I have written and spoken frequently about the seismic shifts in this nation’s demographics and their implications for independent schools. The school-age population is rapidly becoming more diverse racially and ethnically, so rapid, in fact, that public schools are now majority “minority,” the characterization in quotes because there will be no minorities when there is no longer a majority. Shifts in racial and ethnic demographics have been underway for some time, and independent schools have been serving increasing numbers of students of color. Our most recent statistics show the median percentage of children of color in NAIS member schools is 29 percent.
This is important progress. A high-quality education today must include preparation for life and work in a diverse society. And schools that want to maintain historical enrollment levels must be able to reach out and fully include families of every background. In visiting some 130 schools over the last two and a half years, I feel good about the trajectory of our work on diversity and inclusion.
But this work is getting harder. As we report in the 2015-16 NAIS Trendbook, there is a gap in accrued wealth (net worth) along racial and ethnic lines that has been widening since the recession. There is also a gap between the highest-income families and lower- and middle-income families that has grown. Schools have tried to help families in great need through financial aid, but as my colleague, Mark Mitchell, recently reported, the share of aid going to low-income families has declined in recent years.
With the sluggish economy, schools are receiving and rewarding requests for aid from more high-income families than in the past. This practice need not work strictly against school diversity goals. Families with higher incomes who demonstrate some need for tuition assistance come from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, just as full-pay families do. But the practice of awarding aid to families who need smaller grants to attend definitely slows the diversification of independent school populations socioeconomically — an important dimension of diversity.
What can schools, particularly those without large endowments, do? I had the chance to see one rather revolutionary idea in practice last week in Stamford, Connecticut. Nestled along the “Gold Coast” of Connecticut, home to many storied independent schools, sits Waterside School, a start-up with an already amazing story of its own. Waterside was founded in 2001 with a mission of providing low-income children an independent school education — meaning the highest quality possible. The PK–5 school opened in makeshift quarters. It struggled financially.
In 2003, Waterside recruited Duncan Edwards, longtime head of the Brunswick School, a more traditional independent school in nearby Greenwich, to lead the fledgling school. Edwards and his board made the audacious decision to start the school over —including constructing a gleaming new facility — worthy of any traditional independent school. They raised the money for construction as the building was being built — largely from family foundations and other individuals committed to the mission of educating disadvantaged children.
The facility is state of the art — with rooftop turf playing fields, a half-acre in all, well-equipped music and art rooms, a computer lab with high ceilings (not the claustrophobic converted classrooms found in so many elementary schools). Classroom activities are what one would expect in a progressive independent school: lots of discovery-based learning and none of the teacher-led drills or regimentation common in many charter schools. When I visited, students were at work casually in the hallways. Edwards and I encountered a small group of fifth-graders. He asked them what they were working on. Without missing a beat, the students replied in unison, “order of operations.” “And what is the order?” Edwards followed up. “Parentheses, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction,” they all eagerly responded.
At Waterside, students are engaged in their learning. They are respectful of their teachers. At the conclusion of a rooftop P.E. class, students fell in line without coaxing for transition to their next class and responded with enthusiasm to their teacher’s inspirational call, “Who Can Do Anything We Work Hard to Achieve?” “We Can!” The learning environment at Waterside is remarkably positive and student-centered. Students are respected by teachers as responsible learners, and the respect is repaid in kind. It’s the kind of learning environment one expects to see in good schools, independent or otherwise.
All of this is part of the school’s formula for success. The families of the students admitted to Waterside are all provided financial aid — 100 percent of them. Indeed, students are not eligible for admission to Waterside unless their families are low-income. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse: 40 percent African American and 40 percent Latino. The school asks every family to pay something — a sign of the family’s commitment to the school’s mission. The school also asks families to sign a pledge of (nonfinancial) support for their children and the school’s efforts to educate them. How well parents honor the pledge is considered by the school in deciding which students are invited back each year — there is a waiting list to get into the school, so the school can reasonably set expectations for families.
With committed families and an educational program rich and worthy of most independent schools, the school has managed to clear perhaps its largest hurdle — making budget. Waterside derives only 7 percent of its annual revenue from tuition — far below the 90 percent more typical in our community. It raises the rest through giving every year — with nothing coming from current families or alumni. The success of its first graduating classes — 100 percent placement in independent high schools — has helped enormously with fund-raising, proving the efficacy of the program. The new facility has helped as well. Edwards and his board believed that the makeshift facility in which the school began did not convey adequately the seriousness of the founding mission. The new facility communicates permanence — investments will not be lost to school closure. The formula has worked so well that the school has slowly been able build an endowment. Between recurring gifts and the endowment, the school no longer begins each year’s fund-raising at zero. It has a head start.
One other thing has been crucial. Waterside’s tuition — a reflection of the school’s modest expenses, is $22,000. Committed as it is to serving low-income students, the school would struggle to fulfill its mission if it did not keep expenses at an absolute minimum consistent with a high-quality education. Of course, every independent school works hard to control expenses and to fund-raise. In the Waterside School, we have evidence that education equity is a cause for which significant private funds are available — and that schools can offer a high-quality education at a relatively modest cost. It gives us much to consider, in this new demographic era.