In light of the best practices of governance, what are the boundaries of the board's knowledge? Are there limitations to what should be shared with the board?

In order for the school(s) to advance as a learning organization, the board has the opportunity to set the pace. I previously shared ten key areas of knowledge that should be incorporated into the professional development and assessments for board members. As a follow up, the question must also be considered as to whether there should be intentional limits on the data/information to which the board should be granted access.

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.

This week I received a delightful email message from a School Growth client:

"How did you calculate the 'Best Guess' projected enrollment for our school back in March? You were EXACTLY right!"

Early this year we Optimized the Enrollment Office for this school that had recently hired a new enrollment director and experienced other changes. Communication and productivity weren't going as well as they wanted, and they were trying to learn from their enrollment data in order to find ways to improve the quality of services.

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?

The burden of enrollment does not rest solely on the admissions office. However, without an effective admissions office, enrollment cannot reach its full potential in any school. Here are some tips to help you optimize your admissions office's processes in order to grow enrollment.

One of the most important factors that contribute to your school's enrollment is the quality of your enrollment strategy. Below are some tips to help you build a solid enrollment strategy for your school.