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.
Your Strategic Financial Plan: Protecting Stability Marker No. 4 (Hard Income)
Volume 33 No. 13 // October 17, 2008
The fourth-ranking ISM Stability MarkerTM deals with the percent of operations expense covered by "hard income," defined in ISM’s benchmarking systems as revenues that are billed (e.g., tuition) or funds transferred internally (e.g., usable interest from an endowment corpus). In ISM’s self-scoring system for Stability Markers, your school begins to earn points on this marker when your percent coverage reaches 92%, and tops out at full credit at 98%. (These percentages are for day schools; ISM’s scale for boarding schools looks quite different.)
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The ISM 37-School Parent Survey: Why Families Can Afford Your School's Tuition
Volume 33 No. 13 // October 17, 2008
From October 2007 to March 2008, ISM conducted perhaps the largest survey ever of private-independent school parents. Over 21,800 families from 37 schools were invited to participate in the online survey and 7,986 responded. This article focuses on parental income and the ability to pay tuition, as well as the differences in the use of scholarships and financial aid in these schools.
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The New 403(b) Regulations: Choosing the Right Provider
Volume 33 No. 12 // September 29, 2008
In the last issue of I&P, we discussed the upcoming changes to the regulations governing 403(b) plans that will take effect after December 31, 2008. The IRS created this new legislation to make 403(b) plans look and act more like the typical 401(k) plans, and also to make sponsors of 403(b) plans assume greater responsibility for the administration of their plans. Since your school’s 403(b) plan is an ERISA plan, the government is going to hold you responsible for ensuring that the plan is administered in accordance with the plan document and that the plan always serves the best interests of its participants.
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Board Leadership: ISM Research Report
Volume 33 No. 12 // September 29, 2008
ISM’s strategic approach to Board structure and function has numerous unique components. Consequently, leadership of such a Board implies approaches and characteristics that are unique, as well.
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Military Personnel and Families: Important FMLA Update and Other Reminders
Volume 33 No. 12 // September 29, 2008
ISM has long recommended looking to military personnel—either retirees or those rotating out of service—as a source of quality employees. Veterans are typically highly skilled, professionally trained workers who can perform efficiently under pressure, possess proven leadership and management capabilities, and are accustomed to working with diverse populations. This makes them a potential fit for your school’s operational facilities, coaching positions, and other managerial openings.
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Appropriate Tuition Adjustment: Recasting Financial Figures, 2008-09
Volume 33 No. 11 // September 6, 2008
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)—the most readily available "market basket" index, covering a broad range of services and goods including food items, clothing, transportation, and housing. 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.
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The New 403(b) Regulations: What You Need to Know
Volume 33 No. 11 // September 6, 2008
Recent IRS audits of 403(b) plans have clearly shown that current practices within the market were making it difficult, if not impossible, to consistently enforce the regulations governing contributions to these plans. This fact—coupled with a growing dissatisfaction with the high fees, limited investment choices, and steep surrender charges that characterize much of the 403(b) market—prompted the IRS to institute a number of changes to the laws that regulate these retirement plans, rendering nearly 40 years of prior regulations practically obsolete.
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Target Your True Recruitment/Retention Issues
Volume 33 No. 11 // September 6, 2008
If your school’s enrollment is declining and its budget is looking worse by the day, your Management Team and Board may assume the following. It’s the economy. There aren’t enough parents who can afford our tuition. The demographics are declining—it’s the trend.
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Ex Officio Board Members
Volume 33 No. 10 // August 15, 2008
We often hear the term "ex officio" when referring to the School Head’s status at Board meetings. The term is often misused and misunderstood.
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Cost Effective, Sustainable Building Solutions
Volume 33 No. 10 // August 15, 2008
Sustainability is no longer a trend; it is an integral part of conversations about school design and management. Sustainability, green buildings, and high-performance buildings are all part of the conversation—and, although the three terms are used interchangeably, it is helpful to remember that, while green buildings incorporate a number of sustainable ideas, the terms are not synonymous.
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