The Independent School
Advantage
Patrick F. Bassett
Bassett@HeadsUpEd.com
202.746.5444
Context: Where Do
Kids Go to School?

56 million in school, K-12, about 90% in public schools, 10-11%
in private schools (of that, 1%+ in independent college-prep
private schools).

How do U.S. schools stack up globally? College for all? What do
college presidents of selective colleges say they are looking for?
What’s our record on selective college admissions? How do we
seek “the match?” What about the good public schools?

Most critical elements for success of students and schools?
– Small schools with intimate environments (not small classes)
– Great teachers (High IQ & EQ). (Recent data: Rand Study of
LA Unified)
– Supportive Parents (supportive of their kids’ uniqueness &
their kids’ school)
Overview
 Freedoms of Independence:
i.) What We Teach; ii.) Whom We Teach;
iii.) Whom We Hire; iv.) Whom We Keep
 What Great Schools Have in Common:
i.) intentional culture; ii.) college-prep orientation; iii.) 5
C’s outcomes
 What Kids Need: i.) To belong; ii.) To learn the
values & rules; iii) To develop skills; iv.) To have success;
v) To overcome failures
 What Parents Need: A partnership with school
Evolution of a Math Problem
From Education Insight, , Vol. 1, Issue 3, April/May 1994.
 1960 - A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of
production is four-fifths of this price. What is his profit?
 1970 - (Traditional math) A logger sells a truckload of lumber for
$100. His cost of production is four-fifths of this price, in other
words, $80. What is his profit?
 1970 - (New math) A logger exchanges set L of lumber for a set M of
money. The cardinality of set M is 100, and each element is worth $1.
The set C is the subset of M. What is the cardinality of the set P of
profit?
 1980 - A logger sells a truckload of wood for $100. His cost of
production is $80, and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline
the number 20.
 1990 - (Outcome-based education) By cutting down beautiful forest
trees, a logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a
living? ( How did the forest birds & squirrels feel?)
Governance: Power Bases
Synergies vs. Polarization
The Board of Trustees
steer & navigate
The Faculty
know & grow
Decision-Making
The Parents &
The Parents Association
(& The Advisory Board or
Alumni Board)
partner & support
The Head
& Administration
lead & orchestrate
 Freedoms of Independence
 What Great Schools Have in
Common
 What Kids Need
 What Parents Need
Five Things Great Schools
(& parents) Do
1. Control the Environment: Your child’s peers & school
environment: the assembly line, the hospital bubble, vs.
the garden hothouse.
2. Model “Grown-up” Behavior: “Under-parenting” vs.
“over-parenting” -cf. Wendy Mogel’s Blessings of the
Skinned Knee, Blessings of a B- ). Separate & individuate
vs. “failure to launch.”
3. Read: Cf. Rite of passage stories: Harry Potter;
Huckleberry Finn; Catcher in the Rye; Funny in Farsi;
Typical American; etc. = Rite of passage stories for the
youngest. Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Five Things Great Schools
(& parents) Do
4. Experiment and Innovate: Student
engagement the key
5. Seek Balance: Know how to finish this sentence: “I
want my child to be.…” (Cf. Studies by Anthony
Campolo–Eastern College and Douglas Heath—
Haverford; “Academic Achievement & Character”; Be
“The Parents We Mean To Be”
6. Bonus 6th Point: Partner Together: To help
the child find his or her own path
Independent School Advantage
1. Small and intimate schools: Student:teacher ratio
in NAIS schools is 9:1 (vs. 17:1 in parochial schools and
16:1 in public schools)..)
2. Study of core knowledge to advanced levels: By
the 8th grade, 70% of NAIS students study Algebra I (vs.
32% in public schools), and 85% study foreign language
(vs. 24%). (Gatekeeper courses for college.)
3. Team-skills and leadership: Only 29% of public
school students participate in team activities by
secondary school vs. near universal team participation
by independent school students (94%)
4. High value on community service & civic
participation: Universal expectation of community
service.
5. Education for character is central for
independent schools (vs. 80% of public school elite
admit to cheating--Who’s Who in American High
Schools Survey, ’98 & 2005).
6. An inclusive environment: On average, 2025% of students attending NAIS schools receive
financial aid or tuition remission; on average, 30% of
students at NAIS schools are students of color.
