These articles are presented by Littleford & Associates in an attempt to provide relevant and important information to those who are concerned with providing an effective, efficient and economical educational atmosphere and experience.
We hope they are helpful to you.
Below are articles by topic written by Mr. Littleford. Please click on a link to go to that article topic.
You can also access these articles by date.
Article Topics:
- Head / Executive Compensation
- Faculty Compensation and Evaluation
- Board Governance
- Strategic Planning
- Financial Management and Marketing
- Executive Searches
- School Climate
HEAD / EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
- THE AWKWARD CONVERSATION: WHAT ABOUT MY COMPENSATION?
- Performance Bonuses for Heads or Not?
- Section 4958 – “Intermediate Sanctions”
- What Is “Deferred Compensation?” And Why Do So Many Heads Have It Or Want It?
- The Safe Harbors Act: The Necessity Of Demonstrating Annual Compliance
- Income Opportunities In Tight Economic Times
- The Intermediate Sanctions Act: The "Next Level" of Compliance
- The Truth About Statistics: Why Head Compensation Information Fails to Deliver
- In Defense Of Head Compensation
- Head Compensation: The Process, The Product and the Reporting
- Head Compensation: Understanding The Changing Rules
- Executive Compensation: The Process, Pitfalls And Opportunities
- Ties That Bind or Wound: The Power of the Contract and the Contract Process
- The Big Dig: Digging Your Way Through The New Form 990
- Tools to Recruit, Retain and Reward Heads of School: Why They Are Even More Important Now
- Surprising Facts And Figures About The Head Compensation Process
- The Importance Of The Head Compensation Process
- Head Compensation: The Race to the Top
- A Changed World For Head Recruitment And Compensation
- Head Compensation: It Is Difficult To Be Your Own Advocate
FACULTY COMPENSATION AND EVALUATION
- Building Morale: The Importance of STAFF not Only Faculty Compensation
- THE AWKWARD CONVERSATION: WHAT ABOUT MY COMPENSATION?
- Mission Based Compensation: THE Key to Financial Sustainability
- What IS a Philosophy of Compensation?
- Faculty Salary System Designs: Becoming More Innovative
- Compensation, Collaboration and Culture: A Winning Story
- Up to 85% of Your School’s Budget
- Threading the Needle: Addressing Faculty Compensation Challenges While Avoiding Major Risks
- Performance Pay Can Work In Independent Schools
- Faculty Salary Systems: Rapid and Systematic Changes in Schools Worldwide
- The Professional Growth "Trap"
- Trends from the Trenches – Patterns in Faculty Benefits
- The Faculty Salary Challenge: Not Just How Much, But How?
- When And Why Teachers Decide To “Organize”
- Mission And Money: Or How To Make The Most With What You Have
- Designing A Politically Safe Process For Changing Faculty Compensation Systems
- Update on Performance Pay: Gaining National Attention
- Teacher Evaluation And Accountability: When Entitled Parents Meet Entitled Teachers
- “Fuzzy” Salary Systems
- The Explosion of Extra Pay
- Yes: A Successful Model of Teacher Evaluation – The Importance of Leadership, Culture, Attitude and Training
- Faculty Salaries: Doing More Than Talking About It
- The Latest In Faculty Compensation: Allocating Resources Among Your “Buckets”
- Persistence Pays Off
- In an Economic Downturn: Intelligent Ways to Make Compensation Go Further
- Mission Based Compensation and Flexible Pay: The Challenge Confronting Boards, Heads and Teachers
- Performance, Compensation And Evaluation: They Are Always Related
- Recent Trends In Faculty Compensation – And Some Cautionary Notes
- Faculty Salary System Designs: Tradition and Innovation
- What About "Merit" Pay?
- Ensuring Rational Faculty Salary and Benefit Systems: Time for a Dialogue
- The Danger Of Inequities In Faculty Workloads
- Selling Your Benefits: What Teachers Need To Know
- Salary System Modeling: Thinking Through Your Decisions
BOARD GOVERNANCE
- When the Board Becomes the Problem
- Healthy Boards and Strategic Planning Go Hand in Hand
- Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen and the Head was “Cooked”!
- Strategic Governance Reduced to the Absurd: Lessons Learned
- Controversial Topics: 360 Evaluation and Executive Session
- How Political Capital Affects Executive Decision Making and School Culture
- Becoming And Remaining A Healthy Board: The Rules Of Engagement
- What “Rogue” Board Members Can Accomplish
- Board Structures: The Good, the Bad and the Downright Ugly
- Premature Dismissals: Overlooking Head Transition
- Every Board Has a “Personality”
- Why a Leadership Coach?*
- The Governance Game III: The Importance of Transitions
- Mission “Tugs”
- Following a “Founder” and Can You Survive?
