RG175 Blog

Independent school education is facing a leadership crisis. The median tenure of a head at his or her present schools is less than six years (Mitchell). Abrupt departures of heads within two months of the end of the school year are increasing at an alarming rate according to ISACS Executive Director... read more

True story. In 1998 as Head of School, I was interviewing candidates for the Middle School Head position. At the time, the Middle School operated like an old junior high school, essentially treating early adolescents as if they were smaller versions of 18-year-old students. The program was stale, an... read more

A good checklist can change everything. Atul Gawande gave us a great gift in The Checklist Manifesto when he documented the value of a checklist for performance. From industries as varied as aviation, health care, and skyscraper construction, Gawande proved incontrovertibly that a good checklist is... read more

At the end of his lengthy tenure, a school head significantly reduced attrition, doubled the number of applications, increased enrollment by 55%, completed three successful capital campaigns, and helped his school become a “player” in a very competitive independent school market. Before he arrived,... read more

Not long ago, a trustee of a prominent independent day school groused to me that the Head of School doesn’t lead “he just goes around asking other people what they think. No one knows where he stands. We need a vision of where the school should be in five years, ten years, and he needs to spearhead... read more

There are many “must read” articles and books that land on the desks and in the email inboxes of school heads. There are terrific workshops to attend, theories of management to understand and apply, and great courses and seminars to register for in order to better comprehend one’s work environment a... read more