7. Expressing strong career & job satisfaction: Skilled in
21st C. technology skills; pursuing healthy, active adult lives
8. Attending America’s most respected colleges &
universities and succeeding at whatever college attended:
(Advocacy message #8: Independent schools vastly overrepresented in the 150 most selective colleges.)
9. Persistence factor: leading the nation in postsecondary achievement:
 Most 9th graders anticipate college; few graduate.
 Pell Institute Study of graduation rates (by age 24) for all
college students by income levels: Low income = 9%; middle
income = 39%; high income = 52% (of those who go)
“Psst! Human Capital -What
Works for Success” ~ David Brooks,
New York Times Op-Ed, Nov 13, 2005
 Cultural Capital: the habits, assumptions, emotional
dispositions and linguistic capacities we unconsciously pick
up from families, neighbors and ethnic groups - usually by
age 3.
– PFB note: Is it “cool” to read, to study, or not?
 Social Capital: the knowledge of how to behave in groups
and within institutions.
– PFB note: UNC classes for students on how to behave in
restaurants; needed.
 Moral Capital: the ability to be trustworthy.
– PFB note: “Counter-culture” of independent schools.
“Psst! Human Capital -What
Works for Success” David Brooks,
New York Times Op-Ed, Nov 13, 2005
 Aspirational Capital: the fire-in-the-belly ambition to
achieve. “90% of life is just showing up.” ~Woody Allen.
– PFB Note: Millionaire studies: C+/B- students—who
were told they wouldn’t amount to much. Worrying
about “self-esteem” vs. encouraging “prove them
wrong.”
 Cognitive Capital: This can mean pure, inherited
brainpower. But important cognitive skills are not measured
by IQ tests and are not fixed.
– PFB Note: EQ more important in life than IQ, especially
empathy and social judgment. “Growth mindset” most
important of all.
“Psst! Human Capital -What
Works for Success” ~ David Brooks,
New York Times Op-Ed, Nov 13, 2005
 Educational Reform in America: Not much return
on investment.
 David Brooks: “The only things that work are local,
human-to-human immersions that transform the
students down to their very beings. Extraordinary
schools, which create intense cultures of
achievement, work. Extraordinary teachers, who
inspire students to transform their lives, work.”
Overview
 Freedoms of Independence
 What Great Schools Have in
Common
 What Kids Need
 What Parents Need
Student Needs
(cf. Robert Evans)
 To Belong: To be part of a community (homogeneous
independent school communities vs. clique stratification in
large schools: e.g., cafeteria geography of jocks, preps,
geeks, granolas, artistes, hip hop, grunge, ravers, Goths,
etc.). Entry tickets to the group?
 To Develop Skills (interpersonal, intrapersonal, academic,
athletic, aesthetic) (Why kids show up)
 To Learn Values/“The Rules” (virtue, persistence,
“showing up”; respecting the boundary line; self-discipline
more important than IQ in influencing academic success
(cf. Psychological Science, 2005)
Student Needs
 To Have Success (ego-building growth, confidence,
unconditional love)
 To Overcome Failures (the most valuable lessons,
despite helicopter parents)
Kurt Hahn’s “Seven Laws of Salem” and Wendy Mogel’s
The Blessing of the Skinned Knee and The Blessing of a B
Minus) and Deborah Roffman’s “Pedagogically Speaking.”
PFB note: Greenhouse effect of independent schools:
ideal growing conditions but also necessary stresses
before transplanting to outdoor world.
Overview
 Freedoms of Independence
 Why Choose an Independent School?
 What Kids Need
 What Parents Need
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%
What Most Parents Need that
Schools CAN Provide
 Practical Needs: Extended Day, Rich Afterschool
Offerings, Conferencing at Convenient Times, Day Care
On-site for Meetings; Website calendars & syllabi.
 Psychic Needs: Reinforcement of school choice
 Human Needs: To be heard (NB. Starbucks & Skim
Milk)
And… (the main, main thing…)
 A Mutually Supportive Partnership with the
School...
What Most Parents Need that
Schools CAN Provide
 A Mutually Supportive Partnership with the
School...
 Understanding the quid pro quo between teachers
and parents.
 Supporting the authority of teachers and school.
And vice versa.
