Predictable and supportive environments are the bedrock on which all great schools are built. We have observed schools suffering from poor leadership and precarious finances—but the culture often keeps a school going steady. Schools that once had strong financial stability began to erode when the predictable and supportive culture was overtaken by toxic elements.
Attracting and Retaining the Best Faculty
Every independent school must hire, develop, and retain the best faculty to deliver upon its mission and the Portrait of the Graduate. You need qualified teachers who are committed to your mission, can connect with your students, and contribute positively to the faculty culture. You hold tight to those pied piper teachers that embody the school’s Characteristics of Professional Excellence. How do you attract and retain such teachers?
Five Ways to Help Your Faculty Adopt New Technology
Despite how pervasive technology has become, you probably have more than a few faculty members who are reluctant to incorporate new technology into the classroom. This can be problematic for many reasons.
It’s the responsibility of educators and administrators to best prepare students for a quickly changing job market, starting with the intersection of technology and education.
Consider These Suggestions for Your School’s Financial Aid Procedures
Financial aid often opens the door for many families who want to send their children to your school. However, managing the financial aid process can be one of the biggest headaches for your school leaders.
Maintain a Complete and Accurate Head’s File
With any employer-employee relationship, your school must maintain paper and electronic files. Just as your school should have a policy on what is contained in an employee’s file and who will keep it, your Board must do the same for its sole employee—the School Head. Basic documents on payroll and benefits should be kept by the Business Office. However, the Head’s contracts, evaluations, and supporting documents (and other employment-related correspondence) should not be accessible to anyone in the school. Only the Board should see this confidential information. (Access to health records should be limited even further—perhaps only to the Board President.)
The ISM X: The Fifth Iteration of the Stability Markers
The fifth iteration of the ISM Stability Markers® has generated small—but necessary—alterations in the graphic representation (shown below), the ISM X™. These alterations center around changes in the scoring of the Strategic Board Assessment, which has become the Strategic Board Assessment II,2 the outcome of a two-year ISM study. This 15-item (Board self-scored) instrument, previously comprising four six-point Stability Markers (Letters A, B, C, and D) in the fourth iteration, has been transformed into a single 24-point Stability Marker in the fifth.
Ensure Your College Guidance Program Is Structured Effectively
For schools that have an upper level, helping students find and apply to the college of their dreams is a critical concern for many counselors and staff members throughout the year.
As this school year comes to a close and students complete the college application and acceptance process, it’s time to review your program for next year.
Three Ways to Set Your Assistant Head Up for Success
If your school employs an Assistant Head, it may be tempting to think of this position as a “catch all” for everything on your plate that you can’t or don’t have the time to accomplish. This shouldn't be the case, though.
The Assistant Head position has the power to enhance your school’s operations. This role must be structured effectively to ensure it’s a value-add to your duties as School Head. Follow these guidelines for setting your Assistant Head up for success.
Ask These Four Questions to Support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conversations
We continue to see diversity, equity, and inclusion discussed at a national level and within our own schools and neighborhoods. As leaders tasked with supporting the school’s mission, many administrators look for guidance on how to approach these conversations in their unique communities.
How to Recognize and Handle Personally Identifiable Student Information
The debate about personal “protected data” continues, in large part due to the explosion in the availability and sharing of electronic data. Much has been written about this issue, and laws have been passed to mitigate the problem. Private schools must be vigilant. Our focus in this article is on what and how schools access and handle student information.