ISM’s six-year International Model Schools Project found powerful relationships between a professional-growth-focused faculty culture, on the one hand, and student performance, satisfaction, and enthusiasm, on the other. In ISM’s review of literature accompanying one of the two books produced in concert with that project, ISM cited Stanford University’s Dr. Milbrey McLaughlin’s work. She had noted, during a 1983 presentation to the annual conference of the National Association of Independent Schools, “… [R]esearch studies on planned change and teacher evaluation give clear evidence that, when interaction of this sort (i.e., teacher-to-teacher interaction dealing with teaching-learning equations and with professional excellence) does occur, especially on a regular basis, it has a substantial, powerful, and positive effect on what and how well students learn.”

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.

Directors and Officers insurance (also known as School Legal or Trustee Liability insurance) may be the most critical insurance and protection for your school. Having the “wrong” policy or one that is weak could potentially be devastating to your school. Damages sought under D&O insurance can range anywhere from a nuisance claim to one seeking millions of dollars in compensation, and may include a request for punitive damages if the action in question is considered egregious enough (e.g., willful disregard for protected categories under ADA or where the school knew of a wrong action that was occurring and did nothing to stop it). The cost to protect and defend a school against such claims is no mean exposure either; it can often cost $75,000 in legal fees just to prove nothing wrong occurred in the first place. It is critical, therefore, that your policy not only cover both actual losses and defense costs, but provide additional limits for defense, and thus not erode actual claims limits should the plaintiff prevail.

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.

When an administrative job opening occurs in a private-independent school, candidates are often sought both from within and outside the school community. The obvious intention seems to be to ensure a pool of exceptional candidates, all of whom will compete on an equal playing field. There is, however, quite a difference between an internal and an external candidate (see the table below) and we recommend that they be treated differently.

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.

As School Head, you have long recognized that your middle and upper school divisions (grades 6-12) have a great deal both to gain and to lose from your athletic program. The interrelationships among enrollment, character development, and interscholastic sports are many and complex. The advantages of your athletic program should not obscure issues that are evident in what happens to children. Consider the following statistics. (Cited in Until It Hurts: America’s Obsession with Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids by M. Hyman [Boston: Beacon Press, 2009].)

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.

Knowing how effective your summer program teachers are is essential in maintaining and improving the reputation of your program, and thus your ability to sustain or increase its size. The reputation of your summer program is almost entirely dependent on the impact that faculty have on students for the brief time that they teach and entertain them, typically in one-week periods.

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.

As more and more curriculum and program are being squeezed into our academic days, schools are looking for creative ways to make everything fit. One practice gaining in popularity is eliminating or significantly curtailing the time permitted for recess in lower schools. In the battle for the awarding of precious minutes, academic time may be deemed more important than physical time. But studies published this year in the Journal of Neuroscience, The Journal of School Health, and Pediatrics suggest a strong link between activity and students’ ability to learn.

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.

Each fall, ISM publishes a set of conversion factors to facilitate the recasting of previous tuitions into current dollars. (See the table on the next page.) We continue to use the Urban Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). However, we also realize that the CPI-U does not completely reflect expenditures in private-independent schools; it can only serve as a base figure. There are compelling arguments for adjusting your tuition at a rate 2% or more above the overall inflation rate.

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.

Scheduled time for professional growth and renewal of a meaningful kind (collegial, site-based, and career-long) is not often offered in our schools. When professional growth and renewal is done in a way that inspires a healthy faculty culture, student performance and student connection to their school is enhanced and is made optimal. Having such a faculty culture should be a prime objective for school management.

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.

Of the numerous new laws passed during the first 100 days of the Obama administration, the COBRA subsidy provision of the economic stimulus bill—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)—has had perhaps the most immediate impact on schools (e.g., with the federal government providing a subsidy of 65% of benefits costs for involuntarily terminated employees for up to nine months). However, a new law that has received far less attention from schools—the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (LLFPA)—may have much further-reaching and longer-lasting consequences for any schools that engaged in pay discrimination at any point in the past. All schools are urged to review their past and current pay practices and to address any potential liabilities that they may discover in light of this new law.

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.

ISM has written a number of times about its tripartite classification system for examining a private-independent school’s marketing platform. In simplest terms, the classification and its descriptors read as follows. Price/value: We offer a transformational (nearly always religious) experience for your child at a cost you can afford. Product: We offer the best academic “product” (graduate) in our market area. Process: We offer “more” for your child (more electives; more levels of electives; more teams; more levels of teams; more individual attention, and/or a unique pedagogy) than others in our market.

1. Already a member? Click here to login.

2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.

3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.