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.
Faculty Evaluation: Corrective Action
Volume 45 No. 16 // December 21, 2020
ISM’s faculty evaluation framework is based on a set of Essential Expectations that teachers are meeting or not meeting. Regularly meeting all expectations is required to remain employed by the school. Meeting nine out of 10 of them or sometimes meeting them doesn’t cut it. While this may sound...
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It’s Time to End the Culture of More
Volume 45 No. 16 // December 21, 2020
As schools attempt to achieve greater excellence, provide more value to parents for their tuition dollars, and better prepare students for the future, the three most common tactics rooted in a “culture of more” include devoting more time, expanding program requirements, and scheduling curricular and cocurricular elements to allow students to “do more.”
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Prepare for the Next Annual Giving Cycle
Volume 45 No. 15 // November 23, 2020
As Development Director, you understand the importance of operating a successful annual giving program. The revenue it provides can greatly enhance your programs and, in many schools (while not recommended by ISM) contribute to balancing your operating budget. Solid preparation for your yearly campa...
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Weigh Your Options for Student Accident Insurance
Volume 45 No. 15 // November 23, 2020
Accidental injuries to students participating in school-related activities are nothing new. However, with the increased number of lawsuits throughout the United States, schools must be more aware of the liability attendant to student accident situations. As School Head or Business Manager, identify ...
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The Critical Importance of a Well-Crafted Daily Schedule
Volume 45 No. 15 // November 23, 2020
When schools shifted to crisis-driven distance learning in response to COVID-19, we surveyed parents about school responses to the crisis and the virtual learning experience. Parents gave schools positive ratings for their response, leadership communication, teacher communication, and the virtual le...
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Directors and Officers Insurance: Why Your School Can’t Afford to Be Without It
Volume 45 No. 14 // November 2, 2020
Directors and Officers insurance (formerly known as School Legal or Trustee Liability insurance) was created in the 1930s, ostensibly to protect corporate directors and officers from personal liability. It now may be the most critical insurance protection for your school. As the CFO/Business Manager...
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Forming and Charging Board Committees: Six Steps
Volume 45 No. 14 // November 2, 2020
You, as Board President, with assistance from the Chair of the Committee on Trustees (COT), have the responsibility of forming and charging the array of Board committees each year. ISM urges a six-step process, normally initiated in late spring. 1. Review Board performance for the previous 1...
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Influencer Positions and the ISM Circle
Volume 45 No. 14 // November 2, 2020
ISM defines “management positions” as those carrying responsibilities—under the delegated authority of the School Head—for hiring, evaluating, and, when necessary, dismissing those employees who report to them. In contrast, ISM defines “influencer positions”—those school administrators to whom no on...
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Indexed Tuition Programs: Removing the Financial Aid Stigma
Volume 45 No. 13 // October 19, 2020
Private-independent schools have, for decades, offered financial aid to those unable to afford the full cost of tuition. Using a need-based formula, schools have typically awarded financial aid as a discount for which an applicant applies. Schools have reported that, over the past decade, f...
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Create an Effective Development Committee
Volume 45 No. 13 // October 19, 2020
A key function of the Board is to plan for the school’s financial stability. In the development arena, the Board fulfills this responsibility through strategic decisions that provide the necessary foundational support for all elements of the Comprehensive Development Model—Leadership, Case for Givin...
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