Trends Impacting the
Independent School Sector
Presented by Patrick F. Bassett, Senior Consultant
2012-2013-2014-2015
Industry Trend Analysis as School Strategic Planning Tool:
• Which industry trends (threats/opportunities) are also our school’s?
• At this time, what “bucket” do we place each trend into:
1. Critical – warrants attention as an enterprise strategy for the board
to incorporate into the strategic plan.
2012-2013-2014-2015
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Industry Trends and Themes:
2.
Important – warrants
delegation to the school’s management team
Demography
& Diversity
for incorporation into staff study, focus, and priority (or to a board
Changing Social & Workplace Dynamics
committee)
Admissions, Enrollment, Financial Aid, Marketing
Philanthropy
3.
Less Important – warrants ignoring or placing in the parking lot for
possible
consideration.
Schoollater
Safety,
Student Health, School Climate
What’s the feeling in your neighborhoods about the
economic future? Confident or anxious?
What’s our school’s experience in the context of
uncertainties in the economy and the growth of
financial aid?
S.W.O.T.
implications?
• More highly
educated
population
preferences: the
grad school
trajectory
• The importance of
a diverse faculty,
student body,
leadership team,
and board
S.W.O.T.
implications?
• The
“achievement
gap”
• Age 29 before
a degree?
• Targeted
messaging to
various
ethnicities?
How well do US schools educate s
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)
Virtually 100% of independent school students
matriculate to and graduate from a 4-year college
Scott Page: Diversity and Complexity
• In any and all systems (nature, corporate,
educational, disease), the more diverse
the system, the stronger and more likely
to persist and succeed.
• Mathematically demonstrable: a formula
to predict the higher likelihood of success
of diverse systems
• The “100 people in the room” test
The Good News: Data To Use
The Good News: Data To Use
Culturally Competent Leaders
• Accepting of a lack of full closure, of ambiguity and
ambivalence
• Recognizes there is much denial about diversity challenges
• Articulates well why diversity is mission-critical:
– classroom experience richer;
– faculty problem-solving is more innovative;
– demographic imperative is addressed
– benefits all: in some ways benefits white students most
(IHE) in terms of growth of critical thinking
Don’t Miss the Boat on the Benefits of Diversity!
Part II
Strategic implications? Student population now minority majority; single
parents seldom can afford independent school tuitions. Gay couples growing
population in independent schools.
What are the strategic implications of…
• A student population now minority majority?
• Changing expectations around marriage and Dad’s involvement in childraising?
• Gay couples being a growing and welcome population in independent
schools?
What are the strategic implications of…
• A Millennial workforce (over 50% by 2020)?
(Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, reported in EduVentures Newsletter, 03.27.15)
What does it
mean to be
higher or lower
in percentage of
student body
receiving needbased financial
aid?
Strategic Question #2 for Boards and Heads
Affordability
Top 20% incomes start at…
Top 5%...? Top 1%?
26% families >$200K in private
schools; 13% of $100K - $200K
($200K incomes up <1% yr over last 20 years)
Strategic Question for Boards and Schools
Financial Aid Trends
What’s our
demographic
data tell us?
What’s our
admissions
funnel data
tell us?
What strategic
imperative
might emerge
from our
admissions
and financial
aid landscape?
 Create marketing and messaging that speaks to all parent
segments
 Continue to use financial aid strategically, including additional
net tuition revenue growth via merit scholarships.
•
•
•
•
•
S.W.O.T.
implications?
Women as
financial decision –
makers
95:5 Pyramid
Habits of character
= habits of giving
Soliciting the
Graduating Class
Reaching Young
Alumni
In U.S. at large,
approximately
$120K floor of
top 20%, $200K
is floor of top
5% gross
incomes &
$400K is floor of
the floor of top
1% incomes.
Giving
priority an
element in
play.
What does our
data tell us?
What strategic
imperatives are
emerging ?
• 56 million
students in
schools: avg.
30 death per
year. 1 in two
million?
• Real dangers
for kids?
• United
Educators:
Real enterprise
vulnerability:
TBI. School
trips. Bullying.
Sexual assault
• Fast thinking
or slow?
How Dangerous is the World for Kids?
• Teen playing football for 1 hour has a 1 in 6
million chance of dying
• Driving a car, a 1 in 1 million chance of dying.
Source: John Miller, “Football and the American Character,”
Imprimis, Sept. 2013
• Message
around
physical,
emotional
and
psychological
safety.
