PowerPoint Presentations

NOTE: You must have Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your computer to view these presentations. To view a presentation, click on its title, save the file to your computer, then open the file with Microsoft PowerPoint.

If Pat Bassett is speaking at your organization and you would like to share the PowerPoint slides with attendees, please provide a link to the slides on the NAIS website instead of posting the presentation itself on your site. Thank you.

Change Agency Leadership
October 27, 2009
The president of NAIS examines the change dynamic in schools, examining the strategic issues related to the teaching profession, why faculty and schools seem impervious to change, and new approaches to effecting and leading change by leaders. He will share various models of change agency, including those outlined by Dan Pink in The Science of Motivation, by Robert Kegan in Immunity to Change, and by Chip and Dan Heath in Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard.

Difficult, Courageous, and Fierce Conversations
October 27, 2009
The president of NAIS presents an analysis of conversation dynamics, why tough conversations tend to go badly, and what to do to make them go better.

Finland’s School Success Story
October 27, 2009
The president of NAIS examines the conditions for Finland’s amazing success story for educating all children. In a country where there are virtually no private schools because the public schools function so well and where the students perform at the top of international testing on all fronts, there are lessons to learn for public and private schools worldwide.

Governance 201: Exceptional Boards
October 27, 2009
The president of NAIS outlines BoardSource's approach to defining good governance in The Source: Twelve Principles of Governance that Power Exceptional Boards.

Leading in Times of High Anxiety
October 27, 2009
NAIS president Patrick F. Bassett reflects on how heads, admin teams, and boards can support one another and provide stellar leadership in difficult times. What does the current environmental scan tell us? What are the external and internal stressors. How do we communicate? How do we support one another? What’s the next “next” to anticipate?

Right-Brained Future
October 27, 2009
NAIS President Pat Bassett asks and answers three critical “school of the future” questions in this PowerPoint: Can we agree on what to teach in a 21st century “School of the Future”? Can we re-think how to assess for 21st century skills and values? How do we teach the “right-brained” skills and values for the 21st century? He uses independent school illustrations of teachers addressing the core skills and values of 21st schools, especially the “right-brained” aptitudes identified by Dan Pink in A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.

Schools of the Future
October 27, 2009
NAIS’s president addresses the issues of “how schools fail kids” and why the current model of schooling is not working for many students. He then shares several competing “visions” of the school of the future. Finally he raises 15 “design issues” for educators to consider as they create their own schools of the future.

Moral Life of Schools: Why Good Schools Are Counter-Cultural
July 1, 2009
NAIS President Patrick F. Bassett examines the values embedded in the "second curriculum" or "character curriculum" of independent schools.

Inevitable Surprises, Brutal Facts, and Unshakeable Beliefs
June 1, 2009
Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS president, offers his forecast of the next big movements in education ("inevitable surprises"), then outlines what NAIS and other research reveals about "brutal facts" facing the independent school industry. He concludes by noting the "unshakeable beliefs" that form the foundation by which independent schools will continue to thrive.

Admissions, Marketing, Pricing, and Demographic Trends
February 1, 2009
The president of NAIS gives an overview of issues relating to admissions, marketing, and demographics, and affordability, and the considerations the changing landscape presents for independent schools. The presentation will offer key research-based messages for promoting independent schools. Participants will trouble-shoot with possible solutions to the challenges, including the use of the NAIS Demographic Center.

Compensating Excellence and Rewarding Performance
February 1, 2009
This presentation by the president of NAIS explores "pay for performance" and three new models independent schools are experimenting with: bonus/pay for performance systems (corporate model); overlapping ranges of broadband systems (the professions model, such as engineering or law); and faculty rank or tier systems (the university model).

Effecting Change: Creating 21st Century Schools
February 1, 2009
NAIS president Patrick F. Bassett presents an examination of why schools sometimes fail kids, why change is so difficult in organizations, how to overcome resistance to change, and what colors to consider in the design palette for 21st Century schools. Various "design issues" for creating 21st C. schools will be covered.

Evaluation and Compensation for Heads
February 1, 2009
This PowerPoint presents various models and process considerations for boards in their annual evaluation of school heads.

Financial Survivability
February 1, 2009
Pat Bassett, NAIS president, presents an accounting of six factors of "the perfect storm" that in confluence may place schools in financial jeopardy.

Financially Sustainable Schools: Six Steps to Financial Equilibrium
February 1, 2009
This presentation by the president of NAIS covers trends, benchmark ratios, and "financial data proxies" for school success, and presents the NAIS "Six Step Model" for achieving financial equilibrium derived from the NAIS workbook, Financing Sustainable Schools.

Governance 101
February 1, 2009
Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS president, begins with an overview (using role plays and case studies) of the basic concepts of independent school governance, including the roles and boundaries of the four major players: the board, head of school, faculty, and parent body.

How Great Schools Work: The Parent/School Partnership
February 1, 2009
This session by the president of NAIS addresses a series of questions for current and/or prospective parents: choices in schools, public vs. private; how independent schools work; what great schools have in common; what kids need from adults; what schools need from parents and what parents need from schools.

Mindsets: How Fixed Mindsets and Rigid Thinking Hurt Kids and Systems
February 1, 2009
The president of NAIS reviews the research from Stanford University professor Carol Dweck’s book Mindsets, which defines the contrast between growth and fixed mindsets in youth and in adults - and the implications for teaching and parenting.

Principled Decision-making
February 1, 2009
This presentation by the president of NAIS addresses challenges faced by leaders of independent schools, in the context of decision-making models and increased calls for accountability by constituents.

