Fort Worth Country Day in Texas has launched their strategic plan. "From Here...Anywhere" details the strategic vision for FWCD, which includes aspiring to be a school of significance. Consistent with our blog series in 2015 of a similar theme, a school of significance is a school or college that has a transformational quality on the context of their environment. From our experience, they are a small segment of independent schools and colleges that seem to thrive in doing meaningful work within the context of their environment. We are so pleased with the quality and thoughtfulness of this strategic vision for the future and can't wait to watch Fort Worth Country Day School thrive as they follow it forward into the future. Download their strategic plan here in PDF file format.
A Landmark Research Accomplishment
We have pretty cool news! Our research division has just informed us that Ian Symmonds & Associates has completed 500 client surveys of parents, students, and stakeholders since our inception in 2003. ISA now stands 15 years old with over 300 clients served in 48 states and several foreign countries and 500 surveys completed. We are very excited to bring industry leadership through our research and experience to our client community.
Canterbury School Selects ISA
Canterbury School in Greensboro, North Carolina has selected Ian Symmonds & Associates for research and strategic planning. Our work will commence in the late spring and continue throughout the next academic year. Canterbury School was founded in 1993 as a co-educational Episcopal day school and serves students from PreK through 8th grade. Canterbury’s campus is approximately 35 acres in northeastern Greensboro, N.C. There are seven permanent buildings: lower and middle schools, a science and technology building, an athletic center, a chapel, an arts building, and a student center. Additional facilities include a library, playground areas, outdoor chapel, soccer field, pond, fitness trail, outdoor education center, extended day, and administrative offices. We are excited to welcome Canterbury School into our client community.
Sacred Heart Network Selects ISA
The Network of Sacred Heart Schools has selected Ian Symmonds & Associates for strategic planning services. The Network of Sacred Heart Schools is an association of Catholic independent schools acting in cooperation with the USC Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart to advance a shared mission. Our work will commence in February and continue though the spring and summer as we develop a vision and plan for the Network. ISA has served several member schools during our history, including Duchesne Academy in Omaha, Nebraska, Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, and Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bellevue, Washington. We welcome the Network to our client community.
Recalibrating an Industry - Where Do We Start?
By nearly every important strategic measure, private education is under industry duress. Some of the indicators of this duress include softening demand, shrinking universe of traditional customers, inflated prices with inflated financial aid trying to make up the difference, changing modes of delivery, and rising expectations of new consumers. It's not all bad, though, as many private schools and colleges are using this time to refocus their energies and recalibrate their offerings.
As we move into a new year, we start with a theme of recalibration. There is no question we are at a pivot point as an industry. In fact, we have been at this place since the global economic shift in 2007-08, which served as a catalyst for change in an industry that had neglected external trends. Since that time, the industry has been making incremental change without significant transformation of the business model.
Where are we going and where do we start? There are critical questions that need to be answered in the future. Do we begin with reforming the classroom? Or maybe we should focus on changing the business model? How about altering the method of delivery? We will focus our first quarter of blog entries of 2018 on the theme of recalibration and attempt to address some of these questions and the issues that emerge as a result. It should be a good series. We hope you can join us, follow along, and even throw in a few ideas of your own.