Purposeful Social Media Plans

Advancement // March 8, 2016

Social media can be a powerful tool. It’s the online driver of word-of-mouth recommendations that keep your admission pool full. However, the platforms are only useful if your school uses its accounts strategically. Having an account for the sake of having one—without knowing who your audience is or what you want them to do—will waste time and resources when you have none to spare.

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Students Prepare for Workforce With “Work From Home” Days

Private School News // March 1, 2016

As telecommuting becomes more acceptable in many professional industries, several public schools that want its graduates to be prepared for the workforce have begun to experiment with “work from home” days for its students, as reported by Benjamin Herold for Education Week. Don’t mistake this phenomenon for an online school or homeschooling program. These are brick-and-mortar schools offering unique interactive activities for students to complete in home offices or at dining room tables, creating a purposeful blended learning environment that administrators hope may replicate “real world” working conditions after graduation.

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Blended Learning in Private Schools: An Interview with Mark Engstrom

Private School News // March 1, 2016

Mark Engstrom is a Certified Blending Designer, Middle & Upper School Head at Allen Academy—and an ISM workshop leader. This February, he was invited to lead his fellow consultants in a day-long professional learning opportunity surrounding one of the latest educational trends emerging from the Information Age: blended learning. This curriculum focuses on the integration of personal learning through technology with more traditional face-to-face interactions between teachers and students. The Source had a chance to speak with him after his presentation and dig deeper into what he sees the impact of technology-fueled education will be on private schools now, as well as what it could be in the future.

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Four Studies on Digital Learning You Need to Read

Private School News // March 1, 2016

When blended learning, gamification, makerspaces, and other technology-heavy buzzwords make their way through educational journals and forums, it can be hard to see whether these tools and techniques are something to invest in. Are many of the digital learning trends just fun ideas for those bored with tried-and-true techniques, or do they truly mark a fundamental shift in how students need to learn? Here, we break down four studies that offer a deeper context to show how technology-assisted tools have previously helped—or hindered!—learning in other schools.

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Social Media: The Often Overlooked Element In Your School’s Crisis Plan

Business and Operations // February 25, 2016

Social media can be a quick, easy way to distribute news that impacts your school’s families, adding a resource to your school’s communication tools. However, in the event of a crisis, social media can work against your school’s efforts to secure your campus and reduce panic.

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Reviewing Your Property Casualty Insurance Premiums

Business and Operations // February 25, 2016

Risk management is more than simply having any property and casualty insurance. Protecting your school and its students starts with your general knowledge of what’s protected and what’s vulnerable for when—not if—loss occurs when considering policies. However, insurance policies are not easy reading for the less experienced. To help you manage your school’s risks, here are some points you should review in your school’s policies.

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13 Ways to Stay Sane and Relieve Stress

Academic Leadership // February 24, 2016

Springtime is scheduling time for many Division Heads, adding a new bundle of stressors on top of an already hectic work schedule. To support you, our stressed-out readers, we gathered quick and easy ways to help you de-stress at work and achieve the necessary zen to complete those vital tasks.

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College Board Releases a “Wordier” Exam

Academic Leadership // February 24, 2016

College prep assessment company College Board recently released details on the latest iteration of its Scholastic Aptitude Test (the SAT). The new exam has several new features, but the renewed focus on reading comprehension has most educators’ attention. As the new format becomes more widely know, nervous students may need reassurance—and maybe reading glasses.

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The New Board President and the Head-Elect: A Working Relationship

Board of Trustees // February 23, 2016

An incumbent Board President often steps down as a new Head takes over. It is seen as a logical time for the transfer of power—allowing a long-term relationship to develop between the new Head and a new President. The next President is selected by the Trustees without the Head-elect’s input. (What input could be knowledgeably given?) However, the new Head may well have been influenced to accept the job based on the “chemistry” demonstrated with the existing President and key Trustees on the Search Committee. A new President changes all of this. Moreover, if other leading Trustees move on at the same time, the team envisioned by the new Head is greatly altered.

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When a Parent Approaches You in the School Parking Lot …

Board of Trustees // February 23, 2016

You, a new Trustee, walk across the school parking lot for a meeting with the School Head. You’re approached by a mother who immediately launches into a tirade about the fourth-grade teacher. “Tom, my child isn’t being treated fairly, and I expect you to do something about it!” Sound familiar? In some schools, parents often contact Trustees with their complaints. They see Board members as the top of the power structure and, therefore, the best path to results. In turn, Trustees—out of an understandable desire to be cooperative and helpful, or an inability to say “no” to a concerned and demanding parent, or a basic misunderstanding of their role in the life of the school—often leap into the fray.

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