This article examines the need for 21st Century Schools to address and manage all of their employment needs—e.g., hiring, evaluation, corrective action—as part of an integrated approach. During the past 18 months, ISM has been engaged in an intensive study of the needs of the 21st Century School.1 With specific regard to faculty, we believe that to thrive, schools will need to: measure teacher effectiveness on an ongoing basis (such as through annual evaluations); establish annual career-long improvement plans that invest in each teacher’s strengths;2 and hold ineffective teachers accountable.3 These objectives are best achieved by taking an active, integrated approach for engaging, managing, and developing the school’s faculty. Our model, called Comprehensive Faculty Development, is a mission-based series of interrelated activities through which the Head and her deputies systematically work to attract, develop, evaluate, reward, and retain teachers who deliver the mission to students with excellence.4

As a key element of Comprehensive Faculty Development, it is important for administrators to have an intentional process for evaluating, coaching, and mentoring faculty. By actively gaining a clear, firsthand view of each faculty member’s skills, characteristics, and performance through observation and engagement, you will be able to help them grow and develop in ways that will directly impact the school’s students. In this process, teachers are accountable for pursuing ongoing professional growth and renewal, and administrators are accountable for observing, coaching, evaluating, and guiding faculty members’ growth in substantive ways.

Extended day programs that meet the demanding needs of middle school students are in short supply. According to a recent study, 34% of middle school students are unsupervised in the after-school hours; only 6% are in any kind of organized program.1 Existing programs that include 10- to 15-year-olds are generally only extensions of those for younger children—consequently, preteens and teens often refuse to attend.

Space is an expensive commodity in schools. Yet, without adequate and appropriate space, teachers will be hamstrung in developing and delivering excellence in programming. From a student access point of view, the right number of classrooms can make your scheduler’s job a pleasure! The design of your schedule will have a significant impact on how much space and how many classrooms you want. Finally, what you want to do in the 21st century classroom will drive the kind of space you require.

In a previous article, ISM suggested that a fourth plank in the 21st Century School is “the individualization of the content and delivery of curriculum, which meets the needs and passions of the learner at the rate best suited to that learner, using blended learning as the means.” This was applied exclusively to middle and upper schools, leaving the question as to what part technology plays in the lower school. Subsequently, ISM Success Predictor No. 3 suggests that “interdisciplinary, flexible, and immersive curriculum/pedagogy” is intrinsic to 21st century teaching, and is applicable at all levels of the school.

In this article, part of our continuing series analyzing salaries and benefits in private-independent schools, we assess faculty salaries from a gender perspective. The results of the ISM Faculty and Management Compensation Survey raise a cautionary flag regarding potential gender-based pay discrimination that all schools need to consider carefully.