Independent School Management developed this guidebook to help schools implement, manage, and sustain effective practices for faculty hiring, evaluation, development, compensation, and selective retention. While we strive at all points to support teachers to the fullest, this book is ultimately not about teachers—it is really about students. We believe, by following these guidelines, your school will ultimately increase student performance, satisfaction, and enthusiasm. By supporting teachers, your school supports its students and helps ensure its long-term growth and success.
This book is written based on ISM’s experience since 1975 in guiding private school administrators, as well as from current knowledge of research and best practices in the human resources, performance, evaluation, growth and renewal, management, and leadership fields of study. Much of the content is derived from ISM’s own research studies (i.e., Research on School Management and the Student Experience Study). Although the book has private school administrators and teachers in mind, the principles and guidelines are largely applicable in most school scenarios.
"If we believe great teaching is our hedgehog as independent schools, then you will agree that the Comprehensive Faculty Development book is the best resource ISM has ever published. Read it, personalize it, put it into practice and teaching excellence will be bolstered on your campus! If creating an exceptional faculty culture is important to you, this book is written with your school in mind." -- Steve D. Whitaker, Head of School, The First Academy (Orlando, FL) "We have adopted ISM's Comprehensive Faculty Development Model as the foundation for our new faculty coaching, mentoring, and evaluation system. We embrace the system's primary focus on fostering a commitment by teachers to ongoing professional development and continuous improvement of their practice for the benefit of student learning. The impressive attention to the details makes the book an invaluable resource for any school or individual concerned with the development of teachers." -- Martin Ferrell, Dean of Academics, Hawai'i Preparatory Academy (Kamuela, HI) "The Comprehensive Faculty Development Model challenged us to examine what is really important at our school. The model is rooted in our mission and challenged us to clearly identify the Professional Characteristics that are unique to us. We will use them not only to measure teacher effectiveness but also to create renewal and growth plans for our faculty. We have been more than satisfied with the results and highly recommend this model for independent schools!" -- Barbara Daush, President, St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School (Memphis, TN) "My leadership team and I have found the ISM model to be inspiring and informative as we work together to build the capacity of our faculty. We now share a comprehensive and compelling vision for faculty evaluation. At the end of the day, our students are the direct beneficiaries of our efforts--student growth and achievement soar when we are diligent about ensuring faculty excellence." -- Wanda M. Holland Greene, Head of School, The Hamlin School (San Francisco, CA) This book complements well with another ISM publication, Teaching Excellence II: A Research-Based Workbook for Teachers, which is also available on Amazon.
