Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
When Mission and Market
Forces Intersect:
A study of NAIS member schools navigating an
economic recession
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Matt Rush
Barry Gilmore
Peabody College at Vanderbilt
Questions
Note:
This presentation must be played for all
content to be visible.
Comparatively, then, independent schools are a small feature within the educational
landscape as a whole. Indeed, there are now as many as 1.4 million students in United States
charter schools (NCES, 2010) and these schools themselves make up 5% of all public schools
The
Context
ofschools
Independent
Schools
(see
Figure
1.2). Magnet
and home-schooling
make up 3% of the public school
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Figure 1.1: Percentage of Each Type of School in the United States
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Questions
Context
The Context of Independent Schools
Project Question
Nashville Area Independent
Schools
(NAIS members)
Nashville Area Private
Schools
(non-NAIS members)
Analytical Model
Project Design
Battle Ground Academy (BGA)
Currey Ingram Academy
Ensworth School
Franklin Road Academy (FRA)
Harding Academy
Harpeth Hall
Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA)
Oak Hill School
St. Paul Christian School
University School Nashville (USN)
Christ Presbyterian Academy
Davidson Academy
David Lipscomb Campus School
Ezell-Harding Christian School
Father Ryan
Lighthouse Christian School
Nashville Christian School
Pope John Paul II
St. Bernard Academy
St. Cecilia Academy
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
Context
The Context of Independent Schools
Project Question
What is NAIS?
The National Association of Independent Schools
(NAIS) represents more than 1,700 schools and
associations of schools in the United States and
abroad, over 1,400 of which are non-profit, private K12 schools nationwide.
NAIS’s mission is to be “the national voice of
independent schools and the center for collective
action on their behalf” and the organization further
exists to “represent and sustain schools that are selfdetermining in mission and program, free from
government control, and governed by independent
boards” (NAIS website).
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
Context
Project Question
Project Question
Analytical Model
How did the recession impact financial
processes and operations
at independent schools?
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
SCHOOL BACKGROUND
AND CONTEXT
Context
Project Question
RECESSION
Analytical Model
SCHOOL REVIEW OF
POTENTIALLY AFFECTED
AREAS
Project Design
Limitations
RESPONSES AND
DECISIONS
Findings
Recommendations
OUTCOMES
Questions
Context
NAIS
Database
Survey
(Heads and
Business
Mgrs.)
Project Question
School Site
Visits
Analytical Model
Project Design
1,300 schools
2,661 emails
Limitations
Matched data
2005-2010
988 responses
(37%)
Recommendations
1,149 schools
Enrollment,
tuition, salary,
etc.
Findings
School
responses and
decisions
Questions
Context
Project Question
School Site
Visits
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
Context
Project Question
Database: Self-reported
Analytical Model
Survey: Incomplete responses
Project Design
Limitations
Site visits: Generalizability
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
Context
Waiting Another
Year
How Far South is
South?
Project Question
Analytical Model
Unanticipated
Enrollment Trends
Initial Planning for
the Recession
Project Design
Leadership
Community
Building on a Solid
Foundation
Continued
Growth
Limitations
Doing More
With Less
Findings
Recommendations
Where Schools Stayed
the Course
Where Schools
Made Adjustments
Questions
Context
1. Conservative planning
How Far South is
South?
2. Keeping families
Initial Planning for
the Recession
“When it looked like things were
heading south, I don’t think any
on site
of us knew exactly how far south
‘south’ was, or how fast.”
(Business Manager, Global
Collegiate School)
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
Context
Conservative planning
Project Question
“We did budget for the year after the
recession as if we were going to lose
20 students. We also created a third
budget asking everyone who had a
budget, ‘Where can you cut?’ We
asked to cut back 2-3% overall and
then we said, if you could cut 5%,
where would you do it?”
(Business Manager, Wooded Acres)
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
INITIAL PLANNING
Keeping families on site
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
INITIAL PLANNING
1. Extended admissions season
Waiting Another
Context
2. Decrease
levels
“More
parents chose to wait a year
Year at entry grade
Project Question
3. Increase at other
Analytical Model
Unanticipated
Enrollment Trends
due to the public schools in the
area
and the recession.”
grade
levels
(Parent, Southeast Prep)
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
Overall enrollment trends
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
ENROLLMENT TRENDS
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
ENROLLMENT TRENDS
1. No program cuts
“The education and programs are
Building on a Solid
2. SmallFoundation
cuts in operationsmost important to people here.
They are the foundation, not any
new buildings themselves.”
3. Similar
annual
giving
goals
(Academic Dean, Boarding Day
Where Schools Stayed
Academy)
the Course
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
4. Continued capital goals
Project Design
5. Moderate attention to endowment
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
No program cuts
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS STAYED THE COURSE
Similar annual giving goals
Context
Project Question
No statistically significant
difference in total giving dollars
(parents or alumni)
Analytical Model
Project Design
Percentage of giving, 2005-2010:
Parents: -5% (p<.0001)
Alums: -8% (p<.0001)
Takeaway: Fewer parents and
alumni gave, but those who did
give made larger donations
WHERE SCHOOLS STAYED THE COURSE
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
Continued capital goals
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Only 199 of 967 (20.5%) respondents
reported that they had to postpone a
capital campaign as a financial
adjustment since the fall of 2008.
