The National Association of Independent Schools’ annual conference took place this week in Boston. This year, speakers and attendees tackled new issues, such as the ins and outs of sharing blended learning courses between schools, and perennial issues like student recruitment.
Ethnic and gender diversity among teachers and school leadership was also a major theme. I’ve curated the Twitter musings from conference-goers that touch on all of these topics:
Bay Area BlendEd Consortium-- first regional partnership b/t #indyschools sharing blended learning resources #naisac #NAIS2015
— Charters & Choice (@ChartersNChoice) February 27, 2015
The @BayAreaBlendEd allows you to tap the expertise and talents of teachers in other schools. #naisac
— Nicole Johnston (@WinthropsCity) February 27, 2015
The rise of micro-schools. Lower price points. Emphasis on #BlendedLearning will they be disruptive to independent schools? #naisac
— Sarah Craig (@MsSarahCraig) February 26, 2015
Is blended learning truly the answer for disruption in #indyschool? What about access and equity? #naisac
— Jason Ramsden (@_JRamsden) February 26, 2015
#PrivateSchools need to support diverse faculty members like they do their students, say panelists at #naisac
— Charters & Choice (@ChartersNChoice) February 26, 2015
Only about 34 percent of independent school heads are female, according to #naisac speaker #WISL_14
— Charters & Choice (@ChartersNChoice) February 26, 2015
Search committees need to change their lens in order to find female head candidates. #WISL_14
— Triggs (@marieltriggs) February 26, 2015
Average Indy school tuition is 44% of median US income... Ouch! How to manage costs? #naisac
— Suzanna Jemsby (@SuzannaJemsby) February 26, 2015
More independent schools experimenting with sliding scale or tiered tuition #naisac #privateschools
— Charters & Choice (@ChartersNChoice) February 25, 2015
@BlackbaudK12 Instagram an important tool for the Admissions process. Backed up by Pew Research. #NAIS2015
— Elonide Semmes (@Esemmes) February 27, 2015
B/t 5-7% of families can afford #privateschools. ‘We’re too expensive for what families consider us to be’ - #naisac #NAIS2015 speaker
— Charters & Choice (@ChartersNChoice) February 27, 2015
Parent networks far more effective in recruiting students than some guy in an admission office #naisac
— Charters & Choice (@ChartersNChoice) February 27, 2015
In total, 5,500 people attended the conference, a new record for NAIS according to its president, John Chubb. The organization’s first conference was held in 1963.
Related:
Private Schools Work to Build Diverse Teaching Staffs, Lessons Learned from NAIS