Fellow list members:
For an online article for the National Association of Independent Schools I
am seeking to make contact with a few exemplary schools that have been
demonstrably successful in devising and executing pre-emptive strategies to
reduce student attrition.
The scope of the piece would include programs or policies aimed at specific
"problem areas," such as attrition at division jumps (e.g., from lower to
middle school), attrition among students who share specific
interests/talents or characteristics (e.g., athletes or musicians to
programs perceived as more "high powered;" students from historically
underrepresented groups to different, perhaps more congenial environments),
or attrition among families for whom the financial burden of independent
school tuition is felt to be bearable but not perhaps essential for their
children.
What have schools done to address these issues before they become matters of
individual counseling or persuasion? How have schools identified students or
families who need to be attended to, and what sorts of programs have been
successful in helping the school make the case for continued enrollment?
What strategies have been successful in responding to family
concerns--especially in a tight economy when public schools are seen by many
families as offering an attractive alternative that will allow families to
hold onto resources that may be used later to pay for university?
There may be a related issue: schools that encourage students to consider
leaving at a certain point in their career (division jumps, possibly). I
would be interested in gaining insight into this phenomenon, as well.
I will happily take responses off-list, but I am betting many schools on
this list would be interested in hearing examples of what has
worked--keeping the kids you have can be a whole lot easier than finding new
ones. I would plan on following up by phone with a few schools as
information surfaces.
Many thanks, as always, for the support and help of people on these
listservs. And thanks in advance for any responses.
Cheers--Peter Gow
--
Peter Gow
Director of College Counseling and Special Programs
Beaver Country Day School
791 Hammond Street
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467
www.bcdschool.org
617-738-2755 (O)
617-738-2747 (F)
petergow3 (Skype)
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