- The Theory AND Practice of Board Governance
- The STILL Sad State of Head Departures
- The Qualities That Schools Desperately Need In A Board Chair
- The Need for Bi Lingual Boards and Heads: Understanding and Sharing a Common Language in the Board Room
- Board Policy Manuals: When Do They Create Problems?
- Head Transition/Entry Plans: Risks And Opportunities
- Managing Crises: Dealing With The Unexpected
- Board Governance And Teacher Evaluation: Where Do The Two Meet?
- Broadening Governance Training: A Lesson to Be Learned
- Effective Coaching For Heads Of Schools And Board Chairs: Cases Of Encouragement
- Which Comes First? Search Or Governance?
- How To Fire the Head, AND More than Once!
- Strengthening Parent Associations
- When Schools Go to War
- Who Fires The Head?
- The 20% Rule
- Why Board Chairs Serve?
- Drama in the School House and the Board Room
- Elephants in the Board Room
- Succession Planning: The Time Has Come
- Managing The Errant Trustee
- Intelligent Governance In Challenging Economic Times
- The View From 50,000 Feet: The Perspectives Of Executive Directors Of Independent And International Associations Of Schools
- Developing Healthy Board Governance: What to Do about the Parent Driven Board
- The Value Of Age Induced Wisdom
- The Boards You Should Not Emulate
- The “Ji Huey” Moment: Turning A Crisis Into An Opportunity
- Transitions, Strategic Planning and.. Failure: How to Avoid the Trap
- Board Governance: Where Is The Baby Elephant?
- “Extreme” Board Behavior But Sometimes The Norm
- Problem Trustees ( And How to Help Them): Part II
- Dealing with Problem Trustees (Or Their Problem Spouses)
- Making (Or Breaking) The Chair/Head Partnership:
- The Longevity Of Heads And The Effectiveness Of Schools
- The Role of the Chair: The Promise and the Price
- The Risks And Stress Of Transition
- Strong And Stable Boards: Wise, Committed And Loyal!
- Fortress Head, Fortress School: Attacks from Within and Attacks from Without
- Leadership Transitions: Strategies To Support A New Head And Maintain School Stability
- Head Evaluation: The Risk Of Not Doing It Or Doing It Poorly
- Evaluation Of Boards: Self-Reflection In A Healthy School
- Board Structure: The Plight of the International School
- The Governance Game – Part IV: Board Subcommittees – Their Role In Supporting The Mission and Stability of the School
- The Governance Game – Part II: The Role of Change in School Instability
- The Governance Game – Part I: What’s At Risk For Independent Schools
- Leadership Of Schools And The Longevity Of Heads
STRATEGIC PLANNING
- Healthy Boards and Strategic Planning Go Hand in Hand
- Strategic Planning: Taking Appropriate Risks
- Strategic Planning: Leading and Not Following the Process
- Fall Out from Strategic Planning
- Efficient And Effective Strategic Planning
- Strategic Planning: A Wise Political Investment
- Strategic Planning And Why The Process Generally Frustrates Boards
- Transitions, Strategic Planning and.. Failure: How to Avoid the Trap
- The Strategic Decision: Choosing a Planning Process that Fits the School's History and Culture
- Protecting Our Schools Through Strategic Planning
- The Strategic Planning Process:
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING
- Key Survival Factors for Independent Schools
- Branding is Powerful: Proven Strategies
- Beneath the Surface: Trends in International Schools
- More Marketing Bang For The Buck
- Beneath The Surface: What The Numbers Reveal
- Compensation And Tuition Setting: The Message Is Mixed
- How To Get A Handle On Controlling Expenses And Increasing Income In Difficult Economic Times
- A Mission That Resonates in a Soft Admissions Market
- Managing The Bottom Line:
- Profit Centers: Has Your School Tapped These Revenue Sources?
- Income Opportunities In Tight Economic Times
- The Nine Sacred Cows Of Financial Management:
EXECUTIVE SEARCHES
- Head Search Committee Behaviors and How They Affect Outcomes
- The Search…The Transition… and then the Succession
- Common Mistakes In The Search Process
- The Core Principles Of A Successful Search: Advice For Boards And Heads
- The Head Search, School Culture and Trust in the Consultant
- Fascinating Facts About Internal Succession
- The Search and the Departing Head: Valued or Forgotten?
- Doubts At The Altar: When Searches Fail
- Retirement Planning For Heads Of School: Some Useful Tools To Get There
- Powerful Elements of the Head Search Process: The Risks of Transitions
- The Next Generation Of Heads
- Is It "The End"? And If So, Then What?
- The Need To Focus On The Intermediate Sanctions Act And Conflicts Of Interest