FEBRUARY 2025 SIGNALS

Hello there!

While February can sometimes feel like the longest month in school life, this is a fast-paced period with re-enrollment, faculty/staff agreements, student trips, and much more. Also, this is a season where one might be receiving a great deal of feedback from various constituent groups — parents, students, faculty/staff, and alumni. 

In Jeffrey Wetzler’s book, Ask: Tap into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs in Leadership and Life, he inserts a framework for following up from feedback and ideas collected from one’s community:

• On the way – we can and will take immediate action on this.
• On the radar – although immediate action can’t be taken to address the issue/concern, here is the long(er)-term plan to fix the problem.
• Out of our hands – we hear the feedback, and, for X reason, we can’t act on it.

Take a moment with your leadership to reflect on the feedback and ideas you have received from your community and see what emerges when applying the framework.

Additionally, be sure to explore February’s Trend Tracker and Pulse Perspectives to inform your strategic practice.

In this month’s Trend Tracker, we are highlighting the following signals and trends. Within each area, a number of clickable resources are available to research with your team. 

01 Brain Rot
02 (Dis)Engaged Learners
03 SQ Leadership
04 AI & Schoolwork
05 Parenting Trends
06 Mid-Level Challenges
07 Legal Radar
08 Higher Ed Value(s)

Trend Tracker, February 2025

Reflecting real-time perspectives representing the voices in our association, we solicited feedback from SAIS academic support educators, DEIB practitioners, and curriculum professionals in January to complete a pulse survey focused on approaches, challenges, and priorities. 

• According to academic support educators, executive functioning support, social-emotional support, and reading intervention reflect student needs with the greatest increase over the past two years.
• Based on responses from DEIB practitioners, top challenges in implementing DEIB initiatives include limited time/resources, limited staff, and difficulty measuring impact.
• The top challenges curriculum directors confront include time constraints for curriculum development and review, balancing traditional and innovative teaching practices, and meeting the needs of diverse learners.

See slide deck for full results.

Pulse Perspectives, February 2025

In case you missed it, we have created a website page dedicated to all of our previous Pulse Perspectives. Check it out. Finally, take a deeper dive in the perspectives discussed by registering for one the SAIS in-person events has designed to build capacity for you and your team. 

February 9-11 – Academic Support Conference
February 11-12 – Curriculum Symposium
February 12-13 – Institute for Athletic Directors
February 12-13 – DEI Institute
February 12-13 – Advancement Institute: Fundraising in the Age of AI

Wishing you a meaningful and impactful spring term,

Dr. Brett Jacobsen
SAIS President