|
In This Issue: SAIS Professional Development for 2017-18
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Register Now for the SAIS Annual Conference!
|
Registration is
OPEN
for the 2017 SAIS Annual Conference,
October 22-24
at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia in
Atlanta
. Featuring keynote speakers Alan November and Dr. Johnnetta Cole, the conference includes an impressive variety of speakers and breakout sessions, including equity and inclusion in leadership, encouraging meaningful feedback, and growing social intelligence.
|
For the 2017-18 school year, 34 SAIS schools welcomed new heads to their campuses. Of the new heads, 14 are new to the SAIS community, and 20 either moved from other SAIS schools or were promoted at their current schools. Congratulations to these colleagues on their new appointments!
|
|
|
|
|
Key Questions for Hiring New Teachers
|
|
“Teachers are the single biggest investment a school makes, and the greatest resource,” according to
Alan November
, senior partner & founder of November Learning. So with that investment, how do schools ensure they find the right people to lead their students for 21
st
century learning? After all, teachers today are encountering students who are very different from students in the past. At our keynote address at this year’s
SAIS Annual Conference
, November will offer key questions useful for both hiring new teachers and developing current ones for the next 10 years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unselfie
by Dr. Michele Borba
|
|
Reviewed by Arvi Balseiro, Head of The Cushman School, Miami
Each of us represents independent schools with varying missions and philosophies. The commonality is that we always attempt to ensure that the educational landscape and the experiences in our schools are relevant and influence our students in positive ways so they can be highly engaged, global citizens. These deliberate efforts are especially important during the impressionable years when a child’s character and dispositions are developed. The challenges we are facing, however, as we strive to accomplish these goals, have led to my deep concern for our children, teens, and young adults.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The End of Sidewalk Talk: Encouraging Meaningful Feedback from Parents to Teachers
|
Like many schools, Durham Academy uses an anonymous end-of-year survey to gather feedback from parents about a variety of topics, including teacher performance. Parents also often choose to meet with the administration to express concerns but sometimes prefer to keep the conversation anonymous (though they still expect some change to occur). After years of much concern about the indirect nature of most of the feedback – and how limited the school felt by its anonymity – administrators designed an online (non-anonymous!) platform for parents to give feedback directly to teachers about their child’s experience.
The Parent Feedback Form is a brief online survey that is designed to send feedback directly from parents to teachers about teacher communication, homework assignments, meetings with teachers, and feedback on assignments.
Lee Hark, associate head of school at Durham Academy, will discuss this program at the
2017 SAIS Annual Conference
. He will share the initial results of the first iteration of this survey, the lessons learned, and the school’s future steps. In addition, he will explain how they constructed the interface and what was learned during the rollout. The session will be held October 23 at 11:00 AM.
“Educating children is a partnership between the school, the teacher, the student, and the family, and we believe that a culture of continual improvement is built upon open and honest feedback,” Hark said. “This is an important step in that direction for our school.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
Making Our Mission Real: How We Can Help Our Children Navigate Reality
Jay Underwood
, head of High Meadows School in Roswell, GA, gets real.
|
|
|
Help for Hurricane Harvey, students getting to work in the classroom, and more.
|
|
|
|
|
Endowment Building for Schools
|
Every independent school should have an ample endowment to carry it through tough times. The best way to initiate an endowment is through planned giving. In an SAIS webinar on September 28 at 4 PM,
Linda McNay, Ph.D.
of Our Fundraising Search, will share simple steps to begin a successful planned giving program and will offer suggestions on how to enhance current planned giving efforts. Register at
sais.org/webinar
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SAIS Board of Trustees: 2018 Nominees
|
The SAIS Board of Trustees proposes the following slate of new trustees for service beginning January 1, 2018:
- DuBose Egleston, Porter-Gaud School, SC
- Dr. Jeffrey Mitchell, Currey Ingram Academy, TN
- Scott Wilson, Baylor School, TN
The membership will have the opportunity to vote on these trustees at the annual business meeting, which takes place during the SAIS Annual Conference, on October 23, at 12:30 PM. Register for the conference at
www.sais.org/AC
.
|
|
|
|
|
SAIS Board of Trustees: 2018-19 Officers
|
|
The SAIS Board of Trustees elected the following slate of officers for service beginning January 1, 2018:
- CHAIR: Byron Hulsey, Woodberry Forest School, VA
- VICE CHAIR: Mark Reed, Charlotte Country Day School, NC
- TREASURER: Mark Hale, Greensboro Day School, NC
- SECRETARY: Jackie Westerfield, Grandview Preparatory School, FL
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SAIS is now accepting proposals for breakout sessions at the 2018 SAIS Athletic Directors Conference, January 16-17, in Charlotte, NC.
sais.org/ADC
|
|
|
SAIS is now accepting proposals for breakout sessions at the 2018 SAIS Finance Institute, January 16-17, in Charlotte, NC.
sais.org/FI
|
|
|
|
|
|
