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.
Strategy Without Soul: Why KPI-Driven Planning Fails Independent Schools
Volume 50 No. 10 // December 1, 2025
KPI-driven strategic planning may offer clarity, but when metrics eclipse mission, independent schools risk losing coherence, identity, and long-term vitality.
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The Age of AI: Staying Human in a Machine-Accelerated World
Volume 50 No. 10 // December 1, 2025
As artificial intelligence reshapes learning and leadership, independent schools must anchor AI strategy in mission—clarifying what remains distinctly human and why that distinction defines long-term relevance.
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Use Strategic Planning to Establish Your Philanthropic Plan
Volume 50 No. 10 // December 1, 2025
Strategic planning, strategic financial planning, and philanthropy are most effective when developed together—aligning vision, resources, and fundraising priorities into a coherent, fundable roadmap for mission-driven growth.
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Glossary: The Age of Artificial Intelligence and Your School
Volume 50 No. 10 // December 1, 2025
This glossary is intended to support school leaders as they evaluate emerging technologies, develop AI protocols, and make strategic decisions grounded in mission, ethics, and long-term relevance.
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When Budgets Are Tight … What About Marketing?
Volume 50 No. 10 // December 1, 2025
As schools plan for leaner budget cycles, marketing should be treated not as a discretionary cost but as a core driver of enrollment health, philanthropic strength, and long-term stability.
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Measuring What Matters Most in Leadership: Driving Culture
Volume 50 No. 10 // December 1, 2025
ISM’s Perception of Head Leadership Survey offers a research-validated way to measure the leadership behaviors that most directly influence faculty culture and long-term stability.
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The Stability Pathway: A Clearer Way to See What Drives Results
Volume 50 No. 9 // November 1, 2025
ISM’s new Stability Pathway shows schools how mission, culture, leadership, and finances interlock — revealing what truly drives institutional health and where to focus for systemic improvement.
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The Strategic Role of Your Technology Leader
Volume 50 No. 9 // November 1, 2025
When technology leadership is positioned as strategic, a school can best serve its constituents in responsive and even innovative ways.
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Beyond Five-Year Plans: Building Adaptive Strategy With Financial Intelligence
Volume 50 No. 9 // November 1, 2025
To thrive amid volatility, independent schools must replace static five-year plans with a disciplined, adaptive strategic cycle anchored in financial reality.
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Leading With Head and Heart: ISM at 50
Volume 50 No. 9 // November 1, 2025
No institution can simply continue doing what they have always done.
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