Your school ambassadors must be on the same page when it comes to marketing and messaging. Alignment about the education that your school provides—and what makes your school different from its competitors—strengthens everyone’s efforts.

The world is changing, and private school admission is changing right along with it. Parents and students want different things when it comes to their commitment to education, and it’s up to Admission Directors to illustrate the value their schools provide.

It is always improper to accept a philanthropic gift from an applicant family prior to the student’s acceptance and subsequent enrollment in the school.

Private-independent school cultures vary greatly, and some leaders wonder who has the “final say” when it comes to termination decisions.

How your school compensates its teachers can be one of the trickiest issues to face as a Head. You want every teacher to feel that he or she is paid fairly for work performed, while abiding by your strategic financial plan and protecting the school’s long-term viability. Some members of the private school community have questioned whether merit pay makes sense as a faculty compensation structure for their school.

It's a careful balance between managing parental expectations and donor relationships—all while focusing on providing the best mission-appropriate education for your students. We sat down with a School Head who navigates these channels each day to hear his perspectives on today’s pressure to succeed.

Think of the expertise that’s in the room every time your Board of Trustees meets. What a tremendous resource—and here’s the opportunity to tap it. Still, you’ve noticed that great ideas and suggestions can slip away. They pop up during a discussion, but that information doesn’t get captured in the standard Board minutes.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that teachers desire spacious classrooms. They prefer collaborative spaces that are flexible and open, which they believe to be more conducive to learning. As the use of technology increases, classroom accommodation becomes a larger issue.

Headlines have recently trumpeted high-profile individuals and institutions becoming involved in various forms of college-level admission cheating. While there is no foolproof way to prevent nefarious conduct of this sort, you must use available safeguards to keep your school from becoming inadvertently complicit in schemes of this kind.

It takes the perfect storm of a great idea, flawless execution, and community engagement to bring a project to life that separates your school from the rest. For Eastside Christian School, it all started with the idea of raising awareness and ended with a remarkable, state-of-the-art video that illustrates their mission at work.