 Discounting heavily rumors your child brings home
from school. Avoid the parking lot Mafia.
 Setting proper environment and expectations for
homework.
 Limiting TV consumption to 1 hr. per day of
acceptable fare. Encouraging reading instead of TV.
What Most Parents Need that
Schools CAN Provide
 Parenting Needs: A Partnership with the School...
 Giving generously of time and resources to support
the program of the school.
 Respecting school schedule and calendar.
 Learning from professionals about the developmental
stages of young people.
 Helping young people make good choices regarding
time: Avoid over-scheduling.
 Resisting adolescents’ peculiar skill in wearing
parents down: curfews, parties, etc.
Appendix: See Related Slides
For More Resources on this Topic, Go
to www.nais.org
Where Do Public School Teachers
Send Their Kids To School? (Dennis Doyle,
et. al., Fordham Foundation, Sept. 2004)
Size/Rank City
%City %PS Fac Difference
49
Rochester, NY
14.6
37.5
22.9
38
Nashville, TN
article
7.2See Atlantic
28.6
21.4
44
Hartford-Bristol-MiddletonNew Britain, CT
7.0
25.0
18.0
24
Cincinnati-Hamilton, OH/KY/IN
24.4
41.2
16.8
3
Chicago, IL
22.6
38.7
16.1
32
Providence-Fall River-Pawtucket,
MA/RI
16.5
31.3
14.7
19
Baltimore, MD
20.9
35.1
14.3
4
Philadelphia, PA/NJ
30.9
43.8
12.8
22
Denver-Boulder, CO
12.6
23.3
10.7
13
Riverside-San Bernadino, CA
9.1
19.3
10.2
Where Do Public School Teachers
Send Their Kids To School? (Dennis Doyle,
et. al., Fordham Foundation, Sept. 2004)
Size/Rank
City
%City %PS Fac Difference
1
New York-Northeastern NJ
22.7
32.5
9.8
43
Jacksonville, FL
18.6
28.0
9.4
12
San Francisco-OaklandVallejo, CA
25.2
34.3
9.1
6
Miami-Hialeah, FL
16.3
25.3
9.0
2
Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
15.7
24.5
8.9
45
Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY
20.0
27.6
7.6
25
Portland, OR-WA
12.7
20.0
7.3
7
Washington, DC
19.8
26.8
7.0
11
Boston, MA-NH
21.7
28.2
6.4
36
Milwaukee, WI
23.4
29.4
6.0
Where Do Public School Teachers
Send Their Kids To School? (Dennis Doyle,
et. al., Fordham Foundation, Sept. 2004)
Size/Rank
City
%City %PS Fac Difference
10
Detroit, MI
12.8
18.5
5.7
26
Sacramento, CA
10.0
15.2
5.2
40
New Orleans, LA
24.5
29.1
4.7
United States total (for Cities)
17.5
21.5
4.0
41
Memphis, TN/AR/MS
12.4
15.7
3.3
31
Columbus, OH
14.0
17.0
3.0
21
Pittsburgh, PA
13.4
14.9
1.5
14
Phoenix, AZ
8.2
9.2
1.0
33
Norfolk-VA Beach-Newport
News, VA
12.6
13.6
1.0
35
Las Vegas, NV
6.7
7.2
0.6
Where Do Public School Teachers
Send Their Kids To School? (Dennis
Doyle, et. al., Fordham Foundation, Sept. 2004)
Size/Rank
City
%City %PS Fac Difference
27
Kansas City, MO-KS
17.3
17.1
-0.2
46
Richmond-Petersburg, VA
17.5
16.7
-0.8
8
Houston-Brazoria, TX
9.9
9.0
-0.9
17
San Diego, CA
10.4
9.3
-1.1
16
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
17.5
16.3
-1.2
20
Tampa-St. PetersburgClearwater, FL
15.1
13.4
-1.8
50
Salt Lake City-Ogden, UT
7.2
5.2
-2.0
30
San Jose, CA
16.6
14.1
-2.5
28
San Antonio, TX
11.6
8.6
-2.9
5
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
10.7
7.6
-3.1
34
Indianapolis, IN
14.5
11.1
-3.4
Where Do Public School Teachers
Send Their Kids To School? (Dennis Doyle,
et. al., Fordham Foundation, Sept. 2004)
Size/Rank
City
%City %PS Fac Difference
15
Seattle-Everett, WA
22.0
18.6
-3.4
9
Atlanta, GA
11.6
7.8
-3.8
18
St. Louis, MO-IL
20.4
16.5
-3.9
23
Cleveland, OH
19.9
16.0
-3.9
39
Austin, TX
10.0
6.0
-4.0
48
Birmingham, AL
13.1
8.7
-4.4
29
Orlando, FL
14.2
9.6
-4.7
47
Oklahoma City, OK
10.5
1.7
-8.8
37
Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill,
NC-SC
16.2
7.1
-9.1
42
Louisville, KY/IN
24.7
15.2
-9.5
Migration?
