1. Hot Issues for Independent Schools Today
34th Annual CASE/NAIS Independent Schools Conference

2. NAIS Hot Issues Survey
First conducted in 2001/02 to assess the most challenging issues facing independent schools
Follow-up conducted in November 2003 to see how the economy, the war, and other pressures have changed those issues

3. Areas of Investigation
Resources—issues related to identifying and acquiring human, financial, material, technological, informational, and other resources
Management—issues related to coordinating, supervising, communicating, monitoring, planning, developing procedures, assigning work, setting agendas, etc.

4. Areas of Investigation (cont.)
Output—issues associated with services that the school supplies to the students and the community
External—issues caused by external forces such as government, suppliers, citizen groups, economic conditions, etc. over which you have no control

5. Survey Findings: 2001 compared to 2003
Part I
Survey Findings: 2001 compared to 2003

6. Major Resource Issues 2001 Survey
Identifying, attracting, and retaining qualified faculty and staff
Financing the independent school of the 21st century
Technology
2003 Survey
Financing the affordable independent school
Attracting and retaining talented faculty and staff
Keeping pace w/costs of technology

7. Key Aspects: Financing Schools
The economic recession, independent school tuition increases, and lack of adequate financial aid resources are driving low- and middle-income families away from independent schools to lower-cost charter schools, public schools, and church-based private schools
Maintaining affordable tuitions and increasing financial aid resources have become major challenges for independent schools

8. Key Aspects: Financing Schools
Schools are facing increasing financial pressures from rising health insurance costs, demands for competitive salary and benefits packages, facilities maintenance and renovation needs, and technology support and maintenance costs

9. Key Aspects: Staffing
Schools continue to have difficulty hiring and retaining talented faculty and staff
How will schools replace the generation of teachers and administrators who will retire in the next ten years
Financing competitive salary and benefits packages is an obstacle that adds to staffing and financial pressures

10. Key Aspects: Technology
How will schools pay for the upgrades that parents and students expect
How will they find the time, resources, and staff to support their existing technological infrastructures
As the total cost of technology escalates, schools struggle to justify their technological expenses

11. Major Management Issues
2001 Survey
Leadership in independent schools
Professional development
Communicating w/constituent groups
2003 Survey
Professional development
New leadership
Managing and evaluating programs
Communicating w/parents and other groups

12. Key Aspects: Professional Development
Funding and finding the time for effective faculty and staff professional development activities is a major management issue
From technology integration to the transfer of institutional knowledge from senior faculty to junior faculty, schools must continuously train
Schools desperately need new inexpensive, time-efficient vehicles for providing professional development

13. Key Aspects: New Leadership
As more and more baby boomers retire, schools are having difficulty finding high-quality administrators to replace seasoned heads, division heads, and other administrators
NAIS’s 2002 leadership study confirmed that 70% of current heads will retire within next 10 years

14. Key Aspects: Management and Evaluation
As schools find themselves doing more with less, they are looking for effective ways to evaluate their programs and services
How do they identify their core programs
How do they maintain the quality of their offerings

15. Key Aspects: Communicating with Parents
School heads find it increasingly difficult to communicate effectively with parents and other key constituent groups
How can they manage parents’ demands and “consumer” attitudes
How can they and their staff use the internet to communicate effectively with internal and external constituents

16. Major Output Issues 2003 Survey 2001 Survey College placement Image
Financial aid
Curriculum development
2003 Survey
College placement
Financial aid
Communicating w/parents

17. Key Aspects: College Placement
School administrators need help managing parents' expectations regarding their children's abilities to gain admission to the country's most selective colleges and universities
Stiff competition for acceptance at selective colleges have increased parental and student demands for programs, services, and extracurricular activities
Schools find that being asked to teach to the college admissions application is an unacceptable intrusion on the quality and experience of an independent school education

18. Key Aspects: Financial Aid
Without adequate financial aid resources, independent schools fear that they will not be able to maintain or increase their current levels of enrollment and that they will lose the economic diversity of their student bodies

19. Key Aspects: Communicating with Parents
What are the best ways to manage parents' expectations about the independent school experience and college admissions
How can schools best communicate with a new generation of assertive, Internet and market savvy customers

20. Major External Issues 2001 Survey
Federal/state/local government intrusion
The changing world
Community relations
2003 Survey
The economy
Federal and state government intrusion
Competition

21. Key Aspects: The Economy
Declining national and local economies have impacted school endowments and enrollments and have markedly increased the demand for financial aid
What long-term effects will schools experience if the recession does not end quickly
How will the recession affect the economic diversity of independent school student bodies

22. Key Aspects: Government Intrusion
Voucher programs, high stakes testing, calls for accountability, and federal and state regulations threaten our schools’ independence.
What do we need to do now to deal with the growing cry for accountability

23. Key Aspects: Competition
Rising tuitions, the economic recession, and inadequate financial assistance are causing some families to look for alternatives to an independent school education
Many of these families are choosing public schools with gifted programs, charter schools, and church-subsidized, private schools
As these alternatives strengthen, independent schools are experiencing increasing competition for families

24. NAIS Services Designed to Help Schools Deal with Pressing Issues
Part II
NAIS Services Designed to Help Schools Deal with Pressing Issues

25. NAIS Services: Financing Schools
Financing Symposium—think tank on how schools can find new ways to cut expenses/raise revenues
Financing Institute
Financial Calculator
10-year stats spreadsheet
Money issue of Independent School magazine

26. NAIS Services: Parenting
Parent guides
Surviving the College Search
Gifts that Give Back
Understanding your Child
Parent survey
Development of ongoing information services (parent magazine)

27. NAIS Services: Financial Aid
SSS Service
Development of centralized financial planning services

28. NAIS Services: College Placement
Parents guide—Surviving the College Search
Establishment of College Connection Task Force
Possible joint services w/College Parents of America

29. NAIS Services: New Leadership
E.E. Ford Fellows Program
Ongoing leadership research

30. NAIS Services: Technology
Leadership and Technology at Independent Schools

31. Thank you!
Donna Orem
Vice President, Information, Research and Strategic Initiatives
NAIS