As an admission officer, you receive this email: “Do you accept students with dyslexia?” Or this: “My child has ADHD. Can you help?” Or: “What services can you provide our child, who (according to a former teacher) is probably ‘on the spectrum’?” Your answers depend not only on your school’s mission, but also on your capacity to identify, accommodate, support, and educate many kinds of students, including those who are neurodivergent.
Designing a New Schedule? Form a Task Force to Lead the Process
If your school is considering a new schedule, a dedicated task force will ensure success in research, planning, and implementation.
Discover how a thoughtful, collaborative task force can work to transform your schedule into one that promotes student learning, well-being, and engagement. In this webinar, Andrew Taylor, ISM Consultant, will outline strategies for creating a scheduling task force.
Planning Holiday and Vacation Care for Your Students
Families need and value before- and after-school care for their children on regular school days. Some families may also require full-day child care for times when school is not in session—holidays, snow days, teacher in-service days, and during the summertime, outside of whatever academic session your school might already offer during the summer months.
Meaningful Service Learning Programs: Serving, Not Saving
At many private-independent schools, community service is embedded in the mission or core values. That is one reason independent schools have long incorporated service learning programs in their cocurricular programming. Such activities give students the chance to engage in meaningful service to others while gaining a deeper understanding of societal issues and a sense of social responsibility.
How to Constructively Receive Feedback as a School Leader
Giving and receiving feedback to promote growth is a necessary and helpful tool in all professions—especially in education. However, offering honest feedback—as well as receiving it— can often be an uncomfortable and difficult process.
In this webinar, Dr. Polly Parker (ISM Consultant and Executive Coach) will discuss the ways in which feedback can be used to strengthen your school community. Explore ways that school leaders can reflect on what their teams are saying to them from various lenses of listening and care.
Leading Engaging Faculty Meetings
Teachers don’t like meetings that feel like a long, dull list of announcements. And leaders dread meetings where teachers have their heads in their grade books and do not engage. As a result, these gatherings often earn a negative reputation and become a missed opportunity for professional learning and faculty collaboration.
Why Difficult Conversations Are Essential for Schools and School Leaders
Now more than ever, navigating difficult conversations is a critical skill for school leaders, given the deeply personal nature of working with families and teachers. Often, school leaders avoid challenging conversations or feel they are not equipped to handle them effectively.
Whether you feel confident conducting difficult conversations or not, join this informative webinar to learn how to manage these situations. Examine the research that explains why these discussions matter to your entire school community, and discover how to use actionable strategies.
Empowering Department Chairs to Be True Curriculum Leaders
Department chairs are best positioned to be the actual curriculum leaders in your K–12 private-independent school, yet few schools have empowered them to do this important work.
From Excellent to Extraordinary: School Cultures Where Teachers Grow and Thrive
Thousands of student surveys and interviews indicate that teacher enthusiasm and passion play a key role in student satisfaction and success in school. In an era of teacher shortages, burnout, and change fatigue, your faculty need more support than ever to sustain the passion and enthusiasm that brought them to be educators in the first place.
DEIJB in Athletic Programs
Running a school athletic program that integrates concepts of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging (DEIJB) involves implementing practices to ensure fairness, accessibility, and a welcoming environment—not just for student-athletes, but also for coaches, supporters, and families. Private-independent school athletic programs are broad and diverse in scope, and the principles of inclusion and justice must be applied to athletic programs according to each school’s situation and mission.