Kristen Power
National Director, Business Development SSS by NAIS
Dave Taibl
Director of Outreach SSATB
Access, Affordability and
the Competition Facing
1. Identify emerging educational choices
2. Understand changes in consumer
behaviors
3. Examine trends in enrollment and
affordability
4. Evaluate strategies for ensuring
viability in a changing educational
marketplace
ISSUE Heads Board Chairs
1) Managing enrollment/Keeping school affordable 68% 68%
2) Marketing/branding school 55% 48%
3) Recruiting/retaining /compensating talented faculty 52% 41% 4) Developing sound 5 year financial plan for school 47% 42%
5) Creating 21st C program and curriculum 43% 34%
6) Expanding parent and alumni support 40% 53% 7) Communicating with internal and external audiences 35% 25% 8) Renovating/enhancing school facilities 30% 35% 9) Increasing financial aid 29% 27% 10) Identifying effective sources of non-tuition revenue 25% 25%
Top Issues Facing Schools in 2014
NAIS MEMBER SCHOOLS
HAVE LOST
50,000 STUDENTS SINCE 2009,
8% OF
TOTAL STUDENT
POPULATION
• Where have all the inquiries gone?
– Growth of Internet = no self-identification until application received
– Less opportunity to court families
• Economic Decline =
affordability, accessibility issues
• Demographic declines and shift
• Domestic boarders on the decline 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 Domestic Day Domestic Boarding
Intl Day Intl Boarding
2001-2002 2006-2007 2011-2012
Some Brutal Facts
SSATB’s Sizing up the Competition
Criteria for Selection
1. Different Price Point
2. New or Emerging
3. Rising Tide
SSATB’s Sizing up the Competition
School Types
1. Academically Rigorous Schools
2. Deeper Learning Schools
3. Personalized Learning Schools
4. Online School
s
Emerging schools /
networks of
schools competing
to surpass best
academic
programs in their
region
Modeled on rigorous international standards
Measurable Outcomes: BASIS students outperformed American students by nearly 3 years in reading and science and by 4 years in math on PISA. Even scored higher than the average student from #1 Shanghai
Coming soon: BASIS independent school division!
Corporate owned chain of schools
“Goal is to open great value independent schools in all major U.S. metro areas”
Emphasizes skill development over
content knowledge acquisition
Defined and oriented in opposition to
traditional classroom instruction
High Tech High (San Diego, CA)
Focus on depth over breadth; PBL; 21st century skills; teacher as
designer
Attractive alternative to
independent schools in San Diego
Committed to opening one new
school every few years and to
the scaling of deeper learning
Personalized learning
is being thoroughly
implemented by
founders of AltSchool,
Fusion Schools, and
AltSchool –
“microschooling”
personalized
learning, mini ipads,
regular feedback;
small 50-100
students
Fusion schools –
customization,
personalization, no
homework,
for-profit/tuition charging
Plan to have 200 sites by
2020
Traditionally involved partnership
between a traditional education
provider (state/district/university)
and a for-profit online provider.
Or supplement to existing
school.
275,000 students enrolled in full-time online public schools
Emerging/growing are
degree-granting private online schools
Stanford Online High
School
25% enrollment
growth/year for last
several years
Attrition 7%
Priced at about half
of local
independent
schools
Homeschooling
Did you know?
Traditionally an “alternative educational choice for religiously conservative
families”, parents choosing to
homeschool their children for non-religious reasons on the rise
“Safety” important driver followed by moral instruction and dissatisfaction with academic instruction
Black families one of fastest growing
demographics in homeschooling making up an estimated 10% of population
Takeaways from Competition Report
•
Truly 21
stCentury Schools
•
Able to differentiate
educational model and clearly
articulate mission /
value-added
•
Measurable outcomes
•
Educational models with
investors looking for ROI
What Do We
Know about
“Tiger moms and helicopter dads, step aside.
There’s a new name for an emerging breed of
over-involved parents — and they’re called
snowplow parents
.”
DO YOU KNOW THESE PARENTS?
Rising tuition rates
Ability to pay vs.
willingness to pay
The application
process!
Barriers to Entry
If growth in applications
slow, plateaus or decline,
it could be in part due to
more people seeing such
schools as viable
alternatives; less likely to
enter the independent
school stream
If enrollment is
flattening or on a
slow growth path, it
could be another
signal that the
market is moving
towards
alternatives
If price increases
continue to outpace
the way people’s
incomes grow,
alternatives can be
increasingly attractive
as a “value
choice” for families
who would otherwise
consider independent
schools
As awards shift away from families with lower incomes towards
those with higher incomes, alternatives may increasingly be the
only ones left for the low and middle income family that used to
be able to gain access to private schools
Understand your competition; understand yourself.
Know, strengthen, and evaluate your value proposition.
Chose whether to outflank or co-opt.
Consider flexible scheduling. Is à la carte an option?
Realize economies of scale.
Enrollment Leadership &
A Changing Independent School World
A new breed of admission professional is key to independent school success School sustainability hinges on understanding and serving a new and different customer
Successful schools are proactively seeking new
ways to deliver value to families
As a community, we require deeper student
data to better connect with appropriate
families and market our promise.
