States often call upon NASBE to assist them with research or policy development on specific education issues or to help them work through a process such as long-range planning, board study sessions on specific topics, boardsmanship skills training, media training, policy audits, or the selection or evaluation of chief state school officers. More than 40 states receive such assistance annually through NASBE contracts with individual states.

Boardsmanship skills training, one of the most popular services NASBE provides to individual boards, includes goal and priority setting, strategic planning, internal communications, managing information flow to and from the board, policy development, working with the news media, and relations with the chief and department of education staff. Other topics include administrative relations with the chief and relationships with interest groups, establishing coalitions, program review, and board self-evaluation. Training is tailored to specific needs of the state board.