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A Note from Your Guide
Patrick Bassett assumes the Presidency
of the NAIS on August 1, 2001. A distinguished leader in the field of private
education, Pat brings to his new post a wealth of experience and a keen
intellect. Pat's genuine eagerness to address the thorny issues of the
day and his unqualified ability to offer solutions will make him a leading
spokesperson for private education in the years to come. Recently I put
some questions to Pat about trends in private education. His answers follow.
--Rob Kennedy
A Note from Patrick Bassett
Thanks, Rob, for the opportunity
to think out loud with you regarding issues and trends for the private
school community. Your Web site offers many resources about private schools
for the general public and for the schools themselves, and I am delighted
to tap into that network as I contemplate the beginning (on August 1) of
my new job as president of NAIS, the National Association of Independent
Schools, representing over 1,100 very fine schools throughout the country
and the world (www.nais.org). --Patrick
Bassett
Patrick Bassett
Private schools (meaning parochial and independent schools that are not subject to the control of a public local education authority) are enjoying something of a renaissance. What's your take on the reasons for their renewed popularity?
In part, private school enrollments are bulging, and new private schools are proliferating because demography is destiny. We are on the wave of another surge in the school-age population as a result of the echo effect of the baby boom. The baby boom at its height in the 50s and 60s included 52 million students. Today’s boomlet encompasses even more, probably about 54 million students. Thus, all schools, public and private, are being stretched.
There seems to be a teacher shortage in private schools this year. We all knew that the public sector was facing a 2 million teacher shortfall, but I must confess that I thought that private schools would be immune to the problem. Can you explain why we are facing a shortage of skilled, experienced teachers?
While public schools will need in
the next decade 2 million teachers, America will need 2.5 million teachers,
based on NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) data, since private
schools face the same exigencies as public schools:
· declining interest in teaching
as a profession (especially among women and people of color as other
professional opportunities open for them offering much higher salaries
and status).
· an aging teacher workforce.
· a growing disinclination
among those in the chute to teach (among education majors, for example,
only 50% actually teach after studying to do so for four years).
· high attrition after 1-
5 years, since the career track in teaching is "flat," with little room
for promotion or for major increases in salary.
The problem for private schools is
that public schools, especially urban ones, are in full-flung crisis; many
public school systems are opening with a shortage of hundreds of
teachers. Superintendents know where to find highly skilled, effective,
and experienced teachers---they are ensconced in private schools. So for
the first time we are experiencing the equivalent of "corporate raiding"
of our stable, and our own version of a "brain drain."
Only a serious re-thinking and re-engineering
of our compensation systems for teachers will forestall the deleterious
impact of these trends upon us.
Diversity is another buzzword in private education. While the flagship schools have for many years been in the vanguard of the diversity movement, many more lesser-known schools are only just now grappling with diversity and all that the term implies. What, in your opinion, are the ingredients for creating a climate at a school wherein diversity is embraced to the fullest extent possible?
Those schools that are most committed to diversity and inclusivity know that diversity has to be a strategic commitment of the school. They have moved along the diversity continuum from “awareness to commitment to action” and know what action actually looks like in curriculum development, in student recruitment, in hiring and supporting teachers of color. They manifest Beverly Tatum’s ABC’s (affirm diversity, build community, cultivate inclusivity).
If the basic work of boards of trustees
is to be “strategic,” what does it mean to be “strategic” in a commitment
to diversity? From my experience…
· It is strategic to have
a "go to" person on diversity whose job it is in part to coordinate efforts
and keep the flame alive: just as we have a development director
to oversee fund-raising although fund raising is everyone’s job, and just
as we have an admissions director to oversee recruitment although marketing
is everyone’s job, we should have a diversity coordinator whose job is
to oversee diversity initiatives, although diversity is everyone’s job.
· It is strategic to have
a board-approved plan for promoting diversity and inclusivity and a diversity
task force, just as we have a technology plan and a technology task force.
· It is strategic to undertake
community-wide diversity training, just as we do community-wide training
in other skills, such as technology.
· It is strategic to do the
“clock building” that embeds in the structures of the organization those
ways of doing business that will create a more diverse and inclusive future.
If we know that kids “get it” when it comes to diversity and inclusivity, why is it that adults too often don’t? What will it take for the adults to overcome their own awkwardness and resistance to address the tough questions around race and other aspects of diversity? Schools that "get it" ask these questions and make time to process the answers.
It’s true that we can’t point to what you describe as “vanguard” schools and congratulate ourselves while the overall picture is less rosy. Over the past ten years, the overall number of students of color at NAIS schools, as a percentage of total enrollment, has increased by about three percentage points, to the current level of about 17 and a half percent. That shows progress, but it also reminds us that we have a ways to go to fulfill our commitment.
Like anything else, a commitment
to diversity must be embraced and modeled at the top. NAIS itself is committed
to that modeling via its...
· Core values: NAIS defines
its mission and strategic plan in part to infuse the commitment to equity
and justice into everything we do.
