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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.
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See the articles from our latest issue of Ideas & Perspectives.
Mergers: Scandalous Nonsense or Strategic Alliance?
Volume 45 No. 7 // June 1, 2020
Just say the word “merger” in a room of School Heads and a cacophony of competing beliefs fills the room like some odious vapor. However, there is mounting, research-based evidence to suggest that mergers in the nonprofit sector create more robust, impactful, and efficient mission-driven organizations. ISM’s experience is that nonprofit Boards and Heads have difficulty discussing mergers because the strategy is frequently associated with leadership failure, financial distress, and operational chaos. Add to those fears professional and volunteer leaders’ investment of time, talent, and treasure, and strategic thinking all too often takes a backseat to immoderate organizational goals that never materialize. It has been said that passion blinds. Perhaps it’s time for some private schools to consider the strategic advantages of a merger.
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Becoming a ‘Price-Value’ School: Concepts and Steps
Volume 45 No. 7 // June 1, 2020
When a private-independent school’s demographic changes dramatically, whether suddenly (by natural disaster, pandemic, precipitous deterioration in the national or regional economy, or other), or gradually over a period of years, the school’s leadership may need to examine the school’s marketplace stance and consider a shift. Such a shift might imply, specifically, that leaders of secular “Best-Product” or “Best-Process” schools weigh the pros and cons of shifting to the low-cost model traditionally occupied by many, but not all, Christian, and by some, but not all, Montessori schools. ISM labels this the “Price-Value” market niche.
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Continued Support for the Faculty Is Essential in Times of Disruption
Volume 45 No. 7 // June 1, 2020
When schools face a disruption that results in financial uncertainty, often one of the first expense items cut is faculty professional development. A growth-focused faculty culture is a necessity, not a luxury. Devaluing professional growth could have serious implications for your school’s culture, enrollment, and professional excellence.
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DISRUPTION! Leading in Uncertain Times
Volume 45 No. 6 // May 11, 2020
Disruption is not a new term in business thinking. Disruptions often occur in the business realm and come in many forms. A competitor designing a product or service similar to others in the marketplace—for example, using new technology—is a disruptor. And sometimes that new product or service can be far less expensive, eliminating competition. The printing press was such a disruption in 1450. Disruptions can also be sudden outside forces that change the face of a business. A natural disaster can be a disruptor. We only must look back a few years and recall Hurricane Katrina and listen to the stories of private school leaders in New Orleans to know firsthand the power of that natural catastrophe.Add to that the coronavirus.
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Enrollment and Budget Decisions During Times of Crisis
Volume 45 No. 6 // May 11, 2020
The school year was moving along well. The economy was strong, early reports of re-enrollment were excellent, and inquiries were up. An ideal scenario was developing for full enrollment and easy budget planning. And suddenly, an unexpected and catastrophic fiscal emergency occurs, creating enrollment concerns, threatening jobs, creating financial stress for your families, and threatening the school’s financial viability.
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The Head’s Role in Clarifying Your Business Manager’s Responsibilities for the Trustees
Volume 45 No. 6 // May 11, 2020
The School Head and Business Manager relationship is critical for the school’s effective operation. The connection with the Board can complicate this relationship because the Business Manager’s role is vital for an effective Board. The Business Manager’s job is complex. It includes: strategic planning, budgeting, cash management, accounting, collections, human resources, technology oversight, facilities management, food service, transportation, risk management, and vendor management.
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Faculty Evaluation: Essential Expectations
Volume 45 No. 5 // April 20, 2020
In ISM’s approach to Comprehensive Faculty Development, evaluation and growth are treated as two distinct processes. We base faculty evaluation solely on a set of Essential Expectations that constitute critical areas of performance. These expectations go beyond teaching and pedagogy to include behaviors expected of a model employee, colleague, and professional.
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Improve Retention With a Focus on New Family Onboarding
Volume 45 No. 5 // April 20, 2020
As new students and families begin school each fall, you, the Admission Director, may be tempted to turn your attention to filling remaining empty seats or recruiting for next year. However, as outlined in Stability Marker No. 6 of the ISM Stability Markers®,1 retention is just as vital as recruitment—if not more so—to help you achieve enrollment demand in excess of supply. It stands to reason, then, that you must heighten your focus on ensuring your new students and parents experience a seamless transition throughout their first weeks and months in your school community.
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Comprehensive Faculty Development: Why the Separation of Evaluation From Growth Is Essential
Volume 45 No. 5 // April 20, 2020
As stated in the first article in this series, “Comprehensive Faculty Development: An Overview,”* evaluation and growth have traditionally been conflated. When asked for the “why” behind faculty evaluation, the first response is often “to drive growth” or “to improve performance,” even though administrators readily acknowledge that it seldom does either. The most common challenges cited to explain this ineffectiveness include:
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Support and Recognition for the Departing School Head
Volume 45 No. 5 // April 20, 2020
For a private-independent school involved in a change of school leadership, a tremendous amount of time and energy is expended searching for and selecting the new School Head. However, the Board must not overlook its responsibilities to the outgoing administration. Once a departure decision has been made, it is essential that the school maintain existing lines of authority to continue its progress. In addition, a lame-duck administrator is in a difficult position—the outgoing Head needs high-level of support from the Board.
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