The core value proposition for any independent school is providing an exceptional educational experience for its students. With the increasing external pressures on the independent school model, including higher levels of leadership transition, faculty retention challenges, decreasing enrollment numbers, elevated maintenance costs, and a rapidly changing educational landscape (to name a few), it is more important than ever to put the student experience first.
Your faculty and staff serve as the frontline, and schools must recognize that prioritizing professional growth leads to the underlying conditions that encourage retention, investment, and, ultimately, success for the entire community. Key metrics like enrollment, donor engagement, and financial health are driven by a school’s ability to deliver on that promise for students, families, and alumni.
That’s where Folio Collaborative comes in. As a nonprofit, we seek impact by supporting the growth and development of the adult community at your school, delivering on that value proposition of an excellent student experience. Through our myFolio platform, we help schools put professional growth front and center, supporting faculty and staff as they set goals, give and receive feedback to improve their practice, and reflect on progress. We recognize that each independent school has a different context and help you implement your school’s goals and streamline a process that meets your needs, while providing the metrics necessary to demonstrate the hard work that so often goes unseen and neglected. Cultivating internal talent and leadership ensures that teachers develop and deepen the professional competencies necessary for their work with students.
The Listening Tour
When Jess and I stepped into our new roles as Co-Executive Directors of Folio this past fall, one of my first goals was to better understand and articulate Folio’s why and how it aligns with the needs of independent schools. What we realized is that our why is inextricably linked with the why of all our member schools. We want good teachers to be great ones so that every student has the best experience possible.
The first iteration of Folio was developed at the McDonogh School in response to their need to better support faculty growth and development. In particular, a system to capture the unseen work that happens—the conversations, the feedback, the support and growth—that was not being tracked or understood in a way that allowed for any sort of visibility, celebration, or momentum.
I began my strategic work by talking to Tim Fish, who led Folio’s transition from an internal project at McDonogh to a nonprofit, seeking to understand: How do we evolve and meet the moment we are in to continue serving schools well? Tim pushed me to consider: What is the thing that is still on the minds of school leaders as they brush their teeth at the end of the day that we can make easier? As he phrased it, what is the teeth-brushing problem that Folio solves? What is the challenge or the unmet opportunity?
And that drove what I was listening for as I spoke with over 75 school leaders, teachers, and association leaders over the past several months. People were incredibly generous with their time, especially during the school year. There wasn’t a person I talked to who isn’t supportive of the work that we do at Folio. But professional growth often falls to the bottom of the (very long) to-do list in schools. What is it that elevates us from a nice-to-have to a critical solution?
During this listening tour, I talked to people who knew me from when I was a young faculty kid at Blair Academy and family friends from the Taft School. I talked to former teachers and classmates of mine from when I was a student at St. Andrew's School in Delaware. I talked to friends from graduate school. I spoke to former school clients (and friends!) from my time as a consultant with Greenwich Leadership Partners and members of Folio’s E.E. Ford Design Team. I connected with leaders at former Folio member schools to hear about their experiences. I reached out to associations and organizations that I know are thinking about these same questions of how to strengthen independent schools and meet their needs.
This listening tour became a journey for me. I feel incredibly lucky to have had conversations that pushed my understanding of what school needs are around professional growth. Throughout these conversations, a pattern emerged: there is an incredible amount of stress on the independent school value proposition right now, especially due to transition.
The Teeth Brushing Challenge
Professional growth within institutions is often deeply ingrained with an individual faculty champion who has been overseeing it for a long time and has developed their own system to support the work. Inherently, it is prone to dramatic shifts every time the person in that seat changes.
We know anecdotally about the amount of transition happening in independent schools right now, but at Folio, we also track those changes to better understand our context. And it's not just the heads of school. It's division leaders, it's assistant heads, it's academic leaders, it’s mid-career and new teachers. I talked with a teacher who had three new deans of faculty in seven years, each with their own process and documentation for professional growth. I heard from an administrator with new divisional leadership at different levels each year who felt the need to wait for the right time to make this work a priority. I listened to school leaders as they expressed concern at the lack of traction in restarting their processes after pausing during COVID and what the lack of consistency in these situations means for their school’s ability to succeed.
This is especially true when we know that turnover is not happening in the pattern we're used to. More of these transitions are happening outside of the normal school timeline. They are happening late in the spring, over the summer, even in the fall. And it creates an ongoing stress on the system of constantly hiring and onboarding, all while creatively covering essential functions left untended by unexpected departures. The people in the seats at your schools who are supposed to be overseeing the growth and development of your own people are spending all of their time recruiting, reviewing resumes, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding. How do schools deliver on their value proposition of an excellent experience for students while combatting the cycle of constant turnover and change? What are the hidden costs (employees not fully engaged and growing professionally, lost information and momentum) and actual costs (budget spent on recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training)?
We believe Folio is a tool for retention. What are the types of teachers, staff members, leaders that you want to grow and stay at your school? We partner with you to translate those needs into a professional growth process that ensures your faculty and staff are working together to grow in their practice and put students at the center.
Schools benefit most from an ongoing, commonly understood, aligned program of goal-setting and professional development. During accreditation, this is one of the most common recommendations as it is a key indicator of school health. You cannot assume that is just happening; you have to be intentional about it. This is not table stakes anymore.
And, let’s be clear, transition will continue to happen. But creating a consistent and clear process that your people can have trust in is critical, whether there is a change in department chairs, academic leadership, or even your head of school. How do you ensure that when a teacher walks onto campus they understand your school’s core value proposition and the expectations around professional growth?
The Strategic Imperative
I recently spoke with Brenda Cram, Senior Program Strategist at NAIS, and joked that she had the benefit of meeting with me after I was six months into my listening tour and had more clarity about where Folio fits in. She summed it up well:
“Independent schools are running through leadership like matches, and there is a value proposition in taking a good look at how you are cultivating leadership in the context of your own school. How are your teachers being trained to lead within their classroom? How are they being trained to lead outside of the classroom? Or under the umbrella of your entire organization? How do they keep growing and learning in order to stay? If you aren't tracking how someone at your school is learning and providing much needed and asked for feedback on both performance and incremental progress, they will not stay.”
This sentiment mirrored findings from a recent SAIS study that Elizabeth Maglio, Director of Professional Learning at SAIS, shared with me after one of our conversations. In Designed to Last: Reimagining the Employee Value Proposition in Independent Schools, SAIS outlines the critical vulnerabilities threatening their school communities. One part jumped out in particular:
“The challenge is not attracting educators who care deeply, but ensuring that the systems, leadership practices, and support structures are strong enough to honor and sustain that commitment over time. These are the ties that bind.”
Folio is not a place to jump through hoops. It's not about a check-the-box process, because teachers also recognize when processes creep into performative evaluation. This is about building an intentional professional growth culture with others in your community to provide career pathways for your educators and better serve your students.
Especially in times where enrollment might feel stressed or annual giving is down, your student experience has to be strong and assured for your community. And who is defining your student experience? It's your teachers. And if your teachers aren’t being seen as individuals who want to learn, develop, and get feedback, then they can't be the best that they can be—for themselves or for their students.
I will be continuing this listening tour. I do not believe that the path Folio is on is static. It will require continued learning to make sure our platform and the support we provide schools meets their needs. As a nonprofit, our number one goal is helping schools be better places for students, faculty, and staff. Our value proposition is helping you execute on your value proposition.
If you’re open to connecting, please don’t hesitate to reach out: liz@foliocollaborative.org