In previous I&P articles, we have taken a close look at arguments for classifying financial aid awards as “rainy day” and “filling empty seats” for strategic reasons. This article looks in depth at “diversity and/or marketing goal” awards, the third strategic reason for giving financial aid. Some may wonder why diversity is paired with a marketing goal. It is simply because students that fit these profiles are not applying—or at least not sufficiently—without financial assistance at a school.

The Professional Characteristic expressed above derives from ISM’s research on school culture, and student performance and satisfaction. It is a distinguishing component of ISM's approach to faculty growth and renewal. A core principle behind ISM's guidance to schools, in general, is that their reason-for-being is to benefit students. As one dimension of this student-centered focus, we have endorsed a mission basis for middle and upper school advisory programs and emphasized that the advisor is a professional.

Of the several formal programs that engage and serve students in private-independent schools’ middle and upper divisions (e.g., community service learning, athletic teams, clubs, even academic classes), none may exhibit more variability among schools in structure, content, faculty commitment, and avowed institutional importance than the advisory program. Simply put, each advisory program is unique in when, how, how often, and even why advisors encounter and serve advisees and their families; in how much time is given to planning and professional development; and in how much advisory participants value the program itself. While ISM does not provide guidance on some distinguishing programmatic variables (e.g., content of advisory group curricula), we have espoused some core principles and practices. In this article, we express them as a list of attributes to which schools should aspire.

When Department Chairs/Team Leaders meet with their Division Head, what is the basis for any conversation? Many schools that ISM visits lack any idea of what the Department Chair or Team Leader is supposed to do (outside some basic managerial items). Division Heads rarely give the Chair/Leader the authority to implement the tasks assigned. The following assessment is designed to spur the creation of the Department Chairs’ own self-assessments and should be considered a guideline. The five major principles of Department Chair/team leadership include:

Considering the Department Chair as a middle manager can be a difficult proposition. In many schools, the Department Chair still teaches the same number of classes as everyone else and has little real power. Or the Department Chair is, so to speak, the “union leader” of a power group that advocates for its own position within a power structure. The prerequisite for a change in the role to one of middle manager requires the entire faculty culture to be growth-focused. In such a culture and with strong Division Head leadership, the Department Chair can exercise proactive leadership that supports the school’s strategic vision largely by grounding it in a realistic application within the classroom.