Leaving the City for the Schools, and Regretting It
By Winnie Hu, The New York Times (from November 13, 2006)

“…many New Yorkers with the means to do so flee the city when they
have children, seeing the suburbs as a way to stay committed to public
education without compromising their standards for safety and
academics.

Yet a small but growing number of such parents are abandoning even
some of the top-performing public schools in the region. In school
districts like Scarsdale, N.Y., and Montclair, N.J., where high test scores
and college admission rates have built national reputations and
propelled real estate prices upward, these demanding families say they
were disappointed by classes that were too crowded, bare-bones arts
and sports programs, and an emphasis on standardized testing rather
than creative teaching.”
Independent vs. Privileged Public
Sources: Lessons of Privilege ~Art Powell; THL11/98 ~John Seel review of JD Harris’ The Nurture
Suburban
Public
Schools
Assumption; American
Demographics
9/98
Independent
Suburban
Public
To
p
10
0
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90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
• Greater than 70% high school students attend high school with more than 1000 enrollment (Ed Week, 10/20/01)
• Parents choice of peer group (i.e. school) is the most decisive decision in child’s development. ~John Seal, UVA
• Greatest persistence factor (graduating with a B.A.) is the academic intensity of one’s school. ~Adelman, OERI
• Participation: 73% quit childhood sports by age 13 (Chicago Tribune, 3/30/00). Girls who play afterschool sports far
less likely to have had any sexual partners. (American Demographics 9/98)
Return
Return
Richard Light’s Making the Most
Out of College
 Based on decade worth of analysis of the undergraduate
experience at Harvard and other colleges.
 Tools you need:
– Time management
– Disciplined work ethic
– Balancing academics with true interest and
commitment in other areas particularly the arts
– Comfort with engaging in class and approaching
professors outside of class,
– Comfort with working in groups
– Ability to think analytically.
Richard Light’s Making the Most
Out of College
Return

Comfort with diversity:
 Of those who attended private or independent high
schools, all but two ranked their personal experience
with fellow students from ethnic groups other than
their own as either “positive” or “highly positive.”
 Of those who attended public high schools more than
two-thirds characterized their personal experience as
“negative” and “disappointing.”
 American public schools make little effort to build a
sense of community or shared culture. This is in sharp
contrast to reports from graduates from independent
schools.
The Seven Laws of Salem
(1930) ~Kurt Hahn, founder of
Outward Bound
1. Give children the opportunity for self-discovery.
2. Make the children meet with triumph and defeat.
3. Give the children the opportunity of self-effacement
in the common cause.
4. Provide periods of silence.
5. Train the imagination.
6. Make games important but not predominant.
7. Free the sons of the wealthy and powerful from the
enervating sense of privilege.
Return
By what measure should we judge
school systems?
School/College Graduates (Ed Week 3/22/06)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
9th Grade (100)
Graduate (67)
Enter College
(38)
Stay as Sophs
(26)
Grad in 6 yrs (18)
“America once had one of the most educated workforces in the world, but today
only 40 percent of young adults have a college degree – a lower percentage than
eleven other countries and no higher than a generation ago.” Secretary of
Education Arnie. Duncan 8/9/10 (“Restoring America’s Leadership in Higher Education”)
Note: Less than 40% of 18 year olds get to college; under 20% graduate within six years; only
27% of US jobs require a college degree (28% by 2012—US Bureau of Labor)
Country
% in College
% Graduate
Korea
48
18
Greece
43
<15
Finland
37
<15
Belgium
37
<15
US
35
17
Ireland
35
21
Poland
34
17
Australia
31
23
France
31
20
Hungary
31
16
% of 18-24 Year Olds in College vs. % Who Graduate
Spain
30
17
New Zealand
29
21
Netherlands
27
16
Norway
25
<15
Portugal
25
25
Sweden
24
18
Czech Republic
24
15
Germany
23
<15
Austria
23
<15
Denmark
20
23
US toward the top in college participation, towards the bottom in college completion.
