The ISM Members-Only Podcast

A Data-Driven Approach to Bolster Student Well-Being

Discover evidence-based strategies to address concerns about student well-being.
How do you know if your clinical counseling is helping your students? How do you know if prevention efforts are shifting behaviors around student wellness? Simple: data.
By capturing data about student health and well-being at specific, timed intervals, schools can discover what works well and pinpoint things that need to be revisited—prioritizing programmatic adjustments and strategic conversations around these important topics.
During this webinar, Lisa Roethling, LPC, LAT, ACS, and Sarah Ferraro Cunningham, PsyD, Psychologist & Co-Founder of Panoptic will demonstrate a village approach to target concerns about student well-being in real-time. They’ll offer preventive and clinical tools that are evidence-based to improve student well-being.

How to Create a Culture of Civil Discourse Among Independent School Students

Explore how to foster a culture of discussion and collaboration among students, despite differences in opinion.
Surf any online forum to see how quickly differences of opinion become name-calling and insults. What’s worse, most of us have been conditioned to avoid hard conversations and stick to our own little groups where we talk but don’t really listen to others.
Yet, school leaders are tasked with helping young people understand the world around them, develop viewpoints, and engage in thoughtful conversations about controversial topics.
Civil discourse—the ability to engage in healthy discussion despite differences—has never been more important for students. It is essential and pertinent in today's cultural environment to teach students how to respect one another. Join us to discover how to foster a culture of civil discourse in your school, even among divided perspectives.

What Does School Well-Being REALLY Mean—And How Can You Achieve It?

Learn how to embed a culture of well-being at your school to improve faculty productivity, morale, and health.
Burnout rates among K–12 workers exceed those for healthcare and law enforcement workers, whose burnout rates have been featured prominently on newscasts since the pandemic began. More than four in 10 teachers recently reported that they are "always" or "very often" burned out at work. Stress on teachers may only intensify this school year as expectations to manage additional student stressors become a more necessary part of their role.
Addressing teacher burnout has never been a more pressing issue, and it begins with cultural transformation. In this webinar, Deborah C. Beck, MPA, Ed.D, FACHA, and President at HEP-HealthCare Division, will help you gain skills to create a thriving culture that supports your employees’ complete health, decreases employee absences, increases retention and recruitment, and improves their productivity in your school. She’ll also share trends in mental health and provide strategies to address these concerns.

Getting to Know Your Alumni: Finding the Data That Matters

Gain the tools you need to nurture productive relationships with alumni and gain their invaluable support.
The most enduring relationship any school has is with its alumni—they are living examples of a school’s mission in action. Your alumni can provide invaluable support in word-of-mouth marketing, student recruitment, retention (re-recruitment), mentorship, and fundraising. They reinforce the ways in which your faculty provides a top-notch education. The purposeful cultivation and stewardship of alumni relationships will help sustain the long-term viability of your school.
Finding and collecting accurate data about your alumni, however, is challenging. Join our webinar to hear from ISM Consultant Michael Christopher, with guest Katie Gibson from Wavelength, to learn how to collect the right kind and appropriate amount of information using innovative technologies and approaches. Afterward, you’ll be equipped to engage your alumni using better data.

Five Steps to Build a Great Board

Recruit Trustees confidently to develop an efficient Board that sustains your school’s strategic plan.
Assembling a great Board starts with understanding ideal Board structure and developing a rich Board profile that will guide member selection. Join our webinar to learn how easy it is to build Board excellence to support your mission. 
Once you have your Board profile, the real work begins!

Optimizing Tuition and Enrollment: What the Research Tells Us

What impact does raising tuition have on current and prospective families’ decisions to enroll and re-enroll? The research might surprise you.
Measuring Success and ISM have collaborated on groundbreaking research exploring the relationship between tuition changes and enrollment. Join Dr. Harry Bloom of Measuring Success to discover how to set your school’s tuition in a manner that contributes to enrollment growth.

SEO vs Pay-Per-Click Advertising: Which Is Better for Your School?

You're on a mission to fill your admission funnel with new inquiries and applications. As part of that mission, your job is to determine how to allocate your marketing budget and resources to obtain your desired results.
While many channels and strategies can be used to market your school, two of the best and most popular ways to drive inquiry growth are search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
The questions are:
Which is better?
Where should we prioritize our marketing dollars, SEO or PPC?
Like most things, the answer is, "It depends." Both SEO and PPC ads have their advantages and disadvantages.
Clearly understand which strategy best suits your school.

Small Admission Office: Mighty Results

Discover how your small admission and enrollment team can operate with strength and proficiency.
Enrollment management involves more than just recruitment and retention—admission, marketing, and development responsibilities are often mixed in. For a small Admission Office, managing these demands and needs can be overwhelming.
In this interactive webinar, Penny Abrahams, ISM Senior Consultant, and Lauren D. Lewis, Director of Enrollment Management at The Advent School, Boston, will discuss tips and tricks that will enable your small staff to have the impact of a large office. You’ll come away ready to thrive in this rewarding role.

Creating a Leadership Pipeline: The Key to Cultivating YOUR School’s Talent

Discover how to elevate your school’s current employees into leadership positions, helping keep your culture and mission intact while retaining your most promising teacher-leaders.
Private schools often hire outside talent to fill senior leadership positions. While this isn’t a problem in all cases, it can lead to ongoing culture disruption and discontented teachers who don’t feel understood by their new leaders when it happens too frequently.
The alternative: Work now to establish a leadership pipeline where current faculty and staff who aspire to administrative positions are given the support, training, and mentorship they need to succeed. These folks understand your mission, love your students, and are often more than ready to make meaningful contributions to your school’s future.
Join us to discuss the do’s and don’ts of creating a leadership pipeline and how to get everyone involved and onboard.

How to Use Video For Impactful EOY Solicitations and Stewardship

As video engagement continues to power many of the digital interactions donors of all ages experience, how can you use this channel effectively in your own campaigns?
Join ThankView President JD Beebe as he walks through how to deploy video campaigns for different audiences—from solicitations to stewardship, from 1:many to 1:1 outreach.
Explore how to create and disseminate videos for campaigns surrounding parent co-chairs, class ambassadors, loyalty societies, faculty/staff, current students, alumni, and admission. Get stealable ideas from fellow independent school leaders to help you craft the best video experience for your internal team and donor community.