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.
Pollution Liability: Is Your School Protected?
Volume 49 No. 8 // October 1, 2024
Private schools are not exempt from environmental laws and regulations such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Pollution-related lawsuits filed against educational institutions are common. For example, Yale University had to pay $348,000 to set...
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Does Your School Need to Take a Stand on Public Controversies?
Volume 49 No. 8 // October 1, 2024
In August 2024, the Regents of the University of Texas System adopted a new policy banning its 14 universities and hospitals from addressing current political issues. “Institutions should not, in their official capacity, issue or express positions on issues of the day, however appealing they may be ...
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Why You Should Require Tuition Insurance Coverage for All Students
Volume 49 No. 8 // October 1, 2024
ISM has long held that private-independent schools should strive to cover 100% of operations expenses with hard income (defined as all revenue sources other than fundraising). Whether your school is nearing this benchmark or hovering below it, student withdrawals after their families have alrea...
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Resistance to Change in Schools: the Perspectives of Parents, Teachers, and School Administrators
Volume 49 No. 8 // October 1, 2024
A stagnant school is a failing school. In contrast, a healthy school has a growth mindset. A flourishing school is one that is always evolving — adapting to new students, addressing new challenges, building the faculty culture, updating facilities, improving efficiency in operations, and more. As...
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Mergers: An Option for Long-Term Sustainability
Volume 49 No. 7 // September 1, 2024
In 2020, ISM published a series of articles suggesting that the merging of independent schools was likely in many marketplaces. As the COVID pandemic has receded, this is no longer likely—it is reality. The landscape for independent schools is in the middle of a significant shift, and we are ob...
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The “Marriage” of Board Chair and School Head
Volume 49 No. 7 // September 1, 2024
Originally published November 10, 1975 The leader of the Board of Trustees and the leader of the school are partners. One cannot function without the understanding, guidance, and respect of the other. It is, in fact, a marriage. And like other marriages, it is subject to ups and downs, honeymoons...
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Selecting Your School’s Legal Counsel: Finding the Right Fit
Volume 49 No. 7 // September 1, 2024
Your school may look to recruit an attorney for Board membership. During Board meetings, a lawyer can answer common legal questions and offer insight and cautionary advice on potential problems. This individual can also serve as your school’s official legal counsel—but that is often an unwise decisi...
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Want a Stronger School Culture? Increase Your Professional Development Budget
Volume 49 No. 7 // September 1, 2024
ISM often finds that private-independent schools underfund professional development, unaware of its importance and thus downplaying it in their budgets. Your Board and senior leaders must allocate enough funding to professional development for all school employees. The difference could be a vib...
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How to Comply With Employee Military Service Leave
Volume 49 No. 6 // June 1, 2024
In 1994, it became the obligation of all U.S. employers to provide for military service leave when Congress enacted the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). School Heads or Business Managers should review employee handbooks to be sure school policies comply with these ...
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Powerful Leadership and Your School’s Culture
Volume 49 No. 6 // June 1, 2024
The late educator Zig Engelmann (1931–2019) had a motto that he promoted tirelessly: “If the learner hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught.” According to Engelmann, this “operating principle” offended many because it placed all the responsibility for education on teachers. Of course, the stateme...
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