Source: EdWeek 09/13/06
Return
College
%Public %Private College
%Public %Private
Amherst
58
41
Northwestern
78
22
Bowdoin
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
The Path to Highly
Selective Colleges
Source: WSJ, Oct. 2006 &
CAPE Outlook, Nov. 2006
Note: Private schools in
general educate around
10% of students; in that
group, independent
schools are about 1%.
Of the private
selective colleges,
about 40% of the
matriculants come
from private
schools.
1. “The Match” vs. “The
Decal”
2. Race to Nowhere &
Getting In
3. Stanford or Harvard?
Return
Pedagogically Speaking: Teaching
Outside Pandora's Box Deborah M. Roffman
Independent School, Summer 2010
Five Core Nurturing Needs for K-12 Kids:
1. Affirmation
2. Information
3. Clarity around Values
4. Limit Setting
5. Anticipatory Guidance
Return
How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine
Children’s Moral & Emotional Developmen
• Parents have most profound impact on morals.
• Weissbourd’s research: Teens’ perception of
what they believe to be the most important
value for them in their parents’ mind:
1. For you to be happy
2. Achieving a high level of income
3. Having a high status job
4. Being a good person who cares about others
5. Gaining entrance into a selective college
2/3rds public & private school kids thought #1
over #4.
½ of high income private school kids thought #5
over #4.
Weissbourd’s comment on academic “pressure”:
30-40% of Harvard’s undergrads on antidepressants.
Return
Demonstrations of Learning:
1.
Conduct a fluent conversation in a foreign language about of
piece of writing in that language. (Stanford University
requirement)
2. Write a cogent and persuasive opinion piece on a matter of
public importance.
3. Declaim with passion and from memory a passage that is
meaningful, of one’s own or from the culture’s literature or
history.
4. Demonstrate a commitment to creating a more sustainable and
global future with means that are scalable
5. Invent a machine or program a robot capable of performing a
difficult physical task.
Demonstrations of Learning
6. Exercise leadership in arena which you have passion and
expertise.
7. Using statistics or forensics, assess if a statement by a public
figure is demonstrably true.
8. Assess media coverage of a global event from various
cultural/national perspectives. (“Arab Spring” & 6th grade US
history unit on “causes of the revolution”)
9. Describe a breakthrough for a project-based team on which you
participated in which you contributed to overcoming a humancreated obstacle.
10. Produce or perform or stage or interpret a work of art.
The implied mission promise of a school with these outcomes?
Return
Challenge 20/20: Montessori School of Denver
Return
Rio Grande School (NM)
Grant Wood’s Victorian Survival
Smithsonian Podcast
interpretation by Katy
Waldman, Holton
Arms School
Return
College
%Public %Private
Amherst
58
41
Northwestern
78
22
Bowdoin
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
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%.
Independent vs. Privileged
Suburban Public Schools
Sources: Lessons of Privilege ~Art Powell; THL11/98 ~John Seel review of JD Harris’ The Nurture
Assumption; American Demographics 9/98
Independent
Suburban
Public
To
p
10
0
Fa
8t c
8t h/A
h/
Fo lgI
G rLa
irl
s/P ng
re
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Sp c
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ce
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
• Greater than 70% high school students attend high school with more than 1000 enrollment (Ed Week, 10/20/01)
• Parents choice of peer group (i.e. school) is the most decisive decision in child’s development. ~John Seel, UVA
• Greatest persistence factor (graduating with a B.A.) is the academic intensity of one’s school. ~Adelman, OERI
• Participation: 73% quit childhood sports by age 13 (Chicago Tribune, 3/30/00). Girls who play afterschool sports far
less likely to have had any sexual partners. (American Demographics 9/98)
Return
Creativity, Robotics, Teaming and STEM
Falmouth Academy’s Submersible Robot
Return
The End!
Patrick F. Bassett
Bassett@HeadsUpEd.com
202.746.5444