ISM recently published a new teacher evaluation model for private-independent schools. Today’s lead article describes how you can implement this type of an evaluation approach in your school.

As the semester winds down, we know that your schedule ramps up—often without a moment to spare. Following from last month’s practice, we wanted to offer a selection of performance-related quotes and resources culled from recent Twitter and blog postings, to encourage and support you.

Q: I keep reading news items about the “NLRB” and social media policies. Since we’re not unionized, does this affect us in any way?

There’s a new social media giant in the making, and it’s one you might want to consider taking some time to familiarize yourself with—Pinterest. Just what is Pinterest? If you’ve already acquainted yourself with Twitter, then you’re aware of the power of social media and how easy it is to share your school’s events, successes, and news with your followers. If your school has included social media as part of its marketing plan and development practices, then you might also be aware of how profitable social media can be. Just a few minutes a day can go a long way. However, for the visual thinkers out there, Twitter can be visually unpleasing regardless of custom backgrounds and the adoption of Twitpics.

10 Tips for Reusing Plastic Milk Jugs According to the National Geographic documentary Human Footprint, Americans consume about 989,985,594,240 half gallons of milk over the course of a lifetime. Good news—Americans clearly enjoy this healthy beverage. Bad news—waste is a growing issue for all of us.

With the school year starting to wind down and renewal contracts being negotiated, sick time is likely one of those things your school is taking a look at. Allowing faculty and staff to accrue sick days is often seen as an added benefit in many schools—one that is perhaps cheaper than offering Short Term Disability (STD) insurance. But is it really cheaper? Let’s take a closer look.

Establishing good indicators of the current state of school crime and safety across the nation—and regularly updating and monitoring these indicators—is important in ensuring the safety of our nation’s students. This is the aim of Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2011, just released in February of this year. This is the 14th report in a series of annual publications produced jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), in the U.S. Department of Education, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the U.S. Department of Justice. This report presents the most recent data available on school crime and student safety.

Palmer Trinity School, FL, is planning its 40th anniversary celebration and Development Officer Lauren Dowlen shared the steps the school has taken so far. This could be helpful for all our readers whose schools are facing a milestone, especially if you need a jumpstart!

Katya Andresen, Chief Strategy Officer for the online donation-collection conduit Network For Good, shared in her blog “The Six Things I Wish I’d Known 20 Years Ago.”  One of those things was: What I wish I had also known about communications: Nothing beats a good story about one person. (Including a good story about two, 20 or 20,000 people.) Research is clear: if we want to spark someone’s empathy and inspire a donation, we must tell the story of our cause through one person (or animal). We must give our mission a pulse and save the abstractions and statistics for another day.

In Philadelphia, City Councilman Jim Kenney wants every student in the city to see the new documentary “Bully,” but the R rating assigned by the MPAA film board could prevent that. Due to five instances of a distinct expletive heard on film, the MPAA won’t move on the rating. Meaning, kids who should be seeing this may not be able to without their parents with them.