Global awareness and cultural literacy are themes associated with contemporary learning outcomes. While these outcomes may be achieved through enhancements in social science and English curriculums, they are manifested in world language instruction. Some school leaders seek to diversify their world language offerings. While languages such as Mandarin Chinese and Arabic may be useful languages for students to learn given their importance to global economic and political issues, adding a new language carries with it significant risk. It can negatively impact a school’s existing language program(s), schedule, and bottom line. ISM has cautioned schools to evaluate this issue before adding a new language in lower schools, and seeks here to help guide those considering it for their middle and/or secondary school.

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Every fall, new families enter your school. Many of them have had little to no experience with a private-independent school—either as a student or as a parent. For these parents, the admission process can appear to be a series of multiple, unusual, and unexpected steps to gain admittance for their child. After all, for a public school, usually the family’s only schooling experience, it is just a formality—call the school in the spring and let them know your child will be attending the coming year. Add to the process the challenge of absorbing all the other costs that are associated with being part of an independent school—annual fund, extra fees for trips, T-shirts, Parent Association dues, etc. Often the first few fees will slip by without comment by the family. (New parents are still in the “honeymoon” phase with the school and tend to accept the earliest fees.) Then, sometime in October, the annual fund appeal arrives. This is usually when the new family begins to become agitated.

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ISM has always considered socioeconomic diversity to be a practical/tactical proposition. Most schools—either by policy or by inclination—try to provide socioeconomic diversity. In effect, these schools discount tuition to low-income families while increasing tuition for high-income families. However, true diversity also implies cultural diversity with children coming from families who do not share the dominant cultural norms. We now provide a context and ask three questions within which you might consider this issue. This article does not question the usual moral claim for diversity that is both explicitly and implicitly proposed in other venues, but it does ask for more complexity in the conversation.

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ISM has long recommended that the Board conduct an annual midyear review of the Parent Association’s progress in completing the set of tasks comprising its annual agendas. This article provides a recommended midyear audit list.

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As Board President or Chair of the Committee on Trustees (COT), you may ask whether or not ISM has evidence that the length of Board terms is an institutional difference-maker. ISM’s answer is no, but the following observations may be useful.

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Schools continually talk about their schedules. The typical targets are the sense of constant rush, the recognition that incremental annual changes have fragmented the schedule, a desire for more effective teaching time, and an interest in collaboration. It can be a frustrating conversation. It is easy to identify issues that need attention, but difficult to persuade faculty to adopt potential schedule changes. Everyone knows change is necessary, but few want to risk jumping from the frying pan into the fire! ISM has previously stated, “The skill of the School Head will be sorely tested as he/she moves faculty culture from a place of semidependency (“just tell me what to do”) to a place of organic vibrancy that bubbles up creative, critical, and innovative ways to maintain a freshness that continues to enable the school’s mission to be practiced in a hyperchange environment.” Scheduling is a change mechanism, whether moving to a six- or seven-day cycle, rotating classes, lengthening periods, and so on. Typically, this mechanism is intentional in three ways, including:

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Many schools have endowment programs. Even more do not. Whether your school should have an endowment is not an easy question to either formulate or answer in a meaningful way. Schools that have them believe that they are a critical part of their futures. Many school leaders think that endowment has to be a part of their ongoing planning. Clearly, if you have an endowment, it can be an enormous plus for the school’s ability to deliver its mission. But it is not as simple as it seems.

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As School Head, understanding your school’s stage in its ongoing maturation can be helpful in providing you with clear insight as to what is—and is not—possible. The stages outlined here are intended to help provide encouragement for schools early in their growth, praise for those that have reached maturity with excellence, and warning for those in peril of old age.

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ISM published its Student Experience Study (SES) outcomes in January 2012, and published related articles in Ideas & Perspectives throughout that spring. Among the features in the report were a revised Faculty Culture Profile (ISM’s longstanding measure of the quality of a school’s faculty culture) and a revised Student Culture Profile (renamed the Student Experience Profile). The report also included the study’s statistical findings and an instrument for use as part of any school’s approach to faculty evaluation, the Characteristics of Professional Excellence II. Beginning with the spring 2012 data collection period, ISM has published quarterly data summaries of both the Faculty Culture Profile II (FCP II) and the Student Experience Profile II (SEP II). This is the first annual analysis article, one that reviews the previous quarterly data summaries and provides commentary regarding the implications of those summaries.

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Consider this case study drawn from a real example in 2012. A school has positive enrollment and is committed to expanding facilities that reflect the school’s commitment to project-based learning, inquiry, and differentiation. The school is committed to diversity reflected in an admission policy inviting application from a wide range of students with a mix of educational needs. Class sizes are between 20 and 30. The faculty is excellent and has been involved in the facilities planning process from the start. The Board is enthusiastic about the new construction project, as is the parent body. The capital campaign kicks off with apparent success. Before all the money is in the bank, the school begins the building process. Unfortunately, the campaign is not as successful as was anticipated.

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