· Hiring and leadership:
More than 42% of the NAIS staff are people of color; 44% of the team leaders
are female and a third are people of color; some of the staff are physically
challenged. There is a remarkable and energizing diversity at NAIS.
· Programming: The NAIS Annual
Conference, People of Color Conference, Summer Diversity Institute, and
Institute for New Heads all have significant diversity tracks or are entirely
focused on diversity issues.
Finally, we must use our leadership venues as a bully pulpit to focus communities on a commitment to diversity: As corporate America has already recognized, this commitment is not only "the right thing to do," it's the pragmatic thing to do.
In line with the previous question, scholarship funds for private schools seem to be pretty meager. What can be done to develop more sources of scholarship funding both at the school level and at the community level?
Well, actually, this question is not "in line with the previous question" unless you are referring to socioeconomic diversity rather than racial and ethnic diversity. In independent schools, typically 8 to 10% of budget goes to financial aid and 17% of students receive financial aid. While various levels of financial aid are available to students of various backgrounds, our statistics suggest that about two thirds of families of color pay full tuition at our schools.
That being said, what worries me the most about socioeconomic diversity and access to independent schools is the sacrifice middle class families must make that may not qualify for financial aid. At the school level, we must renew our commitment to build endowment restricted to financial aid. Those schools that do so today will reap huge benefits tomorrow.
At the community level, we must encourage more efforts like The Children's Scholarship Fund, which has had an amazing effect in generating dollars from the business community to offer low-income families a shot at enrolling in a private school. Demand for these scholarships outstrips supply by such a margin that we know the need and the aspirations are there.
At the legislative level, we should encourage state and federal governments to enact tuition tax credits along the lines of those in Illinois and Minnesota to help families, public and private, to provide private educational services to their children.
In your opinion, are vouchers a 'dead' issue or will they rise from the political ashes like some latter-day phoenix?
I was in Washington, DC, recently at a special meeting called by Secretary of Education Rod Paige to connect the president's education agenda ("No Child Left Behind") to the private school community. I was quite impressed by the secretary's commitment to the president's theme and program and his willingness to include private schools and to consult with us so that the hand the government is offering does not end up smacking us. That being said, the voucher component of President Bush's agenda has not been included in the conference language of the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. On the other hand, the great voucher experiments in Cleveland and Milwaukee seem both popular and successful and the public receptivity to vouchers very high.
In the long run, I believe vouchers will be a reality, in some form or another, in America. The tough question for private schools will be, "Are you willing to exchange your independence for the money?," since all voucher programs impose admissions regulations on the school receiving the funds.
State regulation of private schools comes in many forms. Do you see state requirements and regulations gradually eroding the 'private' in private education?
Governmental intrusions upon the independence of independent schools are our greatest fear, rightfully so, since we are seeing increased evidence of it at all levels. The current legislative climate surrounding education issues invites legislators at all levels to be tempted by "the education governor" or "the education legislator" or the "the education president," and that temptation drives legislative incursions of the most worrisome sort. Independent schools' strength comes in part from our freedom to teach the truth as each school sees it, according to its mission and principles; the speeding train of the standards and testing movement in America has every potential to derail that freedom by dictating testing and curriculum. We will oppose the imposition at every turn, since such mandates are inimical to our approach. On the other hand, the idea that schools must be accountable is not an unreasonable expectation from the public or the government. Although private schools protest that we are accountable every day to our parents, that declaration is met with skepticism by those with power to legislate mandates. I believe our best hope is to be at the table with legislators at the state and federal levels, prepared to offer alternative measurements of accountability, such as the success of our graduates, and to educate those in power about the rigor of our accreditation process.
NAIS has a long and distinguished record of service to a rather small independent schools community. Do you see it expanding its role to be more pro-active on behalf of the more than 29,000 private K-12 schools that now exist in the US?
Right now, NAIS represents over 1,100 schools, but that number is probably only about half of the total number of independent schools in the U.S., so the first challenge for us will be to seek to represent most or all of the independent schools. Beyond the schools in our niche of the private school universe, I see NAIS continuing to seek alliances with all other types of private schools, since there are many issues where we might find universal private school agreement, such as opposing mandatory testing of private schools; supporting tuition tax credits and income tax credits for all teachers, public and private; liberalizing visa requirements for foreign teachers to ease the teacher shortage; and the like. NAIS will continue to support and champion the efforts of CAPE, the umbrella organization for all private schools. We will, on our own, initiate this year a major advocacy effort targeting prospective teachers, opinion-leaders in the media and government, and prospective families. At some point, other private school organizations may be invited to join us.
In short, although the challenges facing private schools are great, so too our resources and leadership. So long as we keep focused on our missions, we will, to quote Faulkner, "not only endure but prevail."
How do you feel about these issues? Please share your opinions and thoughts with all of us by posting in the Private Schools Forum.
--Rob Kennedy, Private Schools Guide
