It’s inevitable that you’ll be called into meetings with unhappy parents or guardians from time to time. Since parents pay tuition for their child to attend your school, some can feel that they can make demands on teachers, administrators, and the curriculum itself. If they don’t feel they’re getting their way, they may call for a meeting with you.
Attracting and Retaining the Best Faculty
Every independent school must hire, develop, and retain the best faculty to deliver upon its mission and the Portrait of the Graduate. You need qualified teachers who are committed to your mission, can connect with your students, and contribute positively to the faculty culture. You hold tight to those pied piper teachers that embody the school’s Characteristics of Professional Excellence. How do you attract and retain such teachers?
Four Tips for New Division Heads
May is probably a busy time in your school as end-of-year activities ramp up, students prepare for summer break, and the academic leaders work together to solidify plans and processes for the following school year.
Part of those plans may mean hiring new Division Heads or other academic leaders to join your team. It’s then up to you and your fellow administrators to help these new faces transition into your culture, learn and uphold your school’s mission, and become part of your community.
Are Student-Led Conferences Right for Your School?
Parent-teacher conferences are often a cornerstone of schools’ parent communication strategies. Parents and teachers come together to discuss each student’s progress, identity areas that may need attention, and help families feel that their children are getting the best education possible.
But there is another format for conferences that your school might consider. Student-led conferences are growing in popularity.
The Importance of Positive Parent-Teacher Relationships
Teachers and parents provide a vital support system to help students flourish. Both groups are important. But, when parents and teachers communicate and work together effectively, it can significantly impact each student’s long-term success.
Four Strategies to Strengthen Your School’s Student Council
If your school’s mission includes an emphasis on leadership and community involvement, a student council is often a great way to help students learn and share these skills.
A student council can be a key driver in cultivating leadership skills for students in the middle and upper levels
The Benefits and Challenges of Personalized Learning
Personalized learning initiatives—a specific focus on matching students’ individual learning styles and competencies to their educational processes—have long been a focus for private-independent schools. As technology makes personalized learning initiatives even more individualized, a new study has analyzed the impact of personalized learning and whether it’s truly helping students succeed.
Strengthen Your School’s Volunteer Program to Benefit Your Students and Community
Many private-independent schools want their students to become purveyors of positive change in their communities. School leaders, therefore, incorporate this fundamental goal into their missions, and create service learning programs to help deliver on their pledge.
Sexual Orientation and Harassment: Policies to Establish a Safe Environment
Every private-independent school must recognize that some students—and faculty, staff, parents, and other constituents—may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). Many students question their sexual orientation as they struggle to find their identity. This brings pressures to schools to examine their policies and practices. Be prepared to respond to harassment incidents within your community—regardless of whether these incidents involve children or adults.
The 'Best Practices' Trap
The phrase “best practices” has been in widespread use for some time. In private-independent schools, the phrase at times means that Trustees or senior administrators intend to turn to a meaningful and pertinent data array—such as those compiled and maintained by the best accreditation associations. School leaders often use that array as a framework, to develop benchmarks against which to measure their school as it moves to first strengthen, mission-delivery excellence and, then, its position in the marketplace.