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.
Self-Assessing Your Department/Team
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:
College Board Releases a “Wordier” Exam
College prep assessment company College Board recently released details on the latest iteration of its Scholastic Aptitude Test (the SAT). The new exam has several new features, but the renewed focus on reading comprehension has most educators’ attention. As the new format becomes more widely know, nervous students may need reassurance—and maybe reading glasses.
13 Ways to Stay Sane and Relieve Stress
Springtime is scheduling time for many Division Heads, adding a new bundle of stressors on top of an already hectic work schedule. To support you, our stressed-out readers, we gathered quick and easy ways to help you de-stress at work and achieve the necessary zen to complete those vital tasks.
The Role of the Department Chair: A Middle Manager
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.
The Midyear Scramble for Teachers
The prospect of needing to hire teachers in the middle of the school year provokes monstrous headaches for most Division Heads. No matter how solid your faculty community is in September, circumstances can change at any moment. Medical leave, unexpected departures, and necessary firings all affect your school’s ability to keep your students taught by the best instructors available—and the pool of teachers available to jump into your school in the middle of the year is significantly smaller than that for September starters.
Still, there are some unconventional and creative ways to accommodate your immediate need for qualified applicants without skipping steps to properly vet your incoming teachers. Here are four ways in which you can lessen your midyear hiring headache.
The Questionable Necessity of Snow Day Make Ups
After Winter Storm Jonas paralyzed much of the East Coast on January 23, school cancellations for slippery roads, power loss, and facilities damage were rampant. Remembering the storm-tossed winter of 2013-2014, during which the United States saw a “polar vortex” causing double-digits of school days missed, the question of snow days arises once again—and whether they need to be “made up” at all.
Interdivisional Idiosyncrasies (Or, Your Division Is Not the Center of the Universe)
It’s easy to get caught up in the details and duties of your own division. Faculty meetings, evaluation and coaching, professional development, and perennial "fires" all demand your attention. But when you’re one Division Head of several in a multidivision school, you have to think beyond your own area. You must understand how your particular “cog” turns in the overall “machine” of the school, and how your students’ needs change as they age.
Seven Excuses That Don’t Matter—And One That Does
Successful educational programs require hard work and (occasionally) difficult changes. It can be daunting to keep and sustain the sort of drive needed to make them take hold and become permanent. But, that doesn’t mean you should allow excuses or circumstances to prevent you from trying new initiatives to improve your school. Here, then, are seven common excuses that shouldn’t stop you from starting difficult changes—along with the one reason you should halt any initiative before it gets off the ground.
The Student-Centered Department
Over time, all schools become adult-centered. Adults have all the power and students have none; faculty and administrators may stay around for three or four decades while students keep passing through. Put power and longevity together and it is clear why the evidence for adult-centeredness is so profound. Being student-centered, thus, is not a given, although it is always assumed in schools. Who would suggest otherwise? The Department Chair (or team leader) as a middle manager has a responsibility to lead a student-centered conversation. As School Head or Division Head, inspire your teams to reflect on your own department culture.