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.
Why Market a ‘Full’ School?
Volume 48 No. 9 // November 1, 2023
If your school has full enrollment and you have a large waiting pool, you may feel comfortable and satisfied. You may experience an overall feeling of security coupled with an aversion to marketing. Boards and Leadership Teams may question the need to continue the school’s external marketing efforts...
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Resist the Temptation to Put Money Before Mission
Volume 48 No. 8 // October 1, 2023
ISM has long insisted schools must be clear about their primary marketplace stance (price, product, process). We also have recommended schools develop supporting Purpose and Outcome Statements that align with their market position and articulate their mission, values, student outcomes, and facu...
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Maximizing Tuition Revenue: A Complex and Necessary Process
Volume 48 No. 8 // October 1, 2023
Tuition, fees, endowment, and fundraising are independent schools’ revenue and financial sustainability mainstays. Becoming less reliant on tuition revenue may be a vague budgeting goal in some places, but at the majority of schools, tuition and fees will remain the cornerstone of financial sus...
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The Delicate Dance: Strategic Work vs. Tactical Work
Volume 48 No. 8 // October 1, 2023
Boards of Trustees sometimes confuse strategic work and tactical/operational work, which can lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities. The distinction must be clear—strategic work involves the school governance and tactical work concerns managing school operations. Trustees must understand th...
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Purpose and Outcome Statements: Articulating Your School’s Core Values
Volume 48 No. 8 // October 1, 2023
When developing your school’s central message framework, it is essential that you clearly identify and promote the qualities and programs that differentiate your school in your marketplace. ISM has long advocated schools use three Purpose and Outcome statements to define themselves: the mission stat...
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Bring Your Portrait of the Graduate to Life Through Data and Storytelling
Volume 48 No. 7 // September 1, 2023
In a 2006 issue of Ideas & Perspectives, ISM introduced the Purpose and Outcome Statements, a set of three complementary documents that include: ul { text-align: left; } ul { margin: 0px; } ul.dashed { list-style-type: none; } ul.dashed > li...
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Set and Enforce Expectations for the Parent-School Partnership
Volume 48 No. 7 // September 1, 2023
Nearly four decades ago, ISM began receiving feedback from client schools that their parents were becoming increasingly demanding and challenging. Fast forward to today and the calls and concerns from School Heads, academic administrators, and teachers are almost deafening. If parents had high ex...
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Constituent Representation on Your Board of Trustees
Volume 48 No. 7 // September 1, 2023
As Chair of the Committee on Trustees, you coordinate the nomination of potential Trustees for open positions on your Board. When filling your annual slate of nominees, use the Board Profile derived from your strategic plan and strategic financial plan, and screen your nominees based on their e...
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Leadership Development for Division Heads
Volume 48 No. 7 // September 1, 2023
Prioritizing the development of Division Heads’ leadership skills must be an essential area of focus for all School Heads. Although there are situational differences, typically, Division Heads are charged with interfacing with families, managing parent and student concerns, supervising teachers,&nbs...
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Should School Administrators Attend Board Meetings?
Volume 48 No. 6 // June 1, 2023
After a contentious Board meeting, the following may be a discussion between two Trustees in the school parking lot. “Why does the School Head keep bringing Leadership Team members to our meetings? It sure throws a wrench into our sessions. It just says to me the Head doesn’t know what’s going on...
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