The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was designed primarily to enable employees who change or lose their jobs to move seamlessly from one employer health plan to another. HIPAA mandated that health care providers issue a "portability certificate" to an employee covered under a health plan." This rule ensures that the employee (and other insured dependents) are covered under the new employer's health plan without any pre-existing condition restrictions or other waiting periods.

Ten years ago, ISM carried out the Research for School Management (RSM) International Model Schools Project, a six-year study that involved 51 schools. The research demonstrated that it was possible to intervene in the operations of a school and directly impact student performance, enthusiasm, and satisfaction. Two of the key characteristics concerning student performance derived from the research included: – a strong sense of community (predictability and support) within the school: students, faculty, and administration; and – student perception of instructional and administrative fairness, to include perceived fairness both in discipline and in grading.

Action research is a systematic process of inquiry undertaken by school practitioners in their own schools. It uses the techniques of research to help teachers examine their own educational practices, then takes steps to improve education in the very place where the research is carried out. Teachers become more effective when they are encouraged to examine and assess their own work, and then develop ways of improving their own teaching skills.

As you, the School Head, think about the school five years from now, you must consider the Management Team (the Head's direct reports) and ask whether the team members can take the school where the Board, in its strategic plan, wants it to go. You can't do it alone; this group of administrators is critical to meeting (a) the strategic plan goals and (b) the school growth items as laid out in the annual administration agenda.

Activities related to human resources—e.g., interviewing candidates, orienting and mentoring new employees, providing employee benefits, making contract renewal decisions—are often perceived by schools as isolated actions rather than as part of an integrated whole. Shifting perspective to view these activities cohesively—in the context of your school's mission, culture, and values—is critical for three reasons.