#1: School Purpose

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A Quick Two Minute Drill on Getting Organizational Identity Right

In this Insights podcast - which is less than three minutes long - Ian Symmonds asks, "Why do so many organizations fail to articulate their purpose effectively?" He says the most common reason is that they do not follow a proven process to understand themselves: their organizational ethos, culture, and belief systems. Symmonds outlines a trusted seven-step process to help organizations effectively articulate their purpose.

#2: School Leadership

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7 Strategies to Improve Your Employees' Health and Well-Being

The authors of this Harvard Business Review article reviewed research on the specific work conditions that affect employee well-being and how to improve them. They generated seven practical approaches that employers can apply to redesign jobs, a few of which are:

• Give workers more control over how they do their work.
• Provide employees with opportunities to identify and solve workplace problems.
• Keep your organization adequately staffed, so workloads are reasonable.
• Take steps to foster a sense of social belonging among employees.

#3: Governance

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Three More Things All Great Schools Do In Advancement

Advancement Consultant Barbara Barron focuses heavily on the role the Board plays in advancement in this blog post. She says Board Members should be "carefully and intentionally selected and serve enthusiastically in their roles to secure the vital resources the school needs to deliver on its mission." In the post, she elaborates on what that looks like in practice.

#4: Education Program Foundation

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#5: Learning & Teaching

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It's Worth It: Mission-Aligned Student Outcomes Support Your Value Proposition

To understand and articulate what students gain by attending your school, Sarah Hanawald, Assistant Head of School for PD & New Programs for One Schoolhouse, encourages schools to collect data about outcomes that are aligned with their mission. Hanawald says, "by collecting data that affirms and supports your mission, your outcomes emphasize the values and unique experiences that define your school."

#6: Student Well-Being & Support

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Beyond Wellness: Building Resilience in Your Independent School Students

Writing for NAIS, Alex Brosowsky, Head of School at The Quaker School at Horsham (PA), details a year-long roadmap that his school is currently using to improve resilience. Brosowsky says the school is focussing on four core areas:

1. Physical health.
2. Mental health.
3. Social-emotional learning (SEL).
4. Community health.

Note: At the end of the article, Brosowsky shares his email address and invites readers to email him for a copy of the roadmap.

#7: Essential Concepts

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What is 'eco-anxiety' and how can we ease young people's fears for the planet?

According to this article from the World Economic Forum, 'eco-anxiety' is growing among children. The UK's Royal College of Psychiatrists (RC Psych) found that 57% of child and adolescent psychiatrists were seeing children and young people distressed about the climate crisis and the state of the environment. The article includes many suggestions for adults to support young people to manage their eco-anxiety.

#8: Custodial Care

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One of the oldest independent boarding schools in the United States, Cheshire Academy is the first independent school in Connecticut to lower tuition. The school prides itself on providing an internationally-minded education and believes lowering the tuition will make it more affordable to local families while increasing the diversity and calibre of its student body.

#9: Recruitment & Community Engagement

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Three relationships whose power K-12 schools consistently underestimate

In this Christensen Institute post, senior research fellow Mahnaz R. Charania cites research that shows access to a diversity of relationships positively impacts students' academic success and wellbeing and recommends that schools work to strategically build students' relationships with other community members: peers, alumni and families.

#10: Human Resources

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The authors of this Harvard Business Review article write that "engaged employees perform better, experience less burnout, and stay in organizations longer." However, their research found that what leaders think are the most important factors driving engagement does not correspond to what is actually most important. To help leaders most effectively engage their employees, they created a research-based Employee Engagement Checklist.

#11: Finance

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Bank of Canada's Tiff Macklem, bank CEOs diverge on inflation outlook

According to this Globe & Mail article, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem believes that the current bout of high inflation will likely recede once global supply chains normalize. However, top Canadian bank executives disagree, believing that Canadians will spend more of their pandemic savings, causing higher inflation.

#12: Facilities & Infrastructure

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CDC Report Finds Summer Camps With Strong Covid Protocols Kept Infections To A Minimum

This Forbes article looks at a new CDC report which demonstrates how using multiple COVID-19 prevention strategies at overnight summer camps in the United States was highly effective in preventing transmission of COVID-19. The layers of protection used by the summer camps included; vaccination, pre-arrival and frequent screening testing, creating social "pods" or cohorts, masking, physical distancing, and hand hygiene.