Audience: Administrators

Independent schools reported a 90% increase in negative impacts as a result of cybersecurity incidents between 2017 and 2018. While the IT department can be an important ally, this work must be managed by senior leadership and should be part of a broader risk management strategy. Hear about challenges independent schools have experienced and learn to develop a strategy and road map to address these risks.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

This webinar is complimentary for ISACS Members.

Audience: Faculty * Administrators

Schools in their final year (7 or 10) and Year 1 of the accreditation cycle should plan for the crucial work during the first years of the accreditation cycle that results in school improvement. Tasks to complete in Years 1 and 2 of the accreditation cycle include: hosting the kick-off visit, creating the steering committee, conducting the school community survey, reviewing governing body tasks, updating curriculum documentation, and planning for the visiting team. This webinar would be helpful for heads, steering committee chairs, and anyone playing a key role in the accreditation process.

Audience: Faculty * Administrators * Trustees

Learn about socioeconomic (SE) diversity: what it does—and doesn’t mean, and why SE diversity is vital for independent schools, which are historically founded on socioeconomic homogeneity. With an understanding of why and what we’re talking about, we’ll overview guiding principles and practices, issues to consider, and essential questions for schools that don’t just “want to be more diverse,” but are committed to evolving as institutions and communities where socioeconomically diverse students, families, and employees can thrive.

Alison Park is the founder of Blink Consulting. Since 2005, Blink has collaborated with over 100 schools to help create communities where all children, youth, and adults can thrive. In addition, Park has facilitated at numerous conferences, including NAIS’ Annual Conference and PoCC; partnered with educational access and other youth-focused organizations; and served on Park Day School (CA) board of trustees. She currently serves on the Mosaic Project advisory board and the SMART program’s board of directors. Before Blink, she taught for 13 years in the public, non-profit, and private sectors, including Marin Academy and Head-Royce middle school both in CA. She earned her BA at Yale University and two master’s degrees at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Faculty * Administrators

Many schools are developing Portraits of a Graduate to communicate the enduring, transdisciplinary mindsets and skills with which their students will leave. By developing a Portrait, you can have a tool for internal decision-making and for external communications. How can you best develop a Portrait, communicate it, and use it to move your school forward?  Hear the research, lessons learned, and how the Portrait has been used in different schools. Connections to the work of the Mastery Transcript Consortium also will be explored. Leave with ideas for Portrait development, communications, and implementation into academic programs. This webinar is for all involved in formulating or implementing a Portrait of a Graduate as well as communications officers interested in sharing Portraits with internal and external audiences.

Greg Bamford is associate head of school for strategy and innovation at Charles Wright Academy (WA). He has worked in independent schools as a teacher, coach, administrator, consultant, and parent. He is a co-founder of Leadership+Design, a nonprofit that supports educational innovation and leadership development in schools. He was previously head of school at the Watershed School (CO). During his time at Watershed, enrollment grew by 82%. Bamford and a team of collaborators co-founded the Traverse Conference on real-world learning. He has spoken at education conferences as well as written for Independent School magazine, Net Assets, and The Yield. You can find him on Twitter @gregbamford and his blog at gregbamford.education.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Faculty * Administrators * Parents * Trustees

Who is allowed to say the N!gga(er) word? What do we do/say when it is said in our classrooms, hallways, practice fields, dinner table, cafeterias, and residence halls? Ignoring the word is not an option anymore. Participants will be challenged to examine their personal and professional histories with the word and consider the ramifications of casual or uninformed usage of a powerful and troublesome word.  

Eddie Moore, Jr., PhD started America & MOORE, LLC to provide comprehensive diversity, privilege, and leadership trainings and is featured in the film I’m not Racist….Am I? He is the founder and program director for the White Privilege Conference and founded The Privilege Institute. Moore is also co-founder of the online journal Understanding and Dismantling Privilege, coeditor of Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice: 15 Stories, The Guide for White Women who Teach Black Boys, The Diversity Consultant Cookbook: Preparing for the Challenge, and Teaching Brilliant and Beautiful Black Girls. Previously, Moore served as director of diversity at Brooklyn Friends School (NY) and The Bush School (WA). For more information, visit eddiemoorejr.com.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Administrators (heads of school, division directors, leadership teams, & aspiring leaders)

The ideal leadership team consists of highly talented individuals in their respective areas of expertise. This doesn’t necessarily mean the team functions well together. Egos, blindspots, miscommunications, and divergent styles of leading and working together often get in the way and derail a team from being its best. Explore research-tested tools and insightful strategies to unlock the true potential of a well-functioning team; a team whose best days are ahead.