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS STAYED THE COURSE
1. Increased financial aid
Context
“We’re trying to do more with
Doing More
2. Modest
salary increases
less…to find ways to create a
Project Question
With Less
meaningful, exciting experience
3. Modest tuition increases
for school children that made kids
and families want to stay.”
Where Schools
(Head
of School, The Episcopal
Made Adjustments
4. Deferred
physical plant
maintenance
School)
Analytical Model
Project Design
5. Increased online services
Limitations
6. Re-examined marketing
Findings
7. New constituencies
8. Re-examined parent organizations
9. Increased accountability
Recommendations
Questions
Increased financial aid
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Source: Survey of Heads and Business Managers
Response to the statement, “Over the past three years,
the school saw increased demands for financial aid from
formerly full paying families”
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
Increased financial aid
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Source: NAIS Database
Mean change in FA students:
91 (2005), 109 (2010), p<.05
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
Increased tuition
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Source: Survey of Heads and Business Managers
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Rank of Tuition
Among Important Factors for a School
to Address During the Recession
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
Increased tuition
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
New constituencies
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
New constituencies
Context
Project Question
“The question that one might ask is
whether we are compromising the input,
the quality of students we are
getting…but we have another question
we ask ourselves in terms of inclusion—
what kind of differentiated public we
want at the school.”
(Division Head, GCS)
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
“We were going to be a calm
Leadership
oasis in a storm…I spent the fall
talking about the fact that we
Community
want to create an oasis for our
children.”
Continued
Growth
(Head of School, Southeast Prep)
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
“The administrative team gets
along well. But they're also
leading in a direction that works
for all of us. Everything is more
purpose driven than it was.”
(Teacher, RCDS)
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
Leadership: A Calm Oasis in a Storm
Context
Project Question
Relationships matter (the human relations frame)
(Bolman and Deal, 2003; Elmore, 2000; Sergiovanni, 1989;
Leithwood and Duke, 1998)
Analytical Model
Project Design
In tough times, leaders become stewards
(Heifetz and Laurie, 2011; Murphy, 2011)
Leaders make partners out of teachers
(Bolman and Deal, 2003; Ginsberg and Moulton, 2011;
Heifetz and Linsky, 2002)
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
“The community is really something that
Leadership
we are willing to invest in in order to
maintain because that’s the strength of the
Community
school…it is the strength of the school.”
(Director of Advancement, Global
Continued
CollegiateGrowth
School)
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
“The school is at a watershed moment,
where we are now deciding what our
identity is going to be going forth. But the
unspoken benefits of our international
student program have been tremendous.”
(IB Director, RCDS)
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
Community: The Strength of the School
Context
Project Question
Mission driven community: Parent involvement matters
(Putnam, 1993; Coleman and Hoffer, 1987; Sergiovanni, 1994;
Crowson, 1998; Bauch and Goldring, 1998)
Analytical Model
Project Design
Market-driven community: Customer service is key
(Oplatka and Helmsley-Brown, 2004; West and Noden, 1998)
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
“If you aren’t growing, you’re dying. Our
Leadership
school
has taken advantage of the economy
and continued to launch capital campaigns, to
Community
raise
money for ongoing athletic programs,
for arts, and land expansion.”
Continued
Growth
(Assistant
Head
of Upper School, RCDS)
“Sometimes, the most beautiful flowers grow in
manure. Some of the best professional
development we can have is from each other. And
so it was not that professional development
stopped… the way we delivered it stopped.
Focusing it to be internal helped the community to
grow.”
(Teacher, Global Collegiate School)
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
Continued Growth: Growing, Not Dying
Context
Project Question
Schools can learn from tough times (organizational
learning)
Analytical Model
(Leithwood, Leonard, and Sharratt, 1998; Senge, 1994)
Crisis learning (adaptive change)
Project Design
(Kim, 1998; Agyris, 1977)
Limitations
Lean thinking (budget lessons)
(Brandt, 2003; Womack and Jones, 1996)
Findings
Physical growth (capital campaigns)
(Rigby, 2001; Gulati, 2010)
Recommendations
Program growth (internal review)
(Kambil, 2008)
WHERE SCHOOLS MADE ADJUSTMENTS
Questions
1. Independent vs. private schools
Context
2. Enrollment shifts
Project Question
3. Effects of/on teacher retention,
teacher workload, class size, life cycle
Analytical Model
Project Design
Further
Research
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
1. Financial aid and admissions
Context
2. Student populations
Project Question
3. Parent organizations
Analytical Model
4. Data from non-independent schools
Project Design
5. More data NAIS
from independent schools
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions
1. Plan for financial aid and admissions
Context
2. Plan early and prudently
Project Question
3. Consider new populations
Analytical Model
4. Continue to set goals
5. Invest inNAIS
social media
members
Project Design
6. Watch entry grade enrollment
Limitations
7. Promote organizational learning
Findings
8. Benchmark thoughtfully
Recommendations
9. Focus on community
10. Stay true to the mission
Questions
Context
Project Question
Analytical Model
Project Design
Questions?
Limitations
Findings
Recommendations
Questions