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.
Set and Enforce Expectations for the Parent-School Partnership
Volume 48 No. 7 // September 1, 2023
Nearly four decades ago, ISM began receiving feedback from client schools that their parents were becoming increasingly demanding and challenging. Fast forward to today and the calls and concerns from School Heads, academic administrators, and teachers are almost deafening. If parents had high ex...
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Constituent Representation on Your Board of Trustees
Volume 48 No. 7 // September 1, 2023
As Chair of the Committee on Trustees, you coordinate the nomination of potential Trustees for open positions on your Board. When filling your annual slate of nominees, use the Board Profile derived from your strategic plan and strategic financial plan, and screen your nominees based on their e...
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Leadership Development for Division Heads
Volume 48 No. 7 // September 1, 2023
Prioritizing the development of Division Heads’ leadership skills must be an essential area of focus for all School Heads. Although there are situational differences, typically, Division Heads are charged with interfacing with families, managing parent and student concerns, supervising teachers,&nbs...
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Should School Administrators Attend Board Meetings?
Volume 48 No. 6 // June 1, 2023
After a contentious Board meeting, the following may be a discussion between two Trustees in the school parking lot. “Why does the School Head keep bringing Leadership Team members to our meetings? It sure throws a wrench into our sessions. It just says to me the Head doesn’t know what’s going on...
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Marketing Your School’s Transportation Options
Volume 48 No. 6 // June 1, 2023
Parents seek convenient services that maximize their time and minimize their stress. For many, getting their children to and from school is the most inconvenient aspect of life in a private school. If your school provides transportation options, you, as Marketing Communications Director, have a mark...
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Succession Planning Strategies: Enhanced Predictability
Volume 48 No. 6 // June 1, 2023
Hiring and keeping a talented School Head is one of the Board’s major responsibilities. But, frankly, most Boards only allocate time to Head succession when the School Head resigns and the urgent need to find the next leader is forced on them. Boards must understand that Head succession planning is ...
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Scenario Planning and the Next Head Search
Volume 48 No. 6 // June 1, 2023
Periodically, a private-independent school faces the challenge of launching a search for a new School Head. While Boards comprise people who can define the search components and estimate the monetary costs, they may not consider the indirect “expenses” in personnel, time, and organizational dis...
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The Essential Alignment of the Head’s Beliefs and Talents With the School’s Mission and Needs
Volume 48 No. 6 // June 1, 2023
School headship has always been challenging, but the proliferation of failed headships in private-independent schools during the past five years has illuminated the profound significance of the “match” between School Heads and schools (and their primary constituencies). One key Stability Marker (Sta...
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DEIJB: Admission and Enrollment Management
Volume 48 No. 5 // May 1, 2023
Admission Offices face new challenges every year, from meeting enrollment targets to the pressure of balancing selectivity while expanding access to students and families with unique profiles. A well-run admission department should yield an incoming student class whose academic priorities and values...
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Fraught or Fruitful: The Complex Relationship Between Business and Development
Volume 48 No. 5 // May 1, 2023
The ISM Circle was designed to graphically depict the ideal management structure for an independent school. In the lower half of the Circle (see the accompanying graphic), you’ll find those administrative functions that lay the financial and operational foundation of your school’s mission (e.g., fin...
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