Head & Leadership Resources Archive

Administrative Structure

• Mitchell, J. Is there bloat in our schools? Ratio of administrators to students. Fast Stats, SAIS, April 2013.
• Wickenden, J. Rethinking the head of school position. Independent School, NAIS, fall 2011.

Crisis Communications

• Hulbert, J. Crisis communications guidelines for independent schools. NAIS, 5/09/08. (NAIS-member password required)

Decision-making

• Friedson, R. Why independent schools should utilize benchmarking. Independent School Magazine Blog, 7/07/15.
• Hoerr, T.R. Who decides what? Educational Leadership, ASCD, April 2013

Fiction & Biographies

• Gutcheon, B. Saying grace. William Morrow Paperbacks, 2005.
• McPhee, J. The headmaster: Frank L. Boyden of Deerfield. Farrar, Straus, Giroux,1992.

General Resources

• NAIS principles of good practice for heads of school. NAIS, 1/31/05.
• Riven, J. & Batiste, G. (Eds.) The heads’ handbook: A guide for aspiring, new, and experienced heads of school. NAIS, 2011.

Head/Board Partnership

• The board/head partnership. NAIS, 8/13/13.
• Developing and reviewing policy. NAIS website, 4/20/08.
• Heads and boards working in partnership: 2012-13 NAIS governance study. NAIS,10/08/13. (NAIS-member password required)

Head’s Compensation & Contract

• Bassett, P., with update from Shahan, K. Head of school contracts. ISACS monograph, April 2014.
• Head of school contract sample. Reviewed by Leo Athas, April 2014.
• Journy, M.T. Paying for the best: Executive compensation for 501(c)3 public charities. Venable LLP, October 2012.
• Littleford, J. Head’s compensation. Several articles on this topic, jlittleford.com.
• Littleford, J. Leadership of schools and the longevity of heads. jlittleford.com, August 2015.
• Littleford, J. Managing school climate – and not letting it manage you! jlittleford.com, August 2015.
• Watchorn, V. (Ed.). The NAIS head search handbook, 2nd edition. NAIS, 2018, pp. 173-182 and 243-246.