What’s our
take on school
safety?
Is there a
possible
strategic
imperative
here?
S.W.O.T.
implications?
• ADHD
epidemic?
• Antidotes to
corrosive
effects of
popular media?
• Skinned Knees
(Wendy Mogel)
& Grit (Paul
Tough)
• Mixed signals
to kids?
Student Safety &
Health: physical,
social, emotional,
& psychological
Psychology Today
More than half of college students said they have experienced
“overwhelming anxiety” in the last year, according to the American
College Health Association, and 32 percent say they have felt so
depressed “that it was difficult to function.“
Nearly 10 percent of respondents to the 2014 freshman survey
reported that they “frequently felt depressed.” Fragile Mental
Health, in IHE 02.05.15
How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine
Children’s Moral & Emotional Development
•
•
•
•
Parents have most profound impact on morals.
Mixed signals from parents: spectrum from “I want my
child to be happy” (Anthony Campolo) to Black Swan /
Tiger Mom expectations of “perfection.”
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 anti-depressants.
http://time.com/3682311/mindfulness-math/
The industry’s
strategic
priorities. Most
schools will
find their five to
seven strategic
priorities on
this list.
Trend #4: The War for Talent: Among Millennials
The Good: There is talent “out there.”
The Bad: There are talent pool challenges on the doorstep
Boomer class leaking away as retirement beckons.
Fresh recruits from the bottom of the pool, from nonselective colleges and universities.
 Price for the best rising.
The Ugly: Millennials hard to manage
Expect immediate rewards and gratification from the
workplace, anticipate their next job after just landing their
current job, show little patience with workplace conventions:
“What IS it with you people and 8:30 am?”
Sign of the times: Millennials moving home: Kippers:
Kids in Parents’ Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings
Dan Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth
about What Motivates Us
• Extrinsic Motivators (carrot & stick) for Faculty?
– Carrot (“pay for performance”); and
– Stick (“probation and firing”).
– How are these motivators going in school?
• Intrinsic Motivators for Faculty?
– Autonomy
– Mastery
– Purpose
The Best Way To Pay
“How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda” HBR Jul-Aug 2009
What employees value “at least as much as compensation”
Boomers
1. High quality colleagues
2. Intellectually stimulating
environment
3. Autonomy regarding work tasks
Pink’s first principle, autonomy
4. Flexible work arrangements
5. Access to new
experiences/challenges
6. Giving back to world through
work
7. Recognition from one’s employer
Pink’s second principle, mastery
Pink’s third principle, purpose
The Best Way To Pay
“How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda” HBR Jul-Aug 2009
What employees value “at least as much as compensation”
Gen Y/Millenials
1. High quality colleagues
2. Flexible work arrangements
3. Prospects for advancement
4. Recognition from one’s employer
5. A steady rate of
advancement/promotion
6. Access to new
experiences/challenges
The Best Way To Pay
“How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda” HBR Jul-Aug 2009
What employees value “at least as much as compensation”
Boomers
Gen Y/Millenials
1. High quality colleagues
1. High quality colleagues
2. Intellectually stimulating
environment
2. Flexible work arrangements
3. Autonomy regarding work tasks
3. Prospects for advancement
4. Flexible work arrangements
4. Recognition from one’s employer
5. Access to new
experiences/challenges
5. A steady rate of
advancement/promotion
6. Giving back to world through
work
6. Access to new
experiences/challenges
7. Recognition from one’s employer
Which motivator more
aligned with
organizational goals?
Professional Development in Independent Schools:
• “Here’s $2000 per year to spend as you like: go grow.”
• “Here’s $2000 each, join or form an online PLC professional learning community- on one of the
following topics, and design your professional
development program around that topic, reporting out
to the faculty at the end of the year: 1.) differentiated
instruction; 2.) brain-based learning; 3.) blended hightech/high touch classroom environments; 4.) formative
testing.”
McKinley Quarterly, May
2011
Source: McKinsey Quarterly, May, 2011: “How the Best Labs Manage Talent”
McKinley Quarterly, May
2011
Attracting & Keeping Millennials
• Highest starting salaries
• Leadership roles on design teams
• Golden handcuffs (making college loan
payments)
• Developing a “talent management” system
Return
The End
Presented by Patrick F. Bassett, Senior Consultant
2012-2013-2014-2015