Department Chairs must act as an essential bridge between your school’s Leadership Team and your educators. Learn how to bolster your leadership capabilities, sharpen your communications skills, manage your team with confidence, and support your school’s long-term goals.

Whether you’re a veteran Business Manager or new to the world of independent schools, this workshop is designed to help you excel as a strategic leader in business and operations. Master the tactics you must know to move your Business Office forward and discover how to support your private-independent school’s mission for years to come.

This workshop will be combined with The New School Head, which will allow Business Managers and School Heads to explore their complementary roles and responsibilities, helping to build engaged and aligned teams.

Unveil the root causes for declining enrollment at your private-independent school. Join us and learn how to collect and use data to determine the nature of the decline—and to pinpoint specific strategies to address the contributing factors.

Learn the latest research in scheduling and classroom instruction, going back to basics to create a healthy schedule that reduces conflict and enhances the quality of your graduates. Refocus your school’s scheduling strategy on what’s best for your students to maximize their experiences with your school.

Get the big-picture view of the factors most impacting your ability to recruit and re-recruit mission-appropriate students. Through ISM’s admission funnel model, observe sound strategies, common pitfalls, and well-developed solutions to the most frequent issues arising in private school Admission Offices.

Whether you’re a new Development Director or just joining a private-independent school, learn the foundational principles of development within your community that support your mission and drive it forward. Discover how your development strategy should fit into the overall advancement efforts of your school, the role of volunteer programs and special events in promoting community and philanthropic giving, and how to develop your custom action plan for the coming school year.

The efforts of the Marketing Communications Office are integral to your private-independent school, providing a unified message to your faculty and staff, students, families, and the larger community. Discover how to excel in this position through proven strategies, in-depth knowledge, and hands-on activities to create a marketing communication action plan you can immediately implement in the new school year.

You have aspired to be the School Head for years. Now that you’re here, what should you do first? Gain a 360-degree view of everything that should occur in your school, what you need to manage, and what support you require.

This workshop will be combined with Running an Effective Business & Operations Office, which will allow School Heads and Business Managers to explore their complementary roles and responsibilities when it comes to strategic financial planning, tuition setting, financial aid, negotiations, human resources, and managing complex change. This will help you discover how to work across disciplines to build engaged and aligned teams.

Create and implement a thriving advisory program to support your middle and upper school students. Explore core concepts, design models, and recommended strategies for building an advisory program that reflects and supports the mission of your school.

Increase cash reserves, enrollment levels, and long-term viability. These are the goals at every school—and they are attainable if you have the right strategic financial plan. ISM’s proven approach to strategic financial planning helps you experience financial success now, while positioning your school strongly for the future.

The foundation of your school’s culture of philanthropy begins with a strong annual fund. Learn how to identify, engage, evaluate, solicit, recognize, and steward donors and prospects by employing strategic data, sharing a strong school story, and building a confident and agile annual fund team.

Whether you support the School Head or another administrator, lead from your position in a manner that sets you and your school apart. Learn proven strategies and tactics for supporting your supervisor, your team, your mission, and your school.

When an entire school community is aligned around the school’s mission with clarity of expectations, roles, and responsibilities, the result is a healthy school culture and an exceptional student experience. Discover how to foster a supportive, high-functioning Leadership Team and student-centered, growth-focused employees who work together toward a common vision.

Gain the tools to effectively direct inclusion, diversity, and equity initiatives in your school and implement sustainable approaches that will support your entire community. Participate in critical self-reflection and practical skills activities to develop essential competencies for systemic, lasting inclusion, diversity, and equity programs that best serve your private-independent school. 

Your school, whether large or small, can run a successful capital campaign—with the correct preparation. Learn the strategies you need to fully prepare you for a successful campaign, motivate and engage your supporters, and create an inspirational and sustainable vision for the future.

There are risks inherent to private-independent-school operations that can feel overwhelming if you don’t have the right plans in place. Explore how to best prepare yourself and your school to ensure you’ve protected your faculty, staff, students, and bottom line for years to come.

Understand why you must take a mission- and student-centric approach to create and build an international student program that supports your school’s enrollment goals. Identify the resources you need to properly and intentionally grow a robust international program, while best serving all students, both domestic and international.