ISM believes that the primary responsibility of an academic administrator is to develop the capacity of faculty to deliver the mission with excellence. Here’s the rub: Most academic leaders entered the education field because they love helping children learn, grow, and develop. At a certain point, though, you switched over from teaching to administration, whereby you traded one constituency (children) for another (faculty). In doing so, you are still responsible for helping people learn, grow, and develop—the only difference is, now the people you are directly helping to grow are adults, who in turn help develop the children. These are very different jobs. Both are very important; you just need to be sure that you’re doing the one that you really want to do.

The latest buzz word in the social media world is Pinterest. According to the Pinterest video by L2 Think Tank posted on vimeo.com*, this two-year-old site is the fastest-growing social media site on the Web, with nearly 11 million total visits in the week that ended December 17, 2011, which was nearly 40 times more than six months before. Pinterest’s users are 70% women, 60% college-educated, and generally between the ages of 25-44. These users could be your alumni, your school’s parents, and potential donors.

Your job as Development Director is to connect your donors’ and prospects’ passions to your school’s mission, students, and programs. First, of course, you need to know your donor or prospect, know what will excite them about your school. Then you need to communicate that connection.

The headlines are common, like this one: “Student’s Death Spotlights Food Allegies in School.” Just a couple of months ago, a seven-year-old girl in a Virginia school died when she suffered from a severe allergic reaction to a peanut product. This tragedy brought into question responsibility. According to county school and health officials, the parent must provide the medication. According to the girl’s mother, she provided the school with an “allergy action plan” to administer Benedryl if her daughter had a reaction. She said she tried to provide an EpiPen (epinephrine) to the school but was told to keep it at home.

In the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey recommends that we “begin with the end in mind.” This maxim holds true for Heads seeking to enhance their school’s hiring process.

Teacher evaluation has been a hot topic for the past few years. Schools—both public and private—are starting to change the way they not only evaluate teachers, but how they hire, provide professional development, and establish their leadership systems.

In your school, teacher evaluation may be … … a “necessary evil” (like eating one’s vegetables as a child) … a painful, meaningless exercise … something you do but no one is quite sure why … not done at all.

Michael Lineberger, author of Master Your Workday Now!: Proven Strategies to Control Chaos, Create Outcomes, & Connect Your Work To Who You Really Are, specializes in organization. Here is a quick look at what the “Efficiency Guru” promises will help you control your chaotic inbox.

Blogs, forums, chat rooms, listservs—the choices go on and on. These can be valuable resources for finding alternative opinions and information about almost anything. From general private school news to just needing a quick laugh to fuel the rest of your day, blogs can remind you that you're not alone in the all-too often chaotic world of private-independent education.

Spring is right around the corner, and for those who aren’t fans of winter, it can’t come quick enough. Spring flowers, warmer temperatures, more sunlight, and happy bird songs are enough to motivate most us to start cleaning away the winter dust. But before you jump into a large spring-cleaning project, consider these safety tips.