Examine considerations for incorporating AI into your academic programming.

Discover how to become a strong leader and build successful, healthy administrative teams.

The ever-increasing uncertainties facing independent school leadership in the market, in multi-generational faculty expectations, and in a world of increasing neuro-divergence in our students make the demand for decisive, steady, and empathetic leadership greater than ever. While the needs of the individual leader are important, never before has the effectiveness of a healthy, high-functioning team required greater attention.

Identify the strengths you bring to your administrative or Leadership Team, and learn how to create team excellence when managing up, down, and among peers. After this course, you’ll reap the results of strong leadership, healthy cultures, clear purpose, and powerful relationships.

Explore new methodologies for collecting evidence of meaningful, authentic student learning and comprehension.

Are your students involved in hands-on work that keeps them actively engaged? Do they produce work and perform tasks that they believe are purposeful?

It’s time to think about your school’s approach to assessment—that is, how you measure evidence of learning and achievement. Join us in an exploration of common student measurements, like multiple-choice tests, timed writings, worksheets, and other basic skills tests as we rethink how to collect authentic indications of student learning.

Join other exceptional academic leaders to explore and refine your leadership strengths, uncover limiting blind spots, and gain practical tools to take your leadership to the next level and transform your school’s culture.

In an era of hyper-change against the backdrop of the pandemic, political polarization, changing markets, teacher shortages, and pivotal technological advances, leading schools has never been more challenging. This workshop is designed to support and reenergize talented leaders in your tireless efforts to foster a thriving, stable school culture. As an academic administrator, culture starts with you, and you set the tone for your teachers. A predictable and supportive environment is essential for faculty to have the capacity to embrace inevitable changes with fortitude and enthusiasm.

Uncover your capacity to be an even more inspiring and effective leader, reconciling competing priorities while still affecting necessary higher-order change initiatives for staff and students. This workshop gives you the tools to make those goals a reality while keeping your school viable and sustainable.

Discover the strategies you need to prepare for a successful capital campaign to motivate and engage your supporters—creating an inspirational and sustainable vision for the future.

Your school, whether large or small, can run a successful capital campaign—with the correct preparation.

Explore the dynamics of independent school fundraising to support your school’s ability to make a difference for your students. Become more confident in your role and understand how to maximize the capacity of your volunteer and donor base.

Examine the latest research in scheduling and classroom instruction to guarantee a strong, healthy schedule that enhances the quality of your graduates.

Creating your next school schedule doesn’t have to be a caffeine-fueled, angst-driven exercise in futility.

This workshop takes you back to basics and refocuses your scheduling strategy on what’s best for your students. Return to your school with incredible quantities of up-to-date research and modern scheduling strategies, and an action plan that walks you through improving your school’s schedule design and process.

Learn how to simplify planned giving to enable prospects to give gifts larger than they imagined.

Billions of dollars of intergenerational money are currently being transferred from one generation to another, creating significant philanthropic opportunities—are you alert to the full potential of your school’s supporters?

Unlock the power of planned giving and pave the way for transformational philanthropy in your school. This workshop provides a comprehensive guide to creating a dynamic planned giving program that resonates with donors, fosters long-term engagement, and secures sustainable support for your cause.

Are all your students thriving? Or are some just surviving? How do you know? At the heart of true Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Belonging (DEIJB) work is creating a culture in which all students thrive as evidenced by experiencing appreciation, validation, acceptance, and fair treatment within a culturally vibrant environment.

Diversity is often undefined or ill-defined, which creates confusion among groups regarding mission alignment, connection to teaching and learning, and benefactors of diversity efforts. This lack of clarity puts additional pressure and stress on a role that is already inherently challenging and highly emotional work.

Led by practitioners with extensive backgrounds in independent schools, this workshop guides DEIJB practitioners (by any name) in facilitated inquiry employing various interactive strategies, discussions, individual reflection, and theoretical frameworks. Participants leave this workshop with a customized action plan to begin enacting the critical work of cultivating cultural competency and enriching community within their respective school communities.

Discover how to manage the nuances and demands of school headship.

Leading a school requires a holistic understanding of private school management—including effective Board management, admission, business operations, curriculum development, and faculty and staff hiring and evaluation. Additionally, School Heads must regularly interact with all school constituencies. And because school leadership can be all-consuming, Heads must find a work-life balance that makes the job sustainable.

This workshop will explore the practical and personal aspects of leading a school. Come away with practical initiatives and knowledge to ensure your success.

How can school leaders build capacity for change in their schools, and facilitate change at the rate their school can manage?

High-functioning private schools continually evolve. But although private schools have the freedom and independence to be innovative, most aren’t. Implementing change can be a difficult task for many reasons, such as complex administrative structures and decision-making processes, long-standing traditions and established practices, and limited resources to invest in new opportunities.

In this interactive workshop, Polly Parker and Steve Salvo will explore how to enact change while taking into account the cultural and administrative realities of private-independent schools.

Explore what determines long-term sustainability for independent schools, how to make strategic tuition decisions even in uncertain times, and what elements go into powerful strategic plans.

Strategic planning helps reset a school’s direction and brings about meaningful institutional growth. Understand the important elements that are required to create an effective strategic plan.

Discuss effective Board structure, explore your school’s marketplace stance, and learn how to quantify your school's perceived value. Discover the steps you must take now to protect your school for the future.

Cultivate an understanding of the relationships between leadership, leader well-being, faculty culture, and student performance.

Explore a mission-driven and comprehensive approach to foster growth-focused, professional faculty through assessing and enhancing faculty and school culture. You’ll gain strategies for faculty evaluation, corrective action, selective retention, and a teacher-directed, energizing, and collegial professional growth program.

Build a comprehensive engagement plan that includes a focus on stewardship and elevates your work with your donors and prospects to an even higher level.

The amount and kind of attention paid to your donors, families, and organizations when not soliciting them can make an enormous difference in your school’s fundraising success. This workshop takes a close look into how the Donor Cycle (identification, engagement, evaluation, solicitation, recognition, and stewardship) provides a strategic approach to moving a donor or prospect into a closer relationship with your school.

We'll examine the process by which development professionals begin the work of discovering potential donors, enhancing relationships with donors, and qualifying their interests, values, and financial resources. You’ll learn effective solicitation techniques to connect your donors and prospects with your school’s strategic priorities.

The ISM Annual Advancement Academy brings together leaders in the areas of admission, alumni relations, development, enrollment, fundraising, and marketing communications—along with School Heads—to collaborate on advancement initiatives and strategies. Attendees leave with a customized action plan to implement right away.

Invest in Your Personal Well-Being and Professional Growth

As a Head of School, staying focused on your school’s big-picture goals can be difficult when you’re navigating the daily responsibilities and pressures of operations. This challenge is what prompted us to create our Annual Head’s Retreat—a gathering that gives School Heads the time and space to step back and refocus, discuss emerging trends, and cultivate visionary leadership.

Seats for this intimate retreat are in high demand each year—reserve yours now.