4 Reasons Why You’re Chasing Re-enrollments

Advancement // November 5, 2014

You’ve begged. You’ve pleaded. You’ve called and emailed and sent letters. You’ve done everything but hire a plane to write messages in the sky. But you can’t get your current parents to re-enroll on time! Knowing many of you struggle with this issue, we asked one of our ISM Consultants to provide some insight into the annoying—and costly—problem of perpetually late re-enrollment.

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Bring a Friend to School Day—Is It Right for Your School?

Advancement // November 5, 2014

Many schools consider hosting a “Bring a Friend/Sibling to School Day” around this time of year. After all, friends and family have already been told about all of the wonderful opportunities your program and faculty provide. It makes sense to let prospective families get a taste of life at your school to encourage those who would otherwise not apply to do so. However, events that sound good on paper can have unforeseen land mines—if not adequately anticipated. This month, let’s take a look at some of the advantages and obstacles that a “bring a friend to school” program might encounter.

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School Spotlight: St. Margaret's Lives its Mission Through edX MOOCs

Private School News // October 31, 2014

The mission of St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, California, is to “educate the hearts and minds of young people for lives of learning, leadership, and service.” This spring, select St. Margaret’s faculty will have an opportunity to demonstrate all three qualities for their students as they team up with massive open online course (MOOC) provider edX. Their new online courses will provide students around the world of all ages and backgrounds access to truly world-class education.

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Private School Administrator Shadows Students, Is Shocked

Private School News // October 31, 2014

Once upon a time, all teachers were students. As the years go on, teachers are further removed from personal experience, forgetting what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a lecture—the fifth lecture that day. With that in mind, Alexis Wiggins, the newly minted “Learning Coach” at an international private school, decided to shadow two students and relearn what the current learning experience was like so she could mentor teachers and administrators on matters like curriculum and scheduling. The results from Wiggins’s shadowing experience as posted on education leader Grant Wiggins’s personal blog demonstrate how teaching in a vacuum—without feedback or understanding of the students’ experience—can lead to an oppressive, rather than conducive, learning environment.

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National Novel Writing Month in the Classroom

Private School News // October 31, 2014

Instilling a passion for reading at a young age is important, especially when you’re competing with television and video games. But, the love of storytelling lives on! Over 89,000 young writers in 2,000 classrooms wrote their stories and novels during last year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November— and your students could join in the fun.

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Ask ISM’s Risk Manager

Business and Operations // October 29, 2014

Q: I’m new to the position of Business Manager, and very new to education. I’ve been doing a good amount of reading to prepare for my role, but some of it escapes me. Can you tell me what an “Employment Practices” claim is in terms of education?

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Schools Reacting to Ebola in the U.S.

Business and Operations // October 29, 2014

Ebola in the U.S. has many on guarded alert. The devastation in Africa has Americans worried that it’s only a matter of time until we start to see rising death tolls here in the states. Numerous schools over the past weeks have suspended classes and closed campuses in response to scares that some of their students or parents came into contact with one of the few confirmed Ebola patients in the U.S. This panic is prompting people to take extra precautionary measures to keep their families safe.

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Your Personal Emergency Office Kit

Business and Operations // October 29, 2014

In the event something should affect your ability to leave campus, most schools are well equipped with supplies to support faculty, staff, and students for a considerable amount of time. There are numerous natural and human-instigated disasters that can affect your school (as well as your personal safety) for which even the best risk management plans cannot protect you from. Tornados, earthquakes, fires, industrial accidents, and the like can happen without a moment’s notice, leaving you and your students without an immediate escape route. This is when a personal emergency kit can come to your rescue.

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Responding to Criticism, Part Two

School Heads // October 23, 2014

Last month, we talked about responding to (inevitable) criticism of school policies and decisions. POM Wonderful, a juice company, offered an example of how to respond positively to such criticism, but what about responding badly? School Heads should know just as much about how not to respond to criticism as they do about responding well, to avoid public and private faux pas across the board. Again, we turn to John Oliver’s HBO satirical news show “Last Week Tonight” for our case study in responding to criticism. This time, we’ll look at how Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler reacted to Oliver’s satire—and how it backfired. (Primary image credit to CNET)

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Fact or Fiction? 5 Strange Ways Students (Try to) Get High

School Heads // October 23, 2014

There’s an excellent reason why alcohol and nicotine via tobacco are banned from children—and why other mind-altering substances are completely illegal. Children trying to achieve a blissful “high” to escape from the pressures and doldrums of everyday life can do irreparable damage to their still-growing bodies. That doesn’t mean that students won’t try the darnedest things to achieve an elusive, forbidden high.

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