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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.
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See the articles from our latest issue of Ideas & Perspectives.
The Head's Contract: Liquidated Damages
Volume 32 No. 11 // September 8, 2007
After further review of the Annotated Head Contract published in I&P earlier this year, ISM has decided to clarify one of the sections of the sample contract. The paragraph in question (No. 14) states: “In the event Head breaches this agreement or is terminated for cause (including but not limited to gross misconduct, insubordination, failure to perform), School, in addition to all other applicable remedies, may cease all forms of compensation immediately. The parties agree that calculation of actual damages to the school would be extremely difficult and therefore agree that an amount of $______ per day, for the remaining days of the contract, will be payable to the school by the Head as liquidated damages.”
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The Scheduler's Power: What's Good for Your Students?
Volume 32 No. 10 // August 17, 2007
The schedule might be considered half of the answer to the question: How does our school carry out its mission and support students? It tells how time is allocated (and therefore what is considered important); it shows the relationships among time, space, people, and program—and implicitly places values on these aspects of the school. The schedulers thus play an important role in ensuring that the mission can be delivered optimally to the students.
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Seven Gift Planning Tips for a Small Development Office
Volume 32 No. 10 // August 17, 2007
As the School Head or Director of Development of a small private-independent school, you must ensure that you provide your donors with the services and opportunities that will maximize their giving potential. If you’ve built donor-centered programs based on ISM’s Comprehensive Development Model, and you are prepared to listen to your donors and to respond to their charitable needs, then you are ready for gift planning. This is the process of designing gift strategies that fit their personal financial and philanthropic circumstances.
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Records Retention in the Admission Office
Volume 32 No. 10 // August 17, 2007
During the enrollment process, the Admission Office is responsible for gathering information pertinent to applicants and their families, plus responding to parents’ questions concerning the school. Families request information by telephone, in person, online, and through outside sources such as real estate agents, relocation offices, employers, educational consultants, and referrals from current parents. Once an inquiry has been processed, the Admission Office staff has an opportunity to follow-up with interested families. Subjective/anecdotal information gathered through the inquiry/application stage is confidential and should not be shared with other offices on campus. Proper records retention (and timely disposal of materials that should not be shared with other school offices) is essential during the admission process.
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Hard Income Coverage and Strategic Planning
Volume 32 No. 9 // July 21, 2007
The third iteration of the ISM Stability MarkersTM places hard income as one of the most important predictors of a school’s ability to deliver educational excellence over time. (It is No. 4 of a list of 18.) For privateindependent schools, it should be fundamental to attempt to fund operating expenses (including debt service and depreciation) from hard income—the term ISM uses to group tuition revenues, other fee sources, and interest/investment income. Our research suggests that this is a frequent occurrence.
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Hard Economic Coverage and Strategic Planning
Volume 32 No. 9 // July 21, 2007
For private-independent schools, hard income should be fundamental to attempt to fund operating expenses (including debt service and depreciation) from hard income—the term ISM uses to group tuition revenues, other fee sources, and interest/investment income. Our research suggests that this is a frequent occurrence.
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Why Character Education Matters: Competing in the Marketplace
Volume 32 No. 9 // July 21, 2007
There is currently a heightened awareness of character education. In terms of academics, ISM has been tracking and warning of the competitive pressures from public schools throughout the United States. From Advanced Placement course offerings, to International Baccalaureate programs, to next level success, many public schools demonstrate that they are competitive with private-independent schools, admittedly with great regional variance. So while our schools can and do continue to compete in the area of academic excellence, Boards and School Heads must take more seriously than ever before the new competitive frontier — character education.Portrait of the Graduate, and the Characteristics of Professional Excellence of your faculty) and ensure they are directly connected to the lives of the students in your school.
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Privacy Concerns and Short Term Disability Leave
Volume 32 No. 9 // July 21, 2007
When a school employee comes to the School Head with an involved medical condition and asks for six weeks off, the school’s sick leave policy should require documentation from the employee’s physician. But how much private information do you want to know? Can too much information be a liability?
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The Board's Proper Role in Ensuring Programmatic Excellence
Volume 32 No. 8 // July 1, 2007
ISM Consultants occasionally encounter Board members who strongly believe their main task is to be actively involved in ensuring the excellence of their school’s academic programs. Though often few in number, these well-meaning but misdirected Trustees can divert the Board from attending to its appropriate, strategic tasks and distract the Head from the major task of providing mission-appropriate programmatic excellence.
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The Changing Paradigm for Professional Development
Volume 32 No. 8 // July 1, 2007
Since its landmark research on the factors associated with student and faculty performance, ISM has published extensively on the topic of professional development and faculty evaluation in private-independent schools. High-functioning schools possess a faculty culture rooted in a collective commitment to career-long professional growth. These schools are adept at responding to both evolving student needs and changes in the characteristics of independent school faculties.
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