Virtual & Onsite Consulting Services


Ensure that your school’s governance and operations support your mission.
We work together with your leaders, teachers, staff members, and students to understand your school’s unique needs, strengths, and challenges. We help you create a plan to help you meet your goals.
Your team can then put these mission-appropriate recommendations into action to achieve increased cash reserves, higher enrollment levels, and long-term stability. At the end of the day, we all have a singular purpose—advance school leadership to enrich the student experience.
We offer personalized consultations for many leadership divisions of a private school—the Board of Trustees, School Heads, the Business Office, the Development Office, Enrollment Management professionals, Marketing professionals, and Academic leaders. Select the area of school leadership you’d like to further explore.

ISM’s Consulting Services can be conducted virtually, ensuring you get the support you need, no matter the circumstances. Learn more by contacting our School Success team.
Our Consulting Services
School Head
Whether you want to ensure that all school functions run at peak efficiency or are considering implementing new strategies and initiatives, lean on a trusted source of knowledge to increase the likelihood of long-term success.
Business & Operations
Take advantage of a full range of planning, facilities, and operations consulting services that give your school a solid footing for the future. Examine where your key operations work well, and where they can use improvement.
Academic Leadership
Your programs set your school apart. Explore how to create and build programs that pull families in and give them an experience they couldn’t have at another private-independent school.
Admission & Enrollment Management
ISM’s data-informed approach pinpoints what attracts families to your school and inspires them to stay. Receive customized solutions based on your school’s unique marketplace stance, challenges, and opportunities.
Fundraising & Development
Learn how to develop successful strategies to engage and bring donors closer to your institution. No matter your school size, history, or pedagogy, explore how to plan, implement, and evaluate your fundraising strategies to realize your full potential.
Marketing Communications
Explore how to share exceptional stories of student learning, engagement, and outcomes, and illustrate how these can become differentiators that distinguish your school from your competitors.
Board of Trustees
The Board must focus its efforts on governing, planning, and financing your school's future, while leaving everyday decisions to competent administrators. To do that successfully, your Board must think, plan, and act strategically.
Questions? Let's Talk!
Your message has been sent.
One-on-One Coaching for New Heads
Work with an ISM Consultant in your first years of Headship to set you on a path to success.
•Data-Driven Diagnostics •
• Coaching •
• Customized Support •
Help Your School Thrive
ISM members receive access to exclusive, research-based strategies for every leadership division of your school. Take advantage of guidance, savings, and much more.
Search
See articles for School Heads, Business & Operations, Advancement, Academic Leadership, and Trustees, in addition to Private School News.
Surveys: What You Really Know Makes You Stronger
School Heads // September 17, 2012
What you hear through your school’s “whisper down the lane” network may give you an incomplete, exaggerated, or just plain inaccurate picture of what the school community is thinking. While murmurings may tip you off to a potential problem, need, or strength, the opinions of the loudest parents are not necessarily shared by the majority.
Read MoreA Conversation About Financial Aid, the Second Biggest Budget Item
School Heads // September 17, 2012
When was the last time you looked at the Financial Aid line on your budget? I mean, really looked. Financial Aid seems like a stepchild in school finance circles— too big to ignore, and yet, because its inner workings are carried on behind closed doors to protect the identity of families, never really brought out into the light of day and really talked about. And it IS too big to ignore.
Read MoreThinking About Your School Benefits
Business and Operations // September 11, 2012
The last thing on your mind as the school year kicks into high gear is your benefits package. Your contracts are signed, excitement is at its peak, and all systems are go. However, now is one of the best times to start thinking about your employee benefits and perhaps consider a change.
Read MoreDebating Dairy in School Lunches
Business and Operations // September 7, 2012
School lunches are once again a topic of discussion. Beyond the vending machine arguments, the sugar wars, and the heated debates about healthier lunch options is a new motion—milk cartons. An anti-cheese group claims that the real culprit for childhood weight worries is the standard serving of milk that is traditionally offered with school lunches.
Read MoreGreen Corner: Back-To-School Green Tips
Business and Operations // September 7, 2012
Among all the back-to-school commotion are always ideas on how to keep this year’s costs as manageable as possible. Suggestions come pouring in from your Head, teachers, parents, and most likely even your Board. While technology brings benefits to your students, it comes at a cost—an extremely high cost for some.
Read MoreWhat Constitutes a Major Gift?
Advancement // September 4, 2012
In the seven decades following its 1923 establishment, Glassboro State College in South New Jersey was essentially the teachers' college for the area. A solid, growing college for many locals and in-staters, it was best known for hosting the historic summit between President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in 1967.
Read MoreHow Does America Give? Check Out This Tool
Advancement // August 31, 2012
The Chronicle of Philanthropy just published an interactive online tool to show you how America gives its money to organizations.
Read More10 Major Concerns for Health Care Reform After Supreme Court Ruling
Private School News // August 22, 2012
Last month, we wrote an article about upcoming expected Health Care Reform changes for 2013–2014 after the Supreme Court found the Affordable Care Act legal. This month, we would like to share what global consulting and actuarial firm Milliman identifies as the major strategic considerations for plan sponsors, insurers, and advisers now that the Supreme Court has upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Read MoreFrom the Private School Blogosphere
Private School News // August 22, 2012
This month we searched Twitter for how people were preparing for the start of the 2012-13 school year. #backtoschool led us to many interesting articles and comments (lots of grunts and groans from students wishing for just a few more days off) about healthy lunches, new technology, health tips, news for new parents, and tons of sales and discounts tweets. Here are a few articles we thought were worth sharing. Sorry, we edited out all the sales!
Read MoreStart Off The New School Year With a Stellar Social Media Plan
Private School News // August 22, 2012
Last year, we wrote an article about how to incorporate social media into your school’s marketing plan. This year, we have confidence that social media is already part of your school’s communication strategy; what you need now are a few tips on how to propel to the next level.
Read More