Boards and school administrators often inquire about ISM’s growth and evaluation process with the intention of tying it to faculty compensation structures, inspired perhaps by corporate incentive programs or public school systems that link pay raises to student test scores or other metrics.

Building an effective advisory program is an important aspect of fulfilling your school’s mission and delivering on your Purpose and Outcome Statements. However, teachers often describe advisory as an “add-on” duty, placing it akin to duties like “carpool” and “lunch supervision.” So, while from a “mission” perspective, advisory programs serve a critical role, there are factors that make it feel to faculty as if it is of secondary importance.

While ISM has advocated advisory programs for years and has written about them extensively, it is fair to ask, “Are they working?” The high frequency rate that we observe schools annually modifying or adding to their advisory program suggests they are not effective, given the amount of angst constantly associated with them.

ISM’s growth and evaluation framework for School Heads, administrators, and nonteaching staff clarifies that growth itself is not to be evaluated, so employees are free to try new things and take risks without fear of failure. However, not all growth goals are created equal. ISM designed the following rubric to help you and your employees assess and strengthen your own growth goals, and to help your trained growth plan coaches have productive, objective conversations with the employees they’re coaching.

Any school can face a court situation where its records can be perused and questioned. All student records are crucial assets and proper maintenance of them is essential. As the School Head and the Board Chair, ensure that your school has a policy on records management and retention. Without one, you cannot assure that important documents and materials are in proper order and readily available—for administrative, fiscal, historic, and legal purposes. 

As Development Director, you frequently coordinate special events that raise money for your school. Such events include auctions, trivia or casino nights, book fairs, “fund-a-need” giving days, carnivals, and other community-building experiences. Determining your event’s fundraising purpose can be particularly challenging if there is a lack of clarity about the school’s strategic needs or special interest groups on campus dominate the discussion.

Exploring a new high school schedule requires you, the School Head or Division Head, to encourage open-mindedness and flexibility from your faculty.

As Board President, you are aware that committees are the linchpins for your Board of Trustees. The Board operates effectively when there is a foundation of effective, well-led committees. When Board meetings are well-attended, purposeful, and gratifying, that, too, usually grows out of understanding and implementing the principles of establishing committees the best way.

Exempli Gratia Academy, ISM’s fictional coed K–12 school, needed to fill a bus driver position. The Business Manager ran an advertisement, conducted interviews, checked previous employment and references, and hired a candidate. A month later, the new driver crashed into a telephone pole and several students on the bus suffered injuries.

As School Head, you have been asking questions your entire professional career, but have you ever considered why targeted, insightful questions are so important? Well-developed questions play a crucial role in enabling people to innovate, solve problems, and achieve goals. This is especially true in the coaching role School Heads fill for their Leadership Team.