This week the School Growth team had the privilege of leading workshops at the ASBO annual conference in Phoenix, the GISA Enrollment conference in Atlanta, and the ACIS enrollment session in Denver. It's enlightening to see the different school designs and strategies being employed across this wide spectrum and to cross-pollinate some best practices along the way. 

This letter was shared last Friday by Aggie Malter, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Area Independent Schools Business Officers Association (PAISBOA). We are collaborating together to equip the leaders in the school's business office with the skills to build greater engagement and trust across the campus. Deeper relationships between the business office and administrators improves the school's ability to innovate and grow.

The Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has selected School Growth, a global education strategy company, to manage the design and development of a new preschool through twelfth grade campus in North Tampa. This new school is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2018, and, with the collaboration of Adventist Health System, will raise the bar for educational excellence for families throughout the surrounding communities.

Does the School Growth innovation and design method really work? Can you transform a school with tactical planning and disciplined talent development? Here's one example from an early adopter that proves the answer is "Yes!" This school achieved 65% higher enrollment in 5 years by using the School Growth Method.

Three consecutive days this week we taught our BUILDING FACULTY ENGAGEMENT Workshop on three different campuses. Talented, energized, and engaged educators change the world, which is why we do what we do at School Growth and it's why we designed this unique professional development experience.

Gallup has conducted numerous research studies on the factors that influence school quality, and faculty engagement has consistently been the most reliable and important predictor. An engaged teacher is defined as one who is, "involved with, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work." That is, they are emotionally and energetically invested in the mission, culture, and strategies of the school. 

An unengaged teacher, on the other hand, is content with just working for a paycheck. In performing her/his duties, this person is less likely to seek out opportunities for professional growth and improving the team. She/he doesn't feel emotionally connected to the leadership and community of the school, which causes a loss of energy across the school culture rather than positively contributing to it. 

The School Growth team had the privilege of hosting the 2016 PAISBOA Small Schools Symposium in Philadelphia. In one intense day of professional development, the participating administrators and board leaders developed a plan for breakthrough growth over the next 90-days. They came prepared with a list of belief statements that provided clarity around each school's mission, enabling the participants to produce a strategy canvas that succinctly conveys their plans.

If you could show remarkable progress between July 1st and September 30th, would you expect your board, parents, and donors to be more energized and engaged? Highly likely, right?

Chief Business Officers must wear many hats as they manage their institutions. Although every role you play is important, three key roles define your success more than any others: capacity builder, cultural traveler and horizon thinker. Fulfilling these roles effectively is essential to the success of the school.

An arsenal of versatile skills is an asset to any Chief Business Officer. Although all of the skills you possess will be beneficial to you in the course of your job, three specific skills are particularly important: creativity, communication and decision-making. Honing each of these skills will help you to be the best you can be in your position. 

Talk of school reform and innovation sometimes makes it seem like this is a recent concept in education, but at School Growth we've had the privilege of visiting two schools in the last week who have managed to effectively understand economic and education forces in order to stay relevant and grow. 

Fundraising is a top priority for many school leaders, so you may be looking for a way to improve your approach to donor cultivation. If you are connected with a Christian or similar faith-based school, I highly recommend the book, Giving and Getting in the Kingdom: A Field Guide, by Mark Dillon.

Mark is an unusually talented fundraising expert. He served in the development office at Wheaton College for 19 years, most recently as the VP of Advancement and Alumni Relations. Having led capital and annual fund campaigns that raised hundreds of millions of dollars, Mark is fully qualified to give advice on this topic.

He is now the Executive Vice President of the Christian Education and Non-Profit division at Generis, an Atlanta-based fundraising consulting company that advances the missions of churches, Christian schools, colleges, seminaries, universities, and non-profit organizations.