In 2020, ISM published a series of articles suggesting that the merging of independent schools was likely in many marketplaces. As the COVID pandemic has receded, this is no longer likely—it is reality.
Five Things Heads Need to Know About Student Well-Being
As a School Head, you juggle many priorities each day. Amid the demands of academic excellence, Board and staff management, and administrative duties, the pressing issue of student well-being also requires attention.
Numerous studies have documented the declining state of student well-being. Drawing on those, host Scott Wilson and researcher, Dr. Bryan Smyth, will explore more deeply the realities and nuances of declining student well-being in our schools and, importantly, the underlying factors contributing to this worrisome trend.
Scheduling That’s Efficient, Effective, and Stress-Free—It’s Possible!
Are you knee-deep in the annual scheduling process for your school? Now is a great time to assess what is and isn’t working.
Join Carrie Nelson, ISM ScheduLogic Manager, and James Collins, ISM Director of Sales, as they discuss ways to evaluate the effectiveness of your current scheduling methods. Whether you’re wrestling with communication breakdowns, software limitations, or logistical challenges, they’ll help you pinpoint areas causing unnecessary stress and frustration.
Make Your Meetings Matter
Meetings are necessary for moving any organization or institution forward—they are the way business gets done. But they can also be real killers of time and effectiveness. If you are responsible for meetings, whether as Board Chair, School Head, Division Head, or operations lead, it is important to make your meetings matter. Doing so not only helps your school operate more efficiently but also enhances each team member’s sense of responsibility and contributes to improved morale.
Powerful Leadership and Your School’s Culture
The late educator Zig Engelmann (1931–2019) had a motto that he promoted tirelessly: “If the learner hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught.” According to Engelmann, this “operating principle” offended many because it placed all the responsibility for education on teachers. Of course, the statement is simplistic—it’s a motto, not a fully-fledged philosophy or plan. But in the end, most teachers and school administrators will probably agree: Teachers have a responsibility to engage students and to tailor their instruction so that students can be successful.
How to Lead and Sustain a High-Performing Administrative Team
Decisive, steady, collegial, and empathetic leadership is essential as independent school leaders face increasingly complex uncertainties in the independent school market. These complexities can be compounded when we work with multigenerational faculty expectations and parents seeking a “return on investment,” and as we gain a better understanding of neurodivergence in our students.
Achieving an Always-Updated Curriculum Scope and Sequence
New teachers often find they are free to design classes as they wish. While this autonomy may feel desirable, they struggle to create coherence with other grades and within teaching teams, making autonomy more of a problem than a welcome luxury.
Administrators often assume that maintaining a careful scope and sequence is beyond their ability to manage, yet they know they cannot allow the curriculum to become stale.
In this webinar, Mike Gwaltney, ISM Consultant, will reveal the keys to maintaining a coherent, mission-aligned, student-centered academic program.
How AI Could Impact Teaching and Learning
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has great potential to enhance student learning. If you’re wondering if it’s something you could—or should—incorporate into your academic program, this webinar is for you.
Join Andrew Taylor, ISM Consultant and Executive Coach, for a discussion on how AI can provide personalized, adaptive, and engaging student learning experiences. He’ll also explain AI’s benefits and limitations, providing practical implementation strategies you can use to incorporate AI into your existing curricula.
“Delivery of Mission” Is the Most Important Metric
Understanding how your current parents feel about your school is essential—it is so vital that you should never let a year go by without some systematic collection of parent opinions. But even more important than frequency is your ability to understand what you are hearing from constituents and to interpret these opinions accurately. Only with sound interpretation can you take wise actions based on survey results.
Understand Your School’s Economic Engine
“The buck stops here!” was popularized by President Harry S. Truman, who kept a sign with this phrase on his desk as a brazen reminder of his authority as chief executive. Truman believed that he was the head of an administrative bureaucracy, to be sure. But as President, he shouldered everything as his own responsibility. That’s noble leadership.