“Crisis clarifies purpose.” – Morva McDonald, NAIS VP of Leadership and Governance
When I heard these words last week at the National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference, I was struck. Our community faced significant inflection points this fall: the loss of our founder, Chuck Webster, and the death of senior Mikey Cardwell. No training in crisis response or workshop on grief fully prepares a school to handle losses like those we’ve experienced. In fact, the best thing that helped us hold together through those moments was a focus on our purpose, on our values, and on our guiding principle to care for one another.
The conference was full of thought-provoking sessions on how we might improve programs, run more efficiently, develop leadership, and overall serve our mission. Here are my three top takeaways from the event.
- Our community is resilient.
According to the Harvard Business Review, resilient organizations “possess three characteristics: a staunch acceptance of reality; a deep belief, often supported by strongly held values; an uncanny ability to improvise.” At University, we have all three in spades. Our ability to pivot when necessary and to do what is best for our students is what best enables us to tackle anything as a community, no matter how difficult the situation. NAIS President Debra Wilson remarked, “When we know what is coming, we prepare; when we don’t, we position.” Our commitment to a school culture built on mutual respect, support, and trust positions University to take on tough challenges and to celebrate key successes together.
2. A high-quality academic experience is the driver of our industry.
The most recent data from the Enrollment Management Association shows that 52% of independent school parents cite “high-quality academic programs” as the main reason for choosing their child’s school. What stood out to me about this data point is that it is distinct from college placement, high test scores, or school reputation. While those factors may also be in play, families care about the total quality of their child’s school experience. It is not simply what is taught but how it is taught that matters. At University, experiences like January Term, hands-on class activities, and even the shared learning that happens at our daily Community Meeting all contribute to the educational experience. The time we spend together in these ways is what fuels our exceptional student performance, our competitive college placement, and the success of our alums years after they’ve graduated.
3. University continues to be a leader in independent education.
As we near the end of our 25th Anniversary, I’ve been reflecting on just how ground-breaking University’s beginning was. NAIS contains over 1,300 schools, some of whose histories go back hundreds of years. Whenever I have the opportunity to interact with school leaders at places dramatically different than ours, many of them are surprised at what we are able to accomplish in an old hay field in Indiana. Our founders got a number of things right about school design, from the outward components like 1:1 mentoring and a schedule that allows us to be nimble in offering community time, to more unseen elements like a salary model that allows us to recruit and retain the best talent and an entrepreneurial spirit that continues to propel us forward. We were built on a foundation of trailblazing ideas, and I can’t wait to see where they take us in the future.