August 2025 Signals

Hello there! On behalf of everyone at SAIS, welcome to the 2025-2026 school year!

As the year begins, the pace will pick up quickly with requests, initiatives, invitations, complaints, and expectations well before students even step on campus. And, it will be easy to default to “yes.” Yes to the meeting, yes to the new idea, yes to the new program, and yes to one more thing.

Daily demands can eat strategy for lunch. Amplified in last spring’s SAIS pulse survey of heads, one theme emerged near the top of the list when we asked about the greatest challenges you are navigating: “balancing daily demands with strategic priorities” (ranked #2 overall). It’s a tension many of us know well. The challenge is not simply doing the work, but having the clarity and discipline to choose the right work.

To support your ability to lead with intention, I invite you to check out the Strategic Refusal Matrix, a practical decision-making tool to assist schools caught between two important questions: (1) Is this strategically important? and (2) Is this feasible with the resources and capacity we have right now?

The matrix provides a framework to categorize the data based on those two factors, guiding you toward one of four responses:

1. Commit & Focus: “This aligns with our mission, and we have the capacity. Let’s move forward with clarity and discipline.”
2. Renegotiate: “This matters deeply, but we’ll need to adjust timelines, resources, or scope to pursue it responsibly.”
3. Deprioritize: “This may be doable, but it’s not essential right now. Let’s pause and revisit only if capacity allows.”
4. Decline & Justify: “This stretches our resources, it falls outside our strategic priorities, and our focus is better placed elsewhere.”

As you lead your school community into a new school year, I encourage you to use this matrix not as a filter to do less, but as a tool to do what matters most.

Web Version Strategic Refusal Matrix

Also, be sure to explore the Trend Tracker designed to offer timely insights and inspiration as you navigate the evolving educational landscape. Illustrated through slides, you will be able to incorporate the research and resources into a workshop, meeting, or presentation to build capacity with your leadership team and trustees and future-ready your school.

In this edition of the Trend Tracker, we highlight the following signals and trends. Within each area, a number of clickable resources are available. 

01 AI Cognition Research
02 AI Capability Indicators
03 Fewer Students, More Choices
04 Class of 2025
05 Student Pulse
06 Innovative Trends
07 Change Fitness
08 Wellness Attributes

Web Version Trend Tracker August 2025

During the fall 2025 term, I am extending my market space visits, traveling and meeting with heads in Savannah, Augusta, Knoxville, Jacksonville, Mobile, and Richmond. Additionally, I hope to connect with you in October at our Annual Conference in Atlanta. We have planned a robust set of keynotes and workshops, and you do not want miss four powerful pre-conference sessions:

• The First Years Matter: Research Insights on Early Career Educators
• Optimizing Mission-Aligned Enrollment and Net Tuition Revenue
• High-Impact Governance: Assessing & Advancing Head/Board Effectiveness
• Building Schools for Tomorrow: Navigating Emerging Educational Trends

In the midst of the excitement that a new year brings, I hope you enter it with clarity of priority, role, time, and energy. Protecting your health in a demanding role will assist you in leading with purpose, not pressure.

Thank you for partnering with us and allowing SAIS to invest in your schools. Wishing you and your community the best 2025-2026 school year.

Dr. Brett Jacobsen
SAIS President