Learn practical strategies to handle emerging trends and leadership challenges in private schools.
No matter if you’re a School Head, Admission Director, Development Director, Board member, or any other private school administrator—Ideas & Perspectives, ISM’s premier private school publication, has strategic solutions for the pervasive problems you face.
- Tuition not keeping pace with your expenses? In I&P, explore how to use strategic financial planning to create your budget and appropriately adjust your tuition.
- Enrollment dropping off? Discover how to implement the right admission and enrollment management strategies that engage your community—and fill your classrooms.
- Trouble retaining teachers? Learn how you can best support your teachers using ISM’s Comprehensive Faculty Development framework. Your faculty members will become more enthusiastic about their roles—which ultimately improves student outcomes.
- Fundraising campaigns not as successful as you’d hoped? Implement ISM’s practical advice and guidance to build a thriving annual fund, construct an effective capital campaign, and secure major donors—no matter your community size or location.
- Not sure how to provide professional development—for you and your staff? Learn ways to develop and fund a successful professional development strategy. You can improve teacher-centered satisfaction and growth, which in turn strengthens student-centered learning.
- Problematic schedule? You can master the challenges of scheduling with the help of ISM’s practical advice, based on our experience with hundreds of schools and our time-tested theories.
- And so much more.
I&P has shared targeted research, up-to-date insight, and sound theory with school leaders since 1975. More than 8,500 private school decision-makers find the answers to their schools’ administrative and governance matters in our advisory letter. We give you the strategic answers you need.
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See the articles from our latest issue of Ideas & Perspectives.
Build a Symbiotic Partnership Between Your Admission Staff and Faculty
Volume 46 No. 9 // November 1, 2021
In recent years, private schools have rightfully shifted from a narrow focus on moving families through the traditional admission funnel to implementing an enrollment management model.
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Highest Inflation in 30 Years and a Talent Crisis: A Perfect Storm
Volume 46 No. 9 // November 1, 2021
As Boards begin the process of setting tuition for the 2022–2023 school year, two unusual factors may complicate the pricing landscape—30-year high inflation and a teacher shortage.
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Discount Modeling: Understanding Need-Based and Sliding-Scale Tuition Awards
Volume 46 No. 8 // October 1, 2021
Discounting, whether your school uses a need-based financial aid approach or a sliding-scale approach, is a complex task. Determining to whom and for how much to reduce tuition can be less complex if you build a discount model to more thoroughly understand and assess applications, giving your award team confidence in their decisions. As the first step, the School Head should appoint a modeling task force and ask the Business Officer to lead this endeavor.
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Enhance Word-of-Mouth Marketing With a Parent Ambassador Program
Volume 46 No. 8 // October 1, 2021
Parents who believe in your school’s mission and are vocal advocates for your program, faculty, and outcomes can generate excitement among other parents and in the broader community. As Admission Director, you likely know that word-of-mouth referrals are the major way new families first learn about private schools, including your own.
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Student Self-Efficacy: A Critical Outcome Variable for Your School
Volume 46 No. 8 // October 1, 2021
While every private school has a distinctive mission, all schools focus on student development and preparation. On graduation or completion of a school’s top grade, parents expect their children to be prepared for the next academic level and next social environment. What is the best evidence schools are providing the preparation parents expect and students need?
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Private Schools, the Pandemic, and Resetting Tuition: Wise Decision or a Fool’s Errand?
Volume 46 No. 7 // September 1, 2021
Early in the COVID pandemic onset, ISM published an I&P article discussing the merits of a school making a marketplace shift—decreasing tuition to be more accessible to a broader socioeconomic population. That article discussed our concerns and recommendations for carrying out a primary market stance shift from high tuition to low tuition.
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How to Identify, Train, and Support an Effective Faculty Growth Plan Coach
Volume 46 No. 7 // September 1, 2021
One hallmark of ISM’s Faculty Growth and Evaluation framework is that, with evaluation separated from growth, many can share the growth coaching role. This makes it more likely the growth coaching role will be carried out well and consistently than when this crucial and time-consuming responsibility lies exclusively with you, the supervising academic administrator. However, training and supporting your growth plan coaches are critical in this model’s success.
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The Responsibilities of Gift Documentation
Volume 46 No. 7 // September 1, 2021
Knowing that careful recognition and stewardship of their donor’s gifts lies at the heart of building strong relationships with donors, the Development Office must take care to maintain complete, accurate documentation—electronically and on paper—of all gifts received by the school, whether a gift to a fundraising campaign, a planned gift, or a gift of tangible personal property.
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Managing the Assimilation of a New Division Head
Volume 46 No. 6 // June 1, 2021
As School Head, you have devoted time, effort, and likely paid a hefty placement fee to a search firm to find the perfect candidate for an open Division Head position. The new person is accomplished, experienced, and confident. However, within a few months—and maybe even weeks—there is apparent friction between the new Division Head and the teachers they are expected to lead
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What the School Head Should Target When Interviewing Admission Director Candidates
Volume 46 No. 6 // June 1, 2021
As School Head, you have selected the best candidates to visit your school for the Admission Director position. They are all qualified. Knowing you must establish a comfortable working relationship with the new Admission Director, you use the interview to choose the applicant with the best “chemistry.” However, having a friendly relationship with the candidate is not everything. Moderate disagreement might help the school sharpen its approaches to marketing and student recruitment. Too much agreement often leads to “group think,” while too much disagreement can prove too discordant.
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