Learn practical strategies to handle emerging trends and leadership challenges in private schools.
No matter if you’re a School Head, Admission Director, Development Director, Board member, or any other private school administrator—Ideas & Perspectives®, ISM’s premier private school publication, has strategic solutions for the pervasive problems you face.
- Tuition not keeping pace with your expenses? In I&P, explore how to use strategic financial planning to create your budget and appropriately adjust your tuition.
- Enrollment dropping off? Discover how to implement the right admission and enrollment management strategies that engage your community—and fill your classrooms.
- Trouble retaining teachers? Learn how you can best support your teachers using ISM’s Comprehensive Faculty Development framework. Your faculty members will become more enthusiastic about their roles—which ultimately improves student outcomes.
- Fundraising campaigns not as successful as you’d hoped? Implement ISM’s practical advice and guidance to build a thriving annual fund, construct an effective capital campaign, and secure major donors—no matter your community size or location.
- Not sure how to provide professional development—for you and your staff? Learn ways to develop and fund a successful professional development strategy. You can improve teacher-centered satisfaction and growth, which in turn strengthens student-centered learning.
- Problematic schedule? You can master the challenges of scheduling with the help of ISM’s practical advice, based on our experience with hundreds of schools and our time-tested theories.
- And so much more.
I&P has shared targeted research, up-to-date insight, and sound theory with school leaders since 1975. More than 8,500 private school decision-makers find the answers to their schools’ administrative and governance matters in our advisory letter. We give you the strategic answers you need.
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See the articles from our latest issue of Ideas & Perspectives.
Coaching Your Leadership Team
Volume 46 No. 10 // December 1, 2021
As School Head, you have been asking questions your entire professional career, but have you ever considered why targeted, insightful questions are so important? Well-developed questions play a crucial role in enabling people to innovate, solve problems, and achieve goals. This is especially true in the coaching role School Heads fill for their Leadership Team.
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Curriculum-, Adult-, or Student-Centered: Through Which Lens Does Your School Make Decisions?
Volume 46 No. 10 // December 1, 2021
The lens by which a school determines and organizes the day and year often affects the school environment. Ultimately, that lens impacts the school experience and influences important student and school outcomes, such as student satisfaction, enthusiasm, performance, well-being, and ultimately enrollment demand. Through ISM’s many years of working with schools, we have encountered three types of lenses dominating school environments: curriculum-centered, adult-centered, and learner-centered. Which environment exists in your school?
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Elevate Your Culture of Giving and Getting Involved With Your Annual Report
Volume 46 No. 10 // December 1, 2021
As Development Director, you want to be sure your donors and volunteers feel appreciated for the commitments they have made to your school through their philanthropic and volunteer support. You also want them to know their commitments have made a significant difference to your students and faculty. Your school’s annual report is an essential tool as you seek to recognize and steward your donors and volunteers effectively and for you to keep them engaged with your school’s mission, programs, and people.
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Make the Most of the Accreditation Process
Volume 46 No. 10 // December 1, 2021
Before, during, and after your next accreditation team visit, bear in mind there are two significant areas that you, as School Head, are in a position to influence strongly. The first deals with the institutional “tone” of the self-study and of the accreditation team’s visit itself. The second deals with the effects of the accreditation team's recommendations on the long-term financial health of your school.
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17 Core Questions to Ask Before Purchasing Real Estate
Volume 46 No. 9 // November 1, 2021
As long as schools are actual and not virtual institutions, real estate will remain critical to sustainability. Your Board of Trustees must always be aware of the possibility of purchasing property for growth and investment.
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Creating Your Development Action Plan
Volume 46 No. 9 // November 1, 2021
As Development Committee Chair, you know the committee must fulfill your Board’s strategic plan’s development goals in a timely manner.* Your development action plan, with the school’s strategic plan, becomes a valuable tool for completing those goals. Create your 18-month plan by setting goals that fall into three distinct categories.
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Build a Symbiotic Partnership Between Your Admission Staff and Faculty
Volume 46 No. 9 // November 1, 2021
In recent years, private schools have rightfully shifted from a narrow focus on moving families through the traditional admission funnel to implementing an enrollment management model.
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Highest Inflation in 30 Years and a Talent Crisis: A Perfect Storm
Volume 46 No. 9 // November 1, 2021
As Boards begin the process of setting tuition for the 2022–2023 school year, two unusual factors may complicate the pricing landscape—30-year high inflation and a teacher shortage.
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Discount Modeling: Understanding Need-Based and Sliding-Scale Tuition Awards
Volume 46 No. 8 // October 1, 2021
Discounting, whether your school uses a need-based financial aid approach or a sliding-scale approach, is a complex task. Determining to whom and for how much to reduce tuition can be less complex if you build a discount model to more thoroughly understand and assess applications, giving your award team confidence in their decisions. As the first step, the School Head should appoint a modeling task force and ask the Business Officer to lead this endeavor.
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Enhance Word-of-Mouth Marketing With a Parent Ambassador Program
Volume 46 No. 8 // October 1, 2021
Parents who believe in your school’s mission and are vocal advocates for your program, faculty, and outcomes can generate excitement among other parents and in the broader community. As Admission Director, you likely know that word-of-mouth referrals are the major way new families first learn about private schools, including your own.
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