Learn practical strategies to handle emerging trends and leadership challenges in private schools.
No matter if you’re a School Head, Admission Director, Development Director, Board member, or any other private school administrator—Ideas & Perspectives®, ISM’s premier private school publication, has strategic solutions for the pervasive problems you face.
- Tuition not keeping pace with your expenses? In I&P, explore how to use strategic financial planning to create your budget and appropriately adjust your tuition.
- Enrollment dropping off? Discover how to implement the right admission and enrollment management strategies that engage your community—and fill your classrooms.
- Trouble retaining teachers? Learn how you can best support your teachers using ISM’s Comprehensive Faculty Development framework. Your faculty members will become more enthusiastic about their roles—which ultimately improves student outcomes.
- Fundraising campaigns not as successful as you’d hoped? Implement ISM’s practical advice and guidance to build a thriving annual fund, construct an effective capital campaign, and secure major donors—no matter your community size or location.
- Not sure how to provide professional development—for you and your staff? Learn ways to develop and fund a successful professional development strategy. You can improve teacher-centered satisfaction and growth, which in turn strengthens student-centered learning.
- Problematic schedule? You can master the challenges of scheduling with the help of ISM’s practical advice, based on our experience with hundreds of schools and our time-tested theories.
- And so much more.
I&P has shared targeted research, up-to-date insight, and sound theory with school leaders since 1975. More than 8,500 private school decision-makers find the answers to their schools’ administrative and governance matters in our advisory letter. We give you the strategic answers you need.
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See the articles from our latest issue of Ideas & Perspectives.
Board Leadership in Fundraising: Strategies for Engagement and Growth
Volume 50 No. 3 // March 1, 2025
ISM consistently advises that hard income should cover a school’s operating budget, where “hard income” is defined as all revenue sources other than annual fundraising sources.1 But even in schools that regularly achieve this goal, income from gifts can make a critical difference in the school’...
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Dear Board Member
Volume 50 No. 3 // March 1, 2025
We are addressing this to you. We are writing this about your sole employee, your school head. Perhaps the title you use is president or headmaster, but at most independent schools, the title is “head of school.” So, here’s the punchline: The use of “head” over-intellectualizes the role. Let us e...
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Pizza, Compensation, and Faculty Culture
Volume 50 No. 3 // March 1, 2025
An earlier version of this article originally appeared in Ideas & Perspectives in April 2005. A recent front-page article in The Wall Street Journal highlighted the issues of employee compensation, turnover, and culture at Domino’s, a national pizza delivery chain.1 When the new CEO, David A. ...
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Enrollment Challenges? Look Inward Before Looking Out
Volume 50 No. 3 // March 1, 2025
When a school faces stagnant or declining enrollment, administrators and boards often look outward for explanations. Shifting demographics, competing schools with state-of-the-art facilities, and local or national economic trends — all these seem like plausible reasons for enrollment problems. And w...
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The Distinctions Between Endowment, Quasi-endowment, and Reserves
Volume 50 No. 2 // February 1, 2025
Private-independent schools rely on several specific financial strategies to ensure their long-term sustainability while fulfilling their educational missions. Among these, endowments, quasi-endowments, and reserves play distinct roles. Understanding these concepts can help school leaders and boards...
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Strengthening the Head-Board Partnership for Effective Crisis Communication
Volume 50 No. 2 // February 1, 2025
Crises can emerge at any time, catching even the most prepared schools off guard. For private-independent schools, crises bring unique challenges that require a strategic and unified response. Whether responding to a deepfake scandal or a natural disaster, school heads and boards must work collabora...
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The Board President: Responsibilities
Volume 50 No. 2 // February 1, 2025
Originally published December 15, 1980 In most schools, the only reference to the duties and powers of the board president occurs in bylaws, as in the following statement: The board president shall preside at all meetings of the board and shall appoint all committees that are n...
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Creating a Culture of Giving and Getting Involved: Research Report
Volume 50 No. 2 // February 1, 2025
As a private school development director, you have two primary responsibilities: meet your goals for raising funds and play your part in achieving the aims of the school’s strategic plan and strategic financial plan. To measure whether your development operation reflects industry-recommended prac...
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Tuition and Financial Aid: How Much Can a Family Afford?
Volume 50 No. 1 // January 1, 2025
Financial aid committees often focus on getting the award “right.” By that, they usually mean providing just enough financial support to meet a family’s demonstrated need, but not a penny more. But recently the ISM consulting team posed a different question: What percentage of its annual income shou...
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Navigating 2025: Top Trends and Challenges for Independent School Boards
Volume 50 No. 1 // January 1, 2025
As 2025 begins, private-independent schools should prepare for continuing shifts in donor expectations, cultural priorities, and operational landscapes. To remain effective stewards, school boards must adapt to both emerging trends and long-term challenges. Here are five areas to prioritize in the c...
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