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.
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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.
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See articles for School Heads, Business & Operations, Advancement, Academic Leadership, and Trustees, in addition to Private School News.
Can Employee Assistant Programs (EAPs) Combat Drug Addictions?
Business and Operations // November 3, 2015
There is a new type of drug user entering corporate (and non-profit) America, reshaping the image of addiction: abusers of prescription medications. Drug screening, clear and updated employee handbooks outlining policies on substance abuse, background checks, and criminal records are tools for reducing risks to your school. However, these tools and methods for protecting your school and your students aren’t enough to combat the growing number of people addicted to prescription medications. Researchers are urging companies to remember the positive impact Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) programs can have.
Read MoreWellness Programs, the ACA, and EEOC
Business and Operations // November 3, 2015
October is a great month to think about your personal and school’s health. It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, World Blindness Awareness Month, and Bullying Prevention Month. It’s also National Financial Planning Month. And, as you probably know, it’s nearly impossible to think about health prevention without also thinking about your—and your school’s—bottom line. Wellness programs are known to help reduce a school’s health insurance costs. They can be designed to work in several ways that match your mission and reflect your values. However, if your school offers a wellness program either in connection with your health insurance or as a stand-alone program, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have implemented rules about your program—and the regulations depend on the type of plan you offer.
Read MoreAsk ISM’s Risk Manager
Business and Operations // November 3, 2015
Q: Can you share some information that may help clarify the need for a claim form when it comes to International Student Accident Insurance? We have a student covered by an accident and sickness plan, and he has been asked to submit a claim form for a doctor visit due to an illness.
Read MoreFAST Answers to Financial Aid Questions
Private School News // October 30, 2015
Q: Okay, last month you explained how financial aid awards should be “mission appropriate.” I think I understand that, but could you talk a little more about what makes awards strategic?
Read MoreSchool Spotlight: U of D Jesuit Student Creates “Stroller” for Paraplegic Mother
Private School News // October 30, 2015
In an online universe populated by news media that seems to thrive on negative stories about violence and hate, it's refreshing to stumble across a gem that restores some faith in the future of our species. This month’s School Spotlight features one such story coming from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy—and a budding engineer who helped make a mother’s dream come true. (Primary image credit to Jacquelyn Gray/Bustle)
Read MoreLinkedIn for Administrators, Part Three: The Lawsuit Connection
Private School News // October 30, 2015
Did you receive an email from LinkedIn on October 2nd about a class action lawsuit? Most emails listing you as a possible claimant in a multi-million dollar settlement are phishing scams—but believe it or not, this one is real. Here’s what happened and what this means for LinkedIn.
Read MoreAsk ISM's Health Care Reform Specialist
Business and Operations // October 27, 2015
Q: Our health insurance company just sent us a rebate check. What in the world am I supposed to do with it?
Read MoreMartian Lessons for Earthbound Business Managers
Business and Operations // October 27, 2015
Several ISM team members are fans of Andrew Weir’s novel, The Martian, which follows a botanist-astronaut’s struggle to survive after finding himself stranded on Mars. (The protagonist, Mark Watney, is basically MacGyver in a spacesuit.) We don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but his struggle in space offers lessons for Business Managers back here on Earth—if you know where to look.
Read MoreFive Free Project Management Tools
Business and Operations // October 27, 2015
Free. It’s a beautiful four-letter word, no? There are dozens of free apps out there that claim to help you improve your performance, but you'll still be investing time (if not your money) to test which ones work for you. For your increased efficiency and organization, we've collected five vetted management software tools that offer useful, enjoyable user experiences in their free form—before asking users to commit to a subscription or purchase.
Read MoreEight Ways to Celebrate International Education Week 2015
School Heads // October 20, 2015
What is your school doing the week of November 16-20? Hopefully, you’re all preparing to participate in International Education Week (IEW). 2015 marks the fifteenth anniversary for this joint initiative begun in 2000 as a collaboration between the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education. Join schools around the world, and have your students and faculty try out these easy ways to celebrate cultural and educational exchange!
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