent state-policy research needs and could expand into broader governance research if it chose to.
• Learning Policy Institute: LPI is a research-and-policy organization that is both a NASBE partner (supporting the Whole Child Policy Study Group) and a partial competitor for foundation funding and state-policy thought leadership. Its research informs many of the same state-board decisions NASBE seeks to influence.

Direct peers

• American Association of School Administrators: AASA represents school district superintendents and senior administrators, providing policy advocacy, professional development, and convenings similar to NASBE's offerings for state boards. Both organizations target the public K-12 governance and leadership ecosystem.
• National School Boards Association: NSBA represents local school boards rather than state boards, but it operates the same membership-association, policy-advocacy, and convening model. NSBA is the natural counterpart to NASBE at the local level and competes for foundation attention on shared topics like governance and equity.
• Council of Chief State School Officers: CCSSO is a nonpartisan national membership organization for the top education officials in each state (chiefs/directors of education), making it the closest direct peer to NASBE, which serves the state boards that oversee those officials. Both organizations publish policy resources, run convenings, and shape state-level education policy.
• Education Commission of the States: ECS is an interstate compact that tracks state education policy across all 50 states and produces widely cited policy databases and analyses—comparable to NASBE's State Policy Database and Policy Updates publications. ECS and NASBE frequently co-cite each other on state education governance.

Regional players

• Association of American Educators: AAE is a national non-union professional association for educators, offering liability coverage and policy advocacy. While focused on individual educators rather than state boards, it competes for education-policy membership and foundation funding in overlapping issue areas.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nasbe
• Facebookfacebook.com/StateBoards
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/924827

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about National Association of State Boards of Education