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.
Guiding Principles and Do’s and Don’ts for Effective Head Support and Evaluation
Volume 47 No. 5 // May 1, 2022
The relationship between the School Head and the Board of Trustees is critical to a private school’s health. Key components to assure effective Board-Head relationships are annual performance goals and the Board’s written evaluation of the Head’s performance.
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Retirement Plans: A Strategic Employee Benefit
Volume 47 No. 5 // May 1, 2022
Planning for retirement is not a difficult concept to understand, but it requires discipline over one’s entire career. Consider the retirement benefit as a strategic difference-maker at your school and establish policies to position your school to attract and retain talent.
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Net Promoter Score Surveys: Is My School’s Score ’Good’?
Volume 47 No. 5 // May 1, 2022
Schools need leading indicators of enrollment demand for myriad reasons, not the least of which is to plan and prepare for the admission cycle. ISM has helped thousands of schools conduct surveys to understand what parents, students, and teachers think about their schools.
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Becoming a Generative Board
Volume 47 No. 4 // April 1, 2022
Imagine you’re a Board Chair, leading a Board retreat marked by robust future-focused conversations—Trustees engaged in substantive debate, creatively exploring a unique challenge. During this retreat, Trustees are problem finders, not problem solvers. They are tasked with exploring topics in creative ways and challenged to embrace discomfort.
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The Four Key Elements of a Comprehensive Marketing Communications Audit
Volume 47 No. 4 // April 1, 2022
One of the most significant challenges private schools face is competition for the attention of their constituents. Between advertisements, social media, text messaging, and emails, we are exposed to thousands of messages each day.
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AP Programs Considering Your School’s Purpose and Outcome Statements
Volume 47 No. 4 // April 1, 2022
In four previous I&P articles, ISM questioned whether Advanced Placement courses suit the nature of a private school and suggested that moving beyond AP is a viable alternative as schools seek to provide a high-quality, unique curriculum.
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Your Next Board Retreat: Scenario Planning
Volume 47 No. 4 // April 1, 2022
In the previous article, we explored the idea of generative governance. We asked you to imagine a Board retreat marked by robust, future-focused conversations—groups of Trustees engaged in substantive debate, creatively exploring a unique challenge.
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How to Best Design Your Employee Interview Structure
Volume 47 No. 3 // March 1, 2022
Although most administrators understand the critical role of hiring, they lack formal training in the best ways to interview and evaluate candidates. Schools use various steps in their hiring process but ultimately depend on the interview as the critical step in determining candidate fit.
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Build an Inspiring Case for Giving for Your Annual Fund
Volume 47 No. 3 // March 1, 2022
As Director of Development, you know your case for giving is a core element of any fundraising campaign, whether it is for annual, capital, or major gifts. The case for giving articulates your values and mission in a form that allows donors and prospects to make a direct, emotional connection with your school.
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Why Faculty Compensation Cannot Be Tied to ISM’s Growth and Evaluation Framework
Volume 47 No. 3 // March 1, 2022
Boards and school administrators often inquire about ISM’s growth and evaluation process with the intention of tying it to faculty compensation structures, inspired perhaps by corporate incentive programs or public school systems that link pay raises to student test scores or other metrics.
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