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Independent School StrengthsStrongly-branded as the best & most successful college-prep schools: highest SAT-scores; disproportionately represented in the most selective colleges and universities (and in the honors programs of large universities: Hope Scholars in GA, Jefferson Scholars at UVA, Morehead Scholars at UNC, etc.)Best college matriculation and college graduation ratesMore diversity of every kind than other school systemsSafe and achievement-oriented “intentional cultures”Good kids whose talents & strengths we find & nurtureIndependence in admissions, hiring, programmingConstituent loyalty – demonstrated in the recessionIndependent schools leading innovationWhat else?
Independent School WeaknessesPersistent public perception as elite and inaccessible in every way – especially financially and sociallyUnderinvested in marketing, understaffed in advancement, under-represented in social mediaSlow to change & history of resistance to experimentationBoards inexperienced in high level governance, leading to misdirected micromanaging of daily operationsAdministrators expected to manage more than leadIneffective or immature processes for recruiting, training, and maximizing value of trustees and for diversifying the boardUnsustainable growth in financial aid and too often too little strategic analysis of target and outcomes of it. Helicopter parents & Tiger Moms making life difficultDifficulty with “the difficult conversations.”What else?
Independent School Opportunities
Converting the home schooled to independent schoolsMaximizing return on physical capital (plant)Redefining a “new normal” in terms of drivers for financial sustainability: workload; student:staff ratiosOverseas Partnerships/ Sister Schools & Satellite SchoolsOnline School Consortia (Online School for Girls & Global Online Academy)Public Partnerships (NNSP)Staffing up & sticky messaging for advancementWhat else?
Independent School ThreatsDeclining percentage of families who can afford ever-increasing tuitions“Free and good,” well-marketed magnet & charter schools Less expensive “for profit” private schoolsDisruptive innovation of online schoolsDisruptive innovation of “competency-based” assessmentDilution of “independent” brandDesperate and broke local governments eyeing currently untaxed non-profit assets and seeking Pilots and SilotsWeak and weakening pool of prospective teachersGrowing sense of “entitlement” among all constituentsRisk Management: More risks, longer tail, costly judgments.What else?
The End(game) Keep in Mind: Weaknesses and threats can and do
paralyze organizations…but Every weakness can be converted into
strength, and every threat can be transformed into an opportunity.
See Related Slides in Appendix
Are your images and mottoes archaic, suggestive of a moat around the castle?
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Pockets of Innovation Spreading: STEM
Cosmopolitanism: Cross Cultural Competency
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3 R’s of talent management:• Recruitment• Reward• Retention
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Marketing Hyde Schools
Portland, ME Elevator to Baggage Claim
Sir Ken Robinson
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See clips at…0:00 – 6:06
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Risk Management Just Got Riskier
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Breaking News
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Helicopter Parents
Helicopter Parent Quiz
Helicopter
Parent Quiz
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Three Levels of Board GovernanceSource: Bill Ryan, AISNE Governance Workshop, Oct 23. 2007
• Loose steering wheel is to auto • Fingernail is to blackboard• Hamster is to wheel
Analogies revealing some level of dysfunction:
“Our board is to our school as…
Three Levels of Board Governance(Adapted from Board Member, May 2004, Chait et al.)
Board as Control Mechanism
Board as Direction Setter
Board as Meaning Maker
Dam : River
Curbstone: Road
Border Collie : Herd
Traffic Tower: Pilot
Governor: Engine
Landlord: Tenant
Anchor: Ship
Compass : Navigation
Headlights : Auto
Guidance System : Satellite
Periscope : Submarine
Flight Planner : Pilot
Rudder : Ship
Inspiration : Poet
Values : Choices
Designer : Work of Art
Spirit : Higher Purpose
Lighthouse: Ship
Fiduciary Oversight: “Doing things right”
Strategic Foresight: “Doing the right things”
Generative, Visionary Insight: “Leave a legacy”
Move from micromanagement is macroengagement.” Chait on level of involvement. Employ the 3 lens rubric to problem-solving: Rising benefit costs? Adding Chinese? Rightsizing?
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Title1. Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen
How’s theproject coming?
Fine, thanks.
You’reholdingme up.
You’re a jerk.I hate you.
Levels: Stated vs. Implied. Business at hand vs. Threats to my image.
TitleDifficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen
.Can it wait? I’m busy
Puzzle: Mishandled conversations create the very outcomes we dread.
She doesn’t get what my work demands..
Fine.
You think you’re only busy one?You don’t love me.
The Spouse/Partner Version
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NAIS Strategic Planning: Breakout Groups (partnerships; school of future; sustainability, etc.)
Why doesn’t anyone want to sit at the innovation table?
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What Some Parents (5%) Need that Schools CAN’T Provide cf. Time, 2/21/05 “Parents
Behaving Badly”; Wendy Mogel’s The Blessings of a Skinned Knee; Michael Thompson’s For the Sake of the Children: An NAIS Guide to
Successful Family-School Relationships.
2005 MetLife Survey of The American Teacher: Public school teachers report very satisfied in working with students = 68%; in working with parents = 25%
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NAIS Parents Segmentation: 1. Parents Who Push; 2. Success-driven Parents; 3. Parents Whose Kids Are “Special”; 4. Character–driven Parents; 5. Public School Proponents
Safe Schools =A “counter-cultural”oasis from the corruptive and basepopular media
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Amherst 58 41 Northwestern 78 22Bowdoin 51 49 Pomona 64 35
Brown 58 39 Princeton 61 39
Columbia 57 43 Stanford 67 33
Cornell 69 23 Swarthmore 63 29
Dartmouth 66 34 UC-Berkeley 87 13
Duke 68 32 Univ of CHI 64 29
Georgetown 49 51 Univ of PA 52 48
Middlebury 53 47 Yale 54 46
MIT 69 21 Avg = 35% from private schools
College %Public %Private
The Path to Highly Selective Colleges
Source: WSJ, Oct. 2006 & CAPE Outlook, Nov. 2006
Note: Private schools in general educate 10% of students; independent schools, 1%.
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Need blind college admissions favors…whom?
Note: Data worse when consider all 18 – 24 year olds: Less than 40% of 18 year olds get to college; under 20% graduate within six years; only 28% of US jobs require a college degree (2012—US Bureau of Labor)
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“St. Louis Magnet Schools offer an EXCITING,
TUITION FREE alternative for students of all ages
and abilities.”
5 Cs in the Best Public SchoolsRun Clip
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