Hello there! The August rush is behind us. Whew! You made it. Hope the summer work is paying off.
As you settle into the rhythm of the year, find routine, and reconnect as a community, it’s a good moment to look up and take stock of the signals shaping our work.
Explore this month’s Trend Tracker, which amplifies the research, data, patterns, and conditions leaders should evaluate through the lens of their own mission and vision.
Trend Tracker
September’s Trend Tracker points to a common challenge for independent school leaders: How might we prepare our schools and people for a future that is changing faster than many of our traditional practices? Across eight signals, the research suggests that adaptation cannot simply mean adding new programs or technologies.
Gen Z students say they thrive on relationships and relevance, not just rigor. MIT’s AI committee argues technology should deepen learning, not replace the thinking behind it. Young adults are growing more anxious about AI’s effect on their futures, even as employers demand AI fluency at a pace few other skills have matched.
That same tension shows up in adult life at school. Career well-being anchors overall well-being, but engagement remains flat and teacher burnout is inching up. Philanthropy dollars are growing while donor counts shrink, meaning schools depend on fewer, larger gifts. Leaders are managing more stress from more directions and often default to the same instinctive response regardless of what the moment needs. And as schools adopt AI-driven safety tools, they face a new version of “How much monitoring builds trust, and how much erodes it?”
Bottom line: technology is moving fast, but the schools that navigate it well will be the ones that remain grounded in relationships and intentional human judgment.
Trend Tracker, September 2026 (Web Version)Signal-to-Action Canvas
The monthly Trend Tracker surfaces possible signals for your community. The challenge is turning any signal into action.
Use this tool with your leadership team to work through any trend in this month’s issue. Name the signal that caught your attention. Ask what it means for your students, people, and programs. Decide what to protect, adapt, or explore. Then name one next move and the people who need to be part of it.
Four questions. One trend at a time. Real traction.
What’s New?
SAIS has expanded a variety of offerings to support your timely challenges and daily demands.
- Strategic Services pair proven tools with customized, facilitated support to help schools strengthen governance, leadership, strategy, culture, and learning.
- Cohorts have been designed to apply learning in specific school contexts alongside peers and to walk through real challenges together (i.e. strength-based leadership, teaching & learning, marketing/communications).
- Webinars meet a need of timely framing a challenge a leader is navigating right now, to be informed quickly and equipped to act (i.e. artificial intelligence, leadership team development, parent partnership, data).
In August, It has been a joy to visit school communities in Mobile, Jackson (TN), Memphis, and Charlottesville. During the year, hope we cross paths on my travels or at a Heads Virtual Roundtable, and, if not, see you in Chattanooga for the Annual Conference in October.
Reach out anytime if we can support your purpose-driven efforts.
Dr. Brett Jacobsen
SAIS President