This is the third article in a three-part series on collecting and using data to assess your school and advance your school’s strategic initiatives. The first article dealt with building a “culture of data” in your school. The second outlined best practices for launching a successful survey initiative—from choice and design of the surveys to timing and implementation strategies. This article examines proper analysis and use of the data you have collected. While this is the last step chronologically, it is far from least. Data misinterpreted or misused can be more detrimental than no data at all, with consequences ranging from divisiveness within a faculty to expensive and misguided decisions to dramatic public relations issues with legal ramifications. These consequences are not unusual or hypothetical; this article is the response to a need presented to ISM by schools that have faced exactly these problems.

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A school refused to renew a teacher’s contract. She sued, claiming retaliation because of her participation in an earlier Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) discrimination charge against the school by another employee. She claimed a failure to promote or transfer her position, harassment, and emotional distress. The school lost its Motion for Summary Judgment. The litigation was settled after about three years for $125,000, with another $106,000 spent in Costs of Defense. A school terminated a third-grade teacher after a family, a large donor, threatened to withdraw their daughter if the teacher was not fired. The claimant had taught at the school for 12 years without incident. Although the school denied any wrongdoing, there was little documentation to support the claimant’s termination. To avoid costly litigation, the school settled this matter for $200,000

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There has been a raging battle over the past three decades around the kind of schedule that best benefits students. This has, generally speaking, taken two sides. On one side are those who have hewn to a “traditional” schedule of seven 40-minute periods a day, with every class meeting every day for the entire year.1 On the other side are those who have embraced what is known as the “block” schedule. This has many variations. In its pure form, it is structured as four 90-minute periods a day with each class meeting daily for a semester. The classes then change and the format is repeated.2 The following table delineates the major technical differences between these two types of schedule.

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In a recent article on endowment, we wrote: “Endowment is no panacea for poor governance, overreaching debt, or an unwillingness to charge what it costs. However, in a school that is mature in its governance and operations, endowment will be a powerful aid to enhance the school’s ability to deliver its mission.” While the optimum gift is unrestricted, many donors are inspired to donate in support of faculty excellence, thus directing their gift for a specific purpose. Setting up such an endowment is not quite as simple as just putting money in the bank. The following suggestions for both organization and intent are meant to provide guidance and to stimulate your own thinking. All boxed comments are illustrative only.

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Most private-independent schools now run some form of summer program. As more schools move toward year-round schooling, ISM makes the argument that the summer program can represent any school’s third semester. This, the first article in a series, lays out the broad framework for this position. Following articles will focus on how this concept affects upper school students, lower and middle school students, and your school’s finances and administration.

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As the School Head, you know communication with parents is essential. However, you’ve questioned whether that continuous stream of mailings your school sends home is really doing the job—especially considering the time and expense involved. Parents may receive daily information from the school, especially if they have children in more than one division. There’s the e-letter and the calendar, updates on the school website, notices from the Parent Association, the annual fund solicitation, letters and emails from teachers, and notes from Division Heads and even from you. Parents quickly become overwhelmed!

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Parental cooperation and support have always been critical aspects of school culture in private-independent schools. Today’s parents are involved and vocal—both of which can be positive qualities. But what do you do when a parent consistently refuses to follow the rules? Makes excessive demands? Stirs up discontent or behaves inappropriately? Let’s explore ways that you, as School Head, can proactively manage problematic parents

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There are times in which curriculum offerings and student choices result in the need for additional program or course sections that cannot be taught by full-time faculty. There are five types of “part-time” faculty.

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A comprehensive campaign incorporates all of an institution’s fundraising initiatives and objectives—annual, building, and endowment—over a predetermined time period into a unified effort with a coherent theme and coordinated communications strategy. The comprehensive approach to fundraising emerged as a solution to the diverse needs and constraints that a school confronts. Individuals have long given gifts to their favorite institutions. They were inclined to direct their gifts toward building the school’s capital base, either by directly funding new construction or renovation of existing buildings or by making an endowment gift to generate continuing income to establish or sustain programs in perpetuity.

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A new study (building on previous work) throws important light on School Head longevity and attrition—perhaps something of some concern to you, the Board President. The statistics on this are extremely hard to get industrywide, and many numbers have been thrown around based on gut feeling or personal experience. A report from the National Center for Education Statistics sampled 7,400 public and 1,700 private schools to obtain the findings on school principals.* The study allows us to compare two different calendar years—2008–2009 and 2012–2013. The following table considers whether the School Head (principal in the study) remained at the school from one year to the next, left the position of Headship entirely from one year to the next, moved to take up a Headship at another school, or stayed at the school. The column marked other denotes those for whom there is no information available. The base year for 2008–09 was 2007–08; the base year for 2012–2013 was 2011–2012.

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