Trends: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
February 1, 2009
The president of NAIS presents five trends that will impact strategy-making for independent schools in the years ahead, pointing out the "good, bad, and ugly" dimensions.

Good to Great: Eight Strategic Planning Steps to Making Sense of the Future
January 22, 2009
This presentation by the president of NAIS reviews new thinking about organizational governance and growth, examining what environmental scanning suggests about our industry.

The Clue Train: Taking Delivery from the Global Schoolhouse
October 3, 2008
The president of NAIS presents the "clues" we are receiving from global data on education in the US vs. other westernized data and addresses four emerging themes: 1. The global achievement gap; 2. An international standard for testing and assessment of how our students are doing; 3. The Finland Model; 4. The Philly "School of the Future" model.

The Case for Creativity in 21st Century Schools
March 1, 2008
The president of NAIS develops the arguments from Dan Pink (A Whole New Mind), Sir Ken Robinson (Out of Our Minds: Learning To Be Creative), and Edward de Bono (Six Hats Thinking) to make the case for increased attention to teaching creativity and creative thinking for students, educators, and schools. He illustrates the point with exercises and examples of creative student “demonstrations of learning.”

Strategic Indicators and Tools for Schools
January 27, 2008
The president of NAIS presents an overview of the key trends that will impact schools in the next decade, including changing school-age demographics, the war for talent, the challenges of affordability and financially sustainable schools, the changing landscape of public schools, and the like. He will then demonstrate tools available on the NAIS website for member schools, including the Demographics Center and the School Financial Calculator.

Hot Topics: Trends and Road Signs along the Way
October 13, 2006
As background for NAIS’s five sustainability themes (demographic, environmental, global, programmatic, and financial sustainability), the presentation gives an executive summary of the research NAIS has gathered in its NAIS Opinion Leader Survey: Forecasting Independent Schools Education to 2015 (available on the NAIS website as a PDF file). The presentation also explores action steps schools should take now to develop a strategic vision to become a sustainable school.

Evaluating Board, Heads, Administration, and Faculty
October 20, 2005
Explore issues relating to the evaluation of faculty and administrators (by the head of school) and the evaluation of the head and trustees (by the board). This presentation by the president of NAIS will examine the leadership issues, the relationship to strategic-planning and goal-setting, and the various "definitions of the job," as indicated by NAIS surveying of school leadership. Using the NAIS Board Assessment Survey, Pat Bassett will demonstrate a model for board evaluation for independent schools. Finally, he will address evaluating one's school by "dashboard indicators" and by a "balanced scorecard approach."

Hot Topics: Global Issues and Sustainable Schools
October 20, 2005
This PowerPoint presentation focuses on independent school issues that are universal and global. It also presents the NAIS vision for school sustainability in five areas: financial, global, environmental, demographic, and programmatic. If the purpose of leadership is ultimately to develop and execute a vision that creates a school "built to last," then school leaders and their boards must address how to plan for sustainability across these several continua. What are the right questions to ask? What are early adopter schools doing?

Leadership Principles
July 22, 2005
This PowerPoint presentation outlines basic principles of leadership and governance, then outlines how Jim Collins's book Good to Great can be applied to the administration and board of an independent school. It examines elements of leadership style and the "seven surprises" leaders confront once they begin to lead a new enterprise.

Diversity: Leadership and Governance
June 23, 2004
This PowerPoint outlines the essential leadership issues and governance questions to consider as a school moves the diversity agenda along.

Recruiting Faculty
March 28, 2003
This PowerPoint presentation provides some recommendations on faculty recruitment strategies, including some thoughts on attracting and keeping faculty of color.

Compensation for Faculty
January 28, 2003
This PowerPoint presentation addresses the crisis in teacher recruitment and discusses current conundrums in faculty recruitment, retention, evaluation, and compensation systems. A related spreadsheet is also available to download.

Effective Communications
January 12, 2003
This PowerPoint presentation raises questions and provides links to resources on key issues facing independent schools. Originally presented at CASE/NAIS Annual Conference in New Orleans, the presentation is targeted for advancement and communications professionals.

Surviving the College Search: The Placement Game
November 12, 2002
This PowerPoint presentation presents some of the myths and realities confronting families as they think about and plan for college matriculation. The print version is available for purchase in the publications section of the NAIS website.

Advocacy Initiative Primer: It's Time to Tell Our Story
May 2, 2002
This PowerPoint presentation outlines the what, whys, and hows of the advocacy initiative, a three-year effort supported by a broad band of over 30 independent school associations throughout the country. The purpose of the initiative is to bridge the public knowledge gap about independent schools, targeting in particular the opinion leaders in the media and in government, prospective teachers, and prospective families.

Strategic Planning for Independent Schools
December 28, 2001
This PowerPoint presentation presents an outline for strategic planning, including sample retreat schedules.

Head Search
December 4, 2001
This PowerPoint presentation examines the steps schools should follow as they launch into a head search: definition of the job; leadership variables; the relationship to the school strategic plan; protocols to follow; the schedule.

Professional Development for Teachers and Administrators
November 9, 2001
This PowerPoint presentation addresses the goals of and vision for professional development for teachers and administrators. It notes the research on why teachers teach in independent schools and the needs of teachers at various stages of their careers.

What about the Boys?
In this presentation, the president of NAIS reviews the current literature and debate on whether and how gender plays a role in teaching and learning, punctuating the discourse with illustrations from independent schools. The presentation includes examination of brain research and sociological studies and invites participants to consider strategies of teaching that work for all students.