Graduating seniors and motivated juniors are going to come back from winter break eager to finish out the year. There are portfolios to build, college applications to send, essays to complete, and campus tours to take. And, of course there are also scholarships to research and apply for.

The explosion of Twitter has taught the world to microblog. It is the spot for instantaneous news reports. Revolutions have been reported on Twitter freely. When the ground shook here at ISM, we immediately checked on Twitter to find reports of the east coast earthquake being felt from North Carolina to Toronto seconds after it happened.

Lower, middle, and upper divisions often have their own approaches for delivering instruction, relating to students, offering extracurricular experiences, and structuring the time between the start and end of the school day. In each division we have to think about students, teachers, and curriculum. What practices and beliefs should span all three divisions, and which should be modified to best suit the needs and mission of each division?

Q: We’ve contracted with a vendor to provide our criminal background screening reports during this year’s faculty hiring season. Our question now, is who should view the results—and how do we decide who “passes” or “fails”?

Blogs, forums, chat rooms, listservs—the list goes on and on. These are valuable resources to find alternative opinions and information about almost anything. From HR concerns to just needing a quick laugh to fuel the rest of your day, blogs can help remind you that you're not alone in the all-too often chaotic world of private-independent education.

During the past few months, we’ve been examining different aspects of performance evaluation and growth programs, in advance of the release of a new performance and evaluation model from ISM early in 2012. To continue that theme, this month we would like to consider the impact of this model on Division Directors (also known as Division Heads, Principals, and the like).

It’s an age-old tradition for students and families to offer gifts to their teachers, particularly at the holidays. Many a teacher has a heart-warming story about kindnesses received at the holidays. (One of our colleagues, a former school administrator, recounts the tale of a bright red scarf he received from his students on Christmas, which we wore with pride while directing carpool traffic for many cold winters thereafter). When does a gift become more than a token of appreciation?

The Board of Trustees is responsible for the management of a school’s financial resources. As schools continue to work though these difficult economic times, many are deciding that cutting costs is necessary.

In July 2011, we sent our e-Letter subscribers a short survey asking about their concerns regarding their position and what obstacles they felt their school faced. This was the third consecutive year ISM asked its e-Letter subscribers to participate, and we were impressed with the response.

The annual school auction—silent, live, or both—is de rigueur for private-independent schools. And every school wants to offer those very special items that generate excitement and bring in the big bucks!