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.
As an ISM Silver or Gold member, you not only receive issues online and in print 10 times a year, but you have access to more than 600 articles in our web archive. Need help? It’s at your fingertips! Learn more and sign up for ISM's membership here.
Search
See the articles from our latest issue of Ideas & Perspectives.
The School-Parent Partnership: Send a Welcome Letter
Volume 50 No. 6 // June 1, 2025
As a school, one of your most important partnerships is with your students’ families. But the nature of that relationship has evolved dramatically over time. A generation ago, parents enrolled their children and largely trusted the school in all facets of its work with students. Today, the typical p...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.
Stability Markers 6.0 Leadership Index
Volume 50 No. 6 // June 1, 2025
Version 6.0 of ISM’s Stability Markers includes seven indexes. Of these, the Leadership Index focuses on the school head and board. Specifically, this index measures the board’s focus on executing the strategic plan and capacity for providing predictability and support for the head. School head l...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.
A New Year: Prepare Your Board for Success
Volume 50 No. 6 // June 1, 2025
As private-independent schools prepare for the start of a new academic year, it is both timely and prudent for boards to reflect on the effectiveness of their current governance structures, policies, and practices. Strong boards — like strong institutions — learn continuously. They often get things ...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.
The ISM Development Model: An Update
Volume 50 No. 6 // June 1, 2025
ISM has long advocated that boards, school heads, and school professional staff evaluate the effectiveness of their development programs through six definitive lenses: 1. Strategic board 2. School head; professional and volunteer leadership 3. Case for Giving 4. Constituents 5. Plan o...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.
Navigating Uncertainty: Supporting Your Community
Volume 50 No. 5 // May 1, 2025
To many school leaders and families, the current cultural moment seems particularly fraught — marked by uncertainty and division. But many schools have weathered previous storms and have even grown and prospered during challenging times. In periods of stability and periods of tumult, we know from ex...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.
Strengthen Your Annual Fund With a Volunteer Cabinet That Works
Volume 50 No. 5 // May 1, 2025
The annual fund is more than just a fundraising campaign — it’s the heartbeat of your development program. It engages the widest circle of your school community, builds a culture of giving and getting involved, and often serves as the first step in identifying those who will take on further leadersh...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.
Business Outlook for Private-Independent Schools: Gloomy, With Heavy Rain Likely — A Chance of Isolated Major Thunderstorms
Volume 50 No. 5 // May 1, 2025
For 50 years, ISM’s advice has been consistent — the school’s mission and its core values must remain the bedrock by which its leaders evaluate the school’s operational realities. For boards and administrators alike, navigating political and cultural changes is difficult work. But in tumultuous time...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.
Introducing ISM Stability Markers 6.0
Volume 50 No. 5 // May 1, 2025
ISM is pleased to introduce ISM Stability Markers® 6.0, a completely revamped set of research-based indexes designed for the heads, governance leaders, and top administrators of private-independent schools. The Stability Markers have been created especially to inform the decision-making of boards...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.
Include “Loose Periods” in Your Middle and Upper School Schedules
Volume 50 No. 4 // April 1, 2025
ISM research has repeatedly shown that a strong sense of community is a differentiator when students and parents are choosing a school or choosing to remain at a school. In middle and upper school, this sense of community is fostered during assembly, advisory, and activity programs. Furtherm...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.
Setting a Data-Driven Annual Fund Goal: Key Metrics for Success
Volume 50 No. 4 // April 1, 2025
As your school’s development director, you know that setting the right annual fund goal is critical to your program. Despite that, at some schools, the annual fund goal is set by the board and school head to “fund the gap” between expenses and expected income. But this is not the right way to establ...
1. Already a member? Click here to login.
2. Not a member? Click here to become a member.
3. Not sure? We'll help you figure it out.