With the pressure for school districts to perform well on state assessments (Brown, Jones & Scheunermann, 2012) and the school boards blamed for the problems within a school district (Fridley, 2006), the inquiry of how to increase student achievement continues to be a forerunner in the circles of educators, parents, business and community members. Many of the problems of school districts, especially student achievement, have been blamed specifically on the school board (Fridley, 2006). The purpose of this qualitative study is to develop an understanding of the perceptions of a superintendent, school board president and school board secretary on professional development and its impact on student achievement. This research utilized the grounded theory approach using interviews, transcribing and coding (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Erlandson, Harris & Allen, 1993). Naturalistic inquiry was chosen as the methodology, the dominant instrument of choice used was the human being (Lincoln & Guba, 1985), and the case study design utilized (Erlandson et al., 1993). This qualitative study included participants from the same south central Texas school district: a public school superintendent, the board of trustees' president and the board of trustees' secretary. This study amassed an understanding of how professional development for board members can increase student achievement from a south central Texas school district from the perspectives of the board of trustees' primary players. Utilizing the code analysis process, three interrelated themes emerged with regard to board members' professional development and the effect on student achievement. These included board members' roles, the positive effect of professional development and personal agendas of school board members.