Chief executive officers in the proprietary and nonprofit sectors have found that well-designed board standing committees can serve as very effective governing engines, producing several important outcomes. This is true among boards of education as well. Above all else, standing committees can divide the labor of governing into chewable chunks, enabling board members to delve into governing matters in greater detail than is possible at the full board level. As such, board members are better prepared for full board meetings, which ultimately improves the quality of board decision making. The agenda can be divided into two segments: (1) planning and development; and (2) performance oversight and evaluation. These two segments are discussed in this article.