Edward Hollinger is an educational leader and consultant specializing in transitional leadership, team development, and professional coaching. His work focuses on helping individuals and organizations discover and develop their best professional selves. Hollinger holds a masters in educational leadership from Temple University and is certified in organizational change and leadership coaching from Northwestern University. He has led numerous schools throughout the country as their interim head of school. In addition, he leads workshops and consults with teams using a strength-based approach to building strong teams and establishing best-self practices.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Faculty * Administrators * Parents (early childhood & lower school)

One of the greatest treasures is a glimpse into the thought process of innovative thinkers. We pour over Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks and are drawn in by Beatrix Potter’s sketchbooks. We are captivated by drawings and doodles of children as their imaginations and what-ifs take shape. Yet, for digital natives, time is seized by electronic apps while crayons, markers, and colored pencils are less present. Children, who once sketched with abandon, now navigate electronic palettes that effortlessly generate a depiction that meets the creator’s expectations. Current research demonstrates that drawing increases memory, engenders complex thinking, regulates emotions, and fosters unexpected connections. Learn how sketching, doodling, and diagramming enhance children’s visual, kinesthetic, and semantic pathways. Be inspired to put a sketchbook and writing implements in children's hands.

Lisa Wright, EdD serves as the director of The Hollingworth Center, a program within the department of curriculum and teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. Under Wright’s leadership the Center develops model programs and offers enriched educational services for graduate students, educators, and children. She is also on the faculty in the department of curriculum and teaching at Teachers College, teaches graduate courses, supervises student teachers, and co-directs an summer institute for teachers and administrators on responsive curriculum and pedagogy. She holds a masters in educational theater from New York University and a doctorate in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University. Wright taught in private and public schools at the elementary and secondary levels prior to coming to Teachers College and she presents and consults with education institutions internationally.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Faculty, Administrators & Parents

Damour will cover the key points from her New York Times best-selling book Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls. This webinar will consider new and age-old causes of stress and anxiety in girls--both at the level of individual relationships and broad cultural forces--and offer concrete strategies that adults can implement to protect girls and young women from toxic pressure. This webinar is for parents and all who work with girls ages 10 through young adulthood.

Lisa Damour, Ph.D. is a psychologist, author, teacher, speaker, and consultant. Damour writes the monthly adolescence column for the New York Times and is a regular contributor at CBS News. She serves as a senior advisor to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University and as the executive director of Laurel School’s Center for Research on Girls. She is the author of two New York Times best-selling books: Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood and Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls. For more information, visit drlisadamour.com.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Faculty * Administrators * Trustees

How can we speak up with courage and confidence as an ally and supporter of equity and inclusion? Have you witnessed an aggression or micro-aggression and felt frozen to speak up? During this webinar, learn key principles, techniques, and talking points for embracing, not avoiding, the difficult conversations around differences, whether with students, community, or colleagues.

Homa Tavangar is the author of the Global Kids activity cards, Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World, and The Global Education Toolkit for Elementary Learners and co-author of the three-book series Take-Action Guide to World Class Learners with Yong Zhao. She is co-founder of the Oneness Lab and consultant for NBC Sprout Channel’s animated children’s program, Nina’s World. Tavangar has served as adviser to organizations including Quiet Revolution, Disney Channel, the Pulitzer Center, National Education Association Global Learning Fellows, and US and international schools and contributed to Edutopia, National Geographic Edu, Huffington Post, PBS, and EducationWeek. She was born in Iran, was raised in the Midwest, and has lived on four continents, and her heritage includes four world religions. For more information, visit growingupglobal.net and onenesslab.com.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Faculty * Administrators

Executive skills are critical to the acquisition of academic skills, but, more importantly, they are the skills students need to get things done. Skills such as task initiation, sustained attention, working memory, planning, organization, and goal-directed persistence are critical to school success. Some students seem to acquire executive skills naturally, but many students struggle. Dawson, co-author of the books, Smart but Scattered and Smart but Scattered Teens, will provide an overview of these essential skills and will suggest three strategies teachers can use to help students of all ages grow their executive skills. This webinar is for K-12.

In over 40 years of clinical practice, Dr. Peg Dawson has worked with thousands of children and teens who struggle at home and in school. At the center of their struggles are often weak executive skills. Along with her colleague, Dr. Richard Guare, she has written numerous books on this topic for educators, mental health professionals, and parents, among them Smart but Scattered, Smart but Scattered Teens, Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents, and Coaching Students with Executive Skills Deficits. Dawson is also a past president of the National Association of School Psychologists, and the International School Psychology Association, and is a recipient of NASP’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Heads of School * Trustees

What’s moving and shaking in independent schools in the ISACS region? Raise your awareness of current trends and hot topics in peer schools. Take away a list of readings.

Claudia Daggett joined ISACS as executive director in 2014 and, in this role, frequently serves as counsel to heads and board chairs. She began her independent school career as a teacher at The Prairie School (WI) and has served in a variety of leadership roles including head of school at Friends Academy (MA), executive director of the Elementary School Heads Association, and independent school consultant with Gregory Floyd & Associates. She has contributed articles to The Trustees' Letter and The Heads' Letter and a chapter to the latest edition of the NAIS Head Search Handbook. In 2018, she earned a governance consultant certificate from BoardSource.

Please note the recording of this webinar will be available via a password protected link until June 30, 2020. Did you miss the live webinar but still want to access the recording? Just complete registration and ISACS will send you an email with details on how to access the recording. 

