Of all the sudden and sobering issues you may face as the School Head, the death of a student by suicide is among the most devastating. Everyone in the school community would rather assume that “it can’t happen here,” but the harsh reality is that a student suicide can occur in any school.
Scheduling and Communication: How Academic Leaders Should Respond to the Coronavirus
With Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases rapidly increasing around the world, it is likely just a matter of time before cases reach your area, if they have not already done so. The impact COVID-19, or any pandemic, can have on schools and children is significant. That said, there are three important areas for schools to consider: Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), communication, and continuity of your school’s mission.
How to Prepare for an Effective Meeting
When you call a meeting, everyone in the room spends time they could use to work on other responsibilities. How do you ensure that time is well-spent?
Three Ways Not to Announce a New Schedule
The research has been completed and your school’s new schedule has been designed. Now the chance announcement is on the horizon. How you announce it could make or break your community’s reception. We have broken down three key errors to avoid when making such an announcement.
Comprehensive Faculty Development: An Overview
In a previous Ideas & Perspectives article, “The Problem(s) With Teacher Evaluation,” ISM described the many challenges schools typically face when trying to implement an effective evaluation system, including lack of time, lack of clarity, lack of consistency, and lack of intended outcomes. The most important challenge is that growth has often been confused with evaluation. Growth requires innovation and risk-taking. When an evaluation system is designed to rate and judge teachers, this clearly hinders growth. Rather, evaluation needs to be a separate process designed to provide a predictable environment with clear expectations in which teachers can flourish. ISM has developed a framework for growth and evaluation that responds to these challenges.
How to Get Teacher Buy-in for Faculty Growth and Evaluation
As a School Head or academic leader, you want your school culture to encourage teachers’ professional development. At the same time, you need to hold faculty accountable to the high professional standards of performance needed to achieve the student outcomes parents expect.
What Does a Growth Goal Look Like?
Each day, people set goals for themselves at work and at home. In school, students set goals for achieving academically and performing well in their extracurricular activities. We see the value of teachers and administrators setting goals for themselves, and how this has the potential to benefit them, their workplace, and, most important, the students.
Creating Your Goal Game Plan
The first part of setting a goal is knowing your “why.” Ask “Why are you working toward this goal? What is pushing you to make this effort?”
Why the Processes of Faculty Growth and Evaluation Should Be Separated
Evaluation does not improve teacher performance. Teachers improve by growing. This concept might sound simple, but it is the key principle of Comprehensive Faculty Development, ISM’s framework for how school’s should evaluate and support their teachers.
When the Teacher Is Absent: Redefining the Successful Substitute Teacher
Every school occasionally needs someone to substitute for an absent teacher. The factors that matter most to schools considering substitute teacher staffing models are cost and ease of administration. While important factors, they are not learner-centered.
How to Prevent Your Teachers From Becoming Toxic
Spotting a toxic teacher is one thing—but there are steps you can take to help prevent teachers from becoming toxic in the first place.