Posted in Secondary Schools
By Mark Neustadt on March 23, 2013
The smart money assumes that in the next few months when the Supreme Court issues their ruling in the affirmative action case Fisher v. University of Texas there will be a major realignment in what is legal for affirmative action at colleges and universities.
At the beginning of March, the NYT published an article about liberals who secretly, or not so secretly, acknowledge the need to some adjustment. Count me among them: Regardless of how virtuous have been schools' affirmative action initiatives over the past 30 years, it is a scandal that today, at top universities, there is such a large preference based on skin color and none based on socio-economic status. The reason for this is not nefarious: especially at the top schools, there is a bright line drawn between admissions and financial aid. Institutions do not know a candidate's economic status when making an admissions decision and therefore have no way to take it into account. It will be fascinating to watch colleges re-structure…
By Mark Neustadt on August 23, 2011
Without question the most popular post on this blog is a 2009 piece entitled An Independent School Marketing Plan. Here are examples of the keyword searches by which people find their way to that post:
- school marketing plan
- components of a school marketing plan
- independent school marketing training
- marketing ideas for independent schools
- marketing plan for independent schools
I conclude from this that there's significant unmet need among independent schools for marketing tips. I don't get nearly the same level of traffic for my college and university posts.
I'm a little shy about all of this because I wrote that entry back in 2009 to be provocative. I didn't intend it as the final word or any sort of a comprehensive take on independent schools marketing plans. I really wanted to make a point about the growing obsolescence of traditional viewbooks (which independent schools in the U.S. do have an unhealthy attachment to).
So how do I feel now that this one entry has had a consistent…
By Mark Neustadt on March 8, 2011
Independent schools have become one of the last bastions of the extravagant print publication. The last twenty years have seen a steady decline in costly print production in virtually every other sector. Yet independent schools chug along, seemingly unrestrained by budgetary considerations, warming the hearts of self-indulgent graphic designers everywhere. Look at the viewbooks. Not all, but so many feature custom sizes, elaborate folds, costly binding methods, fancy die-cuts, foil-stamps, special inks, and, in some cases, all of the above.
Why haven't independent schools figured out what most everybody else has – that good design, high quality writing, and excellent photography are effective without over-the-top production.
One reason schools have not is the herd mentality of private school administrators. These folks tend to be risk adverse and not particularly expert in communications. Both combine to result in a tendency to ape the elaborate practices of the school down the road…
By Mark Neustadt on June 21, 2010
Like most educational consultants, I work both in higher education and independent school markets. This allows me to note similarities and contrasts between the two. Of course, the two sectors share much in common. Yet there are differences in the way they approach the marketing and communications function.
One thing specific to the independent school sector is heavy reliance on high-volume, independent-school-focused vendors. Schools like to hire the same folks who did the work for the other independent schools down the road. To some extent, this is a natural and valid tendency – there are strong arguments in favor of hiring a consultant with prior segment experience. But independent schools take this tendency to an extreme. They overwhelmingly work with the same group of independent school vendors. The results are predictable – most of the work that independent schools produce is broadly similar and fails to differentiate the institutions from their (ahem, sorry to mention this…
By Mark Neustadt on May 19, 2010
The following essay, written by Patrick Pei-Ning Ko for a course in marketing at the Klingenstein Center, Columbia Teachers College, examines the ways in which profound shifts in the information society will impact the missions of independent schools. Those who are rushed for time might jump to the recommendations for independent schools toward the end. These are the deep issues that we all should be talking about.
Network Technology, Marketing, and Independent Schools
by Patrick Pei-Ning Ko
Introduction
The way the information is produced is rapidly shifting from an industrial production model to a de-centralized production model, which is facilitated by the rise of inexpensive network technology. The components of this new model includes publication tools such as blogs or Twitter, social media tools such as Facebook and many others that enables individuals to produces, share, consume, and evaluate information in faster and more accessible ways than ever before. In this paper, I will…