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Faculty * Administrators * Parents (early childhood & lower school)

Friendships are part of the golden stuff of childhood and the steppingstones into meaningful relationships in adulthood. Join this webinar for a journey through the developmental stages of friendships, the role of the parent in supporting children through what can often manifest challenges, and how to have important conversations with children as they navigate their growing social world. Books that teachers can share with children to spur thoughtful reflections will be highlighted. 

Lisa Wright, EdD serves as the director of The Hollingworth Center, a program within the department of curriculum and teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. Under Wright’s leadership the Center develops model programs and offers enriched educational services for graduate students, educators, and children. She is also on the faculty in the department of curriculum and teaching at Teachers College, teaches graduate courses, supervises student teachers, and co-directs an summer institute for teachers and administrators on responsive curriculum and pedagogy. She holds a masters in educational theater from New York University and a doctorate in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University. Wright taught in private and public schools at the elementary and secondary levels prior to coming to Teachers College and she presents and consults with education institutions internationally.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Faculty * Administrators

Do you routinely offer anxious students more time on their assignments? How can students best use a calming space in a classroom? This webinar will offer five strategies that help all students develop critical skills and will describe the five most common traps schools fall into when attempting to help anxious students. This webinar is for teachers, counselors, psychologists, administrators, and special educators.

Lynn Lyons, LICSW is an internationally recognized psychotherapist, author, and speaker with a special interest in interrupting the generational patterns of anxiety in families. Her skill-based approach to anxiety focuses on the need to teach families about HOW anxiety works and what families can do to pull members out of the powerful “anxiety cult” that demands obedience to its need for certainty and comfort.  Lyons is the co-author with Reid Wilson of Anxious Kids, Anxious Parentsand the companion book for kids Playing with Anxiety: Casey’s Guide for Teens and Kids. She is the author of Using Hypnosis with Children: Creating and Delivering Effective Interventions and has multiple online programs for parents and children. She maintains a private practice in Concord, NH where she sees families whenever she’s not on the road teaching.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience:  Administrators

Learn about the Composite Financial Index (CFI), which is a sophisticated analytical and communication tool that provides a common metric through which schools can view the complex picture of financial health. The CFI offers unified language to use when discussing financial information and sustainability with institutional leaders. Used in higher education, the CFI has been adopted for use by NBOA and NAIS as the measure of financial health. Be introduced to the CFI's conceptual framework, learn implications of specific scores and the resulting action the model suggests, and gain insights into the application of the measurements used to assess a school’s financial health.

Phil Tahey, CPA is a consultant to higher education institutions with almost 40 years of experience and service. He assists boards and finance committees in financial strategy, financial planning and metrics, and financial reporting processes. He also assists institutions in their business processes, IT systems, grants management, debt management, and accounting and finance areas. He is a retired partner from KPMG LLP, having served more than 100 colleges and universities as an auditor and consultant. He also served for a number of years as Controller at Johns Hopkins University. Tahey has co-authored several editions of Strategic Financial Analysis for Higher Education: Identifying, Measuring & Reporting Financial Risks, 7th Edition and its Update (2016), which is the source publication for the Composite Financial Index (CFI). He is also a co-author of Bridging the Strategic Gap: Toward Effective Finance Committees. He is a frequent speaker at NACUBO, NBOA, NAIS, and other association meetings.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Heads of School * Trustees

Consider the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) principles of good practice for independent schools and BoardSource recommendations for effective governance applicable to all non-profits. Explore the inherent challenges and rewards of independent school trusteeship and examine relevant benchmark data. Leave with a series of questions for discussion with fellow trustees for improving the essential work of your board.

Claudia Daggett joined ISACS as executive director in 2014 and, in this role, frequently serves as counsel to heads and board chairs. She began her independent school career as a teacher at The Prairie School (WI) and has served in a variety of leadership roles including head of school at Friends Academy (MA), executive director of the Elementary School Heads Association, and independent school consultant with Gregory Floyd & Associates. She has contributed articles to The Trustees' Letter and The Heads' Letter and a chapter to the latest edition of the NAIS Head Search Handbook. In 2018, she earned a governance consultant certificate from BoardSource.

Please note the recording of this webinar will be available via a password protected link until June 30, 2020. Did you miss the live webinar but still want to access the recording? Just complete registration and ISACS will send you an email with details on how to access the recording. 

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00 

Audience: Faculty * Administrators

You can accelerate the effectiveness of anyone new to any role by following a few simple guidelines. Create a plan to introduce new hires to the culture of your school, clarify communication preferences and be clear about expectations, and identify the simple tasks that make a big difference. This webinar is for anyone who has responsibility for a new hire whether that new hire is a teacher, administrator, or support staff. This also will be valuable for anyone who is supervising or leading a person who has stepped into a new role, even if that person has been at the school for years.

Barbara Braham, PhD is an executive coach and organizational development consultant, who works with leaders who want to move their organizations forward, and with individuals who want to realize their potential.  A member of the International Coach Federation, she has earned their highest designation, Master Certified Coach.

Price: 
ISACS members: $65.00 
Nonmembers: $100.00