September 2025 Signals

Hello there! As the rush of August fades into the rearview mirror, I hope you and your community are finding a steady rhythm this fall. Looking back, the opening weeks of school may feel like a blur of schedules and events, yet they actually set the tone for the entire year.

Now is the perfect moment to pause with your leadership team and reflect on how new families, employees, and students were welcomed into your community. The tool below is designed to help you evaluate those efforts, whether you apply it to one group or compare all three. By capturing insights across multiple dimensions, you can surface quick wins, strengthen future practices, and ensure a strong foundation for the months ahead.ar, I encourage you to use this matrix not as a filter to do less, but as a tool to do what matters most.

Dimension	Guiding Prompts
Expectations vs. Experience	What did we promise or preview before arrival? How did the actual first weeks compare? Where did we surprise or disappoint?
Belonging and Connection	Did they feel seen, known, and connected quickly? What touchpoints or rituals helped most? Where did gaps emerge?
Systems and Clarity	Were logistics, roles, and policies clear? Where was there confusion? Did we provide resources at the right time?
Support and Follow-Through	Did they know who to turn to for help? Were check-ins proactive? What supports are continuing past August?
Mission and Culture Integration	How did we introduce values and traditions? What reinforced our culture? Where did we miss opportunities?
Feedback and Iteration	What feedback have we received so far? What lingering questions show gaps? What quick wins can we implement now?

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 Gen Z Voices
02 State of Teachers
03 Leadership Culture
04 Risk Archetypes
05 Safety Trends
06 Parents & Values
07 AI Literacy
08 Brand Journey

Web Version Trend Tracker, September 2025

Reflecting real-time perspectives representing the voices in our association, we solicited feedback from SAIS enrollment management professionals in August to complete a pulse survey focused on attrition, enrollment goals, inquiries, financial aid, and greatest challenges. Some key findings include the following:

• 33% reported an attrition rate of 10% or higher in August 2025—an increase of seven  percentage points from the previous year
• 54% of schools acknowledged they met enrollment goals, down 13% from 24-25
• 34.4% saw enrollment decline, mostly in the 1-10% range
• 61% of schools report increased financial aid requests, up from the previous year
• Increasing tuition and competition from other public schools are the top 2 enrollment management challenges

See slide deck for full results.

Web Version Pulse Perspectives, September 2025

While expanding our offerings  to support your efforts, SAIS has launched two new products and services to build capacity with your team, board, and community.

• Predictive Index: SAIS’s Predictive Index® Services offer independent schools a structured, behavior‑based toolkit—including a brief behavioral assessment, job‑targeting profiles, relationship guides, and team‑analytics—to enhance leadership effectiveness, communication, and team dynamics. Offered in tiered packages (Partnership, Team, Search), these services are facilitated by SAIS and tailored to support everything from one‑on‑one leadership relationships to full team development and recruiting needs.

• Governance Health Index: The Governance Health Index is a dynamic, growth‑oriented diagnostic tool developed by SAIS to help boards and heads jointly assess governance effectiveness across six core competencies: Collaborative Leadership, Community Engagement, Strategic Direction, Talent Cultivation, Shared Accountability, and Adaptive Innovation. It offers a developmental continuum and comes equipped with three tailored evaluation instruments (for the board, executive committee, and head of school), enabling governance teams to reflect, track progress, and build strategic alignment and resilience.

Hope to see you this fall at SAIS in-person events—Annual Conference, Blueprint Sprint, or Timely Challenge Conference.

Thank you for your partnership,

Dr. Brett Jacobsen
SAIS President