Community Corner
Community Corner

Stay current with the latest private-independent school news.

What are the latest trends impacting private-independent school enrollment? How can you be the most effective in your role as an administrator? How can you help your school meet its mission and best serve your students?

Check out Community Corner, a free blog from ISM.

We cover such topics as how to communicate with your constituencies, work with your fellow school leaders, leverage new technology trends, utilize recommended reading and resources, implement new strategies—all to better serve your school's mission. 

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See articles for School Heads, Business & Operations, Advancement, Academic Leadership, and Trustees, in addition to Private School News.

Where to Start to Help Reduce Student Stress

Academic Leadership // October 18, 2018

As an academic administrator, you can’t expect to eliminate all the stress in your school. However, you can certainly take steps to ensure that your school structure causes as little stress as possible, and is set up to best support faculty, staff, and students.

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Tips for Ensuring Your School's Marketing Is Student-Centered

Advancement // October 9, 2018

There are many audiences you want to reach when marketing your school. And while every audience has unique needs, a main component of your marketing messages must remain consistent—students are the heart of your mission and your school. Therefore, all marketing must be unequivocally student-centered.

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4 Things Every Prospective Parent Wants When Choosing a Private School

Advancement // October 9, 2018

When prospective families consider your school, they want to make sure the programs and services you offer meet their needs and standards. But they also want more. Parents want a sense of validation that your school’s mission meets their desires for their children, and will help mold them into capable citizens of the world. They want to feel confident in the quality, benefits, and value that your school offers.

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Four Tips for Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences

School Heads // October 2, 2018

Parent-teacher conferences occur a few times each year at your school. These meetings give parents and teachers an important opportunity to talk about each student’s progress, while discussing any issues and setting a course for future success. While these meetings fall into the purview of your faculty, division heads, and possibly department chairs, the School Head also has an important role to play during parent-teacher conferences. It’s vital that you express excitement for these critical, relationship-establishing encounters, and help facilitate them.

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Media Use Among Young Children Continues to Rise

School Heads // October 2, 2018

We’re no strangers to the fact that screen time use is on the rise among students. This increase in students’ media exposure can impact many areas of school operations, including policies surrounding student device use, how students complete homework and other tasks at home, and how faculty and staff can best relate to and support students.

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Your Essential Duties as a Leadership Team Member

Private School News // September 27, 2018

Being part of your school’s Leadership Team is a valued role, one that serves your students, parents, and broader community. There’s also no denying that it can a stressful job—one where you’re expected to take on various tasks to support the school. Often times, job descriptions don’t exist, or don’t fully outline all the duties you are ultimately responsible for managing.

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Avoid These Four School Website Mistakes

Private School News // September 27, 2018

Your website is your school’s outward reflection of its mission, culture, and of course, its story. This is how your community connects with everything happening on your campus and where they can inquire about enrollment—often one of your primary goals for prospective families. Because your site’s main focus is to capture the hearts of potential families, it’s important that your site doesn’t drive users away after a few seconds.

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Five Benefits Provided by a Quality Summer Program

Private School News // September 27, 2018

A summer program offers numerous benefits to your students, parents, faculty, staff, and community. If you don’t currently provide a summer program, or feel your offerings aren’t as strong as they could be, there are many ways to create a quality summer program that supports your school’s mission.

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How Many Trustees Does It Take?

Board of Trustees // September 25, 2018

As Board President, make sure your Board isn’t “spinning”—from its own or the school community’s perspective—and that you have the right number of Trustees to accomplish your school’s goals.

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