For an effective major gifts fundraising program, the Leadership Team—you as School Head, the Board President, the Chair of the Board’s Development Committee, and the Development Director—must shift your focus. You’re not raising dollars—you’re building relationships.
The ISM Circle: Creating Your School’s Ideal Administrative Structure
The Circle graphically links private-independent school structure to private-independent school function, allowing Leadership Teams to evaluate their current management structure, for its goodness-of-fit, to their school’s current array of functions. This, in turn, allows a more precise approach to strategic planning, from a performance and from a cost-effectiveness standpoint.
Three Social Media Tips for School Heads
It’s your responsibility as School Head to lead by example, and help adopt trends to move your school forward. One area where you can have a tremendous impact is social media.
Social media may feel like the elephant in the room for some leaders. You know people use it, many say it can have an impact, but you’re just not sure whether it’s useful (or how to get started). But social media isn’t going away.
How to Deal With a Difficult Parent During the Re-Enrollment Process
You’ve probably run into parents who consistently refuse to follow the guidelines your Leadership Team has set. So how do you handle this situation? You don’t want to penalize a student for a parent’s behavior. But ultimately it’s your role to protect the school's long-term viability —and that includes ensuring you support a mission-appropriate culture.
Three More Dimensions of Meaningful Professional Development
We recently shared three dimensions that all meaningful professional development initiatives should share. Those three traits—intentionality, individuality, and lifelong—help ensure your leaders, faculty, and staff get the most knowledge and insight out of any learning opportunity.
Today we’re following up with three more dimensions of meaningful professional development. Keep these in mind as you structure your learning programs and budget for teachers and administrators.
Reduce Teacher Turnover With Strong Leadership
As the School Head, you play an important role in many areas of school operation. But perhaps one of the most integral duties you have is to support and guide your teaching staff.
Enrollment Decline That Threatens Your School’s Viability
If you, the School Head, discover your school is in a viability-threatening rate of enrollment decline, your need to be strategic is most keen. Perhaps your front-line strategy is to take a “wait-and-see” approach and hope that your school can open the school year with the number of students articulated in your budget. Do everything you can to drive those enrollment outcomes.
Private Education Is Not Inherently Better Than Public Education: A Call to Step Up Your Game
Why do parents choose a private school? The top answers that have stood the test of time include “a safe, caring environment” and “high-quality academics.” Delivering on these two qualities comprises most of the value proposition for parents. In providing value to parents, we have benefited from the perception that a private school education is a superior education.
The Impact of Social Media on Teens Today
Last month, we shared recent research findings that young children spend more time with internet devices than ever before.
The same nonprofit research organization, Common Sense, also examined teen media use in 2018. They wanted to better understand social media use and the role it plays in the social and educational aspects of teens’ lives.
Your Faculty Holds the Key to an Effective Re-Recruitment Strategy
Your school probably focuses significant time and attention on the recruitment of new families. However, there should be an equal amount of effort placed on re-recruitment—that is, the processes and strategies you implement to keep current families engaged, active, and happy in your school.