Consultancies
ISS OPtimize consultancies tap into a vast network of experienced, subject-matter experts, and resources. The consultancies are designed to uncover underlining operational and educational challenges that prevent progress, efficiency, program effectiveness and excellence. Experienced ISS professionals provide timely assessments and proven solutions to educational or operational issues through virtual and school site consultancies.
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OPtimize Teaching & Learning Consultancy »
OPtimize Operational Audit »
OPtimize Architectural Design Services »
OPtimize Teaching & Learning Consultancy
How can we build and implement curriculum which serves students’ learning and our school missions? Why is focusing on student proficiency so essential in guiding their growth? What curriculum resources support students’ learning and foster teachers’ confidence as learning leaders? Building students’ learning with a well-aligned and edifying standards-based curriculum is at the heart of our work as teachers and leaders. Working together, OPtimize Teaching & Learning Consultancies
provide essential lenses and action plans for strengthening your school’s curriculum, assessment, and instruction.
Healthy schools engage in continuous improvement. A partnership with ISS curriculum experts, including Laura Benson and Michelle Kuhns, is helpful for schools embarking on initiatives to improve teaching and learning. This responsive and customized partnership will help you:
- Create a mission-driven curriculum architecture for learning
- Bring your strategic learning goals into classroom practice.
- Develop a learning environment that promotes joy in learning.
- Establish a standards-based assessment system to support students’ growth and learner agency
- Build capacity in teacher leadership and enhance professional learning team culture
Based on your school learning goals, the OPtimize Teaching & Learning Consultancy includes:
- Aligning and prioritizing the school’s vertical and horizontal alignment
- Professional learning support and facilitation
- Authentically integrating the content areas to deepen students’ confidence and joy for learning
- Establishing sound assessment and healthy grading systems that support a competency-based mindset
- Building student and teacher assessment literacy
- Support in vetting, sourcing, and receiving curriculum resources
- Curriculum guidance for accreditation
Timeline: This consultancy will be customized to meet your school’s unique needs and timelines.
Through Laura’s expertise in curriculum design and her commitment to professional growth, she has played a pivotal role in shaping a dynamic learning environment that promotes excellence. Laura’s collaborative approach, coupled with her genuine concern for the well-being of students and staff, has made a great impact on our learning community. Her impact on ISA has been transformative.
OPtimize Operational Audit
Optimal for schools aiming for operational enhancements and financial resilience. ISS experts understand effective school operations and have developed processes to identify and address operations issues before problems arise.
This package focuses on human capital strategy and organizational development practices to streamline processes for system optimization. Perfect for schools looking to secure operational improvements, financial sustainability, and risk mitigation.
Your ISS professional consultant will provide you with:
- Change management strategy and support
- An objective, expert review of organizational structure and culture
- Analysis of operational policies and procedures in finance, human resources, and facilities management
- Risk mitigation strategy
- Tools, templates, and support services to assist in improving systems, procedures and processes.
“We worked closely with ISS consultant Dr. Yael Cass and other ISS school management and operations experts, and they were able to draw up a cost effective proposal for a change management plan to help the school. In doing so, they were able to consult our community, draw from the resources of ISS and their own professional expertise to come up with a plan that has put us on the path to recovery.”
The Operational Program Audit includes:
- Change management strategy
- Interviews with operational staff and leadership
- Review of organizational structure, operational policies and procedures
- Prioritization of recommendations for immediate and medium-term impact
- Tools to support areas of concern
- Full summary report
Timeline: The ISS Operational Audit can be started and completed in as little as one month, depending on the depth of change required
Schools are often looking to expand or improve facilities and having an educational partner who understands schools AND architecture is key. Dr. Yael Cass and Dr. Dick Moore are the ISS Architectural Design experts with backgrounds in both these key areas to assist you to build, renovate, or improve with the educational needs at the top of your build list.
This service is perfect for schools looking to invest in renovating or improving their facilities. Capital investments and construction projects are highly technical and can be risky areas of investment. Get expert advice from ISS professionals first. Avoid common pitfalls that waste money and time and keep you from achieving your vision.
Diagram from an ISS presentation with MBB Architects
The Architectural Design consultancy includes:
- Assistance with defining and developing the building program
- Recommendations on type(s) of facilities required as per school curriculum and program.
- Detailed building educational specifications (rooms size, number of classrooms, public spaces size and locations, adjacencies, etc.)
- Definition of spaces and formulas, as enumerated in the ISS Architectural Design Guide
“Working with Yael and the ISS team was extremely effective in giving us the tools we needed to move forward confidently in our new campus project. The technical expertise demonstrated, combined with their experience in education make them great guides in the process.”
OPtimize Strategic Planning
Good strategic planning is an art, especially in schools. The ISS approach to strategic thinking for schools that translates into a 3-5 year strategic plan which is manageable and results oriented. This consulting package is limited to two schools per semester so that we can guide you through the initial phases and get you thinking, planning, and acting strategically to see results.
Using ISS’s Strategic Planning Process, Tom Hawkins, Greg Smith, and the team at ISS will help you:
- Assess validity and relevance of your school guiding statements and previous plan
- Gather internal and external perceptions of your school’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities
- Develop a set of strategic imperatives and tactical action plans for implementation
- Create an evaluation and realignment process that allows you to own your plan
The Strategic Planning Process includes:
- Provocations to assess current state of the school and ensure readiness for planning (can be done virtually)
- Situational Analysis to gather perceptions, interview stakeholders, and analyze data relevant to the strategic vision and mission of the school (virtual and on-site)
- Planning Sessions (on-site) to initiate the conversations which result in strategic imperatives
- Implementation of the action plans to ensure strategic imperatives result in positive changes in the school (development and guidance provided virtually)
- Evaluation and Realignment of the plans, imperatives, and performance indicators to ensure implementation is effective and imperatives/plans are realigned as needed
Timeline: This planning process requires approximately three months to undertake, so contact the ISS team directly to launch your strategic plan soon.
OPtimize Technology Audit
This audit analyzes both the learning and operational elements of the school’s current strategy. You’ll receive work on four (4) key areas in regards to technology:
- Vision and Leadership
- Infrastructure and Environment
- Community Engagement
- Curriculum and Pedagogy
The ISS Technology Audit includes:
- Review of organizational structure, strategic plan and mission statements
- Analysis of existing strategy and documentation as it relates to technology including infrastructure plans, 1:1 deployments, curriculum documents, AUPs, job descriptions, and learning spaces
- Interviews with the leadership team, technology team, staff, student and parent cohorts
- Prioritized recommendations for immediate and medium-term impact
- Strategies to address areas of need
- Resources, sample documents and exemplars where relevant
- Full summary report and presentation
OPtimize Financial Planning
ISS will develop a comprehensive, presentation quality, multi-year financial plan and slide deck unique to your circumstance that is suitable for direct action and presentation to potential partners/donors/investors. You can also opt into the Business Plan, which is inclusive of the Financial Plan.
- Engage with you to understand the ownership’s vision and the school’s target market
- Collect relevant information and data for preparation of the financial plan
- Produce and deliver a presentation quality written financial plan in Excel format and accompanying PowerPoint format slide deck
- Participate with you and/or designees in meeting/presentation (1) with potential partners, donors, investors, or other related parties as requested
Timeline: OPtimize Financial Planning can be started and completed in as little as one month
