Virtual & Onsite Consulting Services

Onsite Consulting
Onsite Consulting

Ensure that your school’s governance and operations support your mission.

We work together with your leaders, teachers, staff members, and students to understand your school’s unique needs, strengths, and challenges. We help you create a plan to help you meet your goals.

Your team can then put these mission-appropriate recommendations into action to achieve increased cash reserves, higher enrollment levels, and long-term stability. At the end of the day, we all have a singular purpose—advance school leadership to enrich the student experience.

We offer personalized consultations for many leadership divisions of a private school—the Board of Trustees, School Heads, the Business Office, the Development Office, Enrollment Management professionals, Marketing professionals, and Academic leaders. Select the area of school leadership you’d like to further explore.

 

Our Consulting Services

School Head

Whether you want to ensure that all school functions run at peak efficiency or are considering implementing new strategies and initiatives, lean on a trusted source of knowledge to increase the likelihood of long-term success.

Business & Operations

Take advantage of a full range of planning, facilities, and operations consulting services that give your school a solid footing for the future. Examine where your key operations work well, and where they can use improvement.

Academic Leadership

Your programs set your school apart. Explore how to create and build programs that pull families in and give them an experience they couldn’t have at another private-independent school.

Admission & Enrollment Management

ISM’s data-informed approach pinpoints what attracts families to your school and inspires them to stay. Receive customized solutions based on your school’s unique marketplace stance, challenges, and opportunities.

Fundraising & Development

Learn how to develop successful strategies to engage and bring donors closer to your institution. No matter your school size, history, or pedagogy, explore how to plan, implement, and evaluate your fundraising strategies to realize your full potential.

Marketing Communications

Explore how to share exceptional stories of student learning, engagement, and outcomes, and illustrate how these can become differentiators that distinguish your school from your competitors.

Board of Trustees

The Board must focus its efforts on governing, planning, and financing your school's future, while leaving everyday decisions to competent administrators. To do that successfully, your Board must think, plan, and act strategically.

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See articles for School Heads, Business & Operations, Advancement, Academic Leadership, and Trustees, in addition to Private School News.

The Factors Division Heads Need to Prosper

Academic Leadership // December 14, 2018

The Division Head is often a “middle man” of sorts in your school hierarchy. Therefore, it’s integral that this role—one that holds everyone together—gets what it needs to prosper.

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Three Ways Recess and Play Improve Classroom Learning

Academic Leadership // December 13, 2018

The school day is packed with activities and objectives, and it can be difficult to fit everything in. You want your students to succeed, and give them the best learning opportunities possible. Often, when it comes to priorities, recess and time for unstructured play can fall to the bottom of the list.

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How to Communicate Before, During, and After a School Survey Initiative

Advancement // December 12, 2018

As a member of the enrollment management or marketing team, you might be tasked with handling the communication before, during, and after a survey initiative. It’s important to let students, parents, and faculty know about your survey and what you hope to achieve so there are no questions throughout the process.

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Asking Employees to Volunteer at Events? Consider This.

Advancement // December 11, 2018

You probably manage the planning and execution of at least a few events throughout the school year, and you might lean on your staff to help run these events. This may be OK, as long you keep specific guidelines in mind to ensure all employees are treated fairly.

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Tips to Keep in Mind During Hiring Season

Business and Operations // December 5, 2018

We may be several months away from traditional hiring season, but it’s always good to brush up on tips and tricks before it starts full-force to keep the process running smoothly.

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Concussion Protocols You Must Know

Business and Operations // December 4, 2018

Accidents involving students, teachers, or staff are bound to happen from time to time. Whether you offer contact sports or someone simply falls, your school should create, distribute, and follow concussion protocols that can be easily referenced when an accident occurs.

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Three More Dimensions of Meaningful Professional Development

School Heads // December 2, 2018

We recently shared three dimensions that all meaningful professional development initiatives should share. Those three traits—intentionality, individuality, and lifelong—help ensure your leaders, faculty, and staff get the most knowledge and insight out of any learning opportunity. Today we’re following up with three more dimensions of meaningful professional development. Keep these in mind as you structure your learning programs and budget for teachers and administrators.

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New Research Shows Emerging Private-School Enrollment Trends

Private School News // November 28, 2018

It’s a top priority for your school to maintain a healthy pipeline of mission-appropriate families so you will be able to serve students with excellence for years to come. To achieve this goal effectively, you must understand the landscape of private-independent school enrollment.

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Sharing Board Information With Constituents

Board of Trustees // November 27, 2018

Maintaining appropriate communication with parents, faculty, and the Management Team can help ease the pressure on Trustees to share what has occurred during a meeting. Board members are often bombarded in the school parking lot, grocery store, or even online to divulge information they may not be at liberty to discuss. When constituents know that they will be provided with reliable, relevant information on a consistent basis, they are less likely to probe the Board members one-to-one.

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