We Need to Expand Our Definition of “School” Before It's Too Late
As NAIS Vice President Mark Mitchell noted, tuition and financial aid trends over the past ten years continue to move in a concerning direction. One of many possible reasons may be the growing trend of home schooling, micro schools, virtual schools and now AI Centered Schools. What once seemed like insignificant parts of the educational universe are now forces that are reshaping the very definition of school both through their pricing structures and through their appeal to families’ changing lifestyles as NAIS President Debra Wilson shared. In many ways, these trends are reshaping school from being seen as a place to being seen as an experience. Meanwhile, I’ve been arguing for years that for the most part independent schools struggle to evolve our definition of “school” beyond a model of five days per week, in person instruction, 16 students per class, one tuition price (or at least one per division) offset by need based aid and merit aid. Sure, there are outstanding programs like Global Online Academy that supplement our static model. However, I believe that the financial model upon which most independent schools are founded is stretched well beyond available elasticity. If true, then we are in need of significant efforts to redesign the financial model.
