Solutions for Enhancing Enrollment
Solutions for Enhancing Enrollment
Chris Baker literally wrote the book on enrollment management for independent schools. Since 1999 she and her associates have been working with independent schools to help them meet an ever more demanding enrollment climate. Baker has made it her mission to bring the professional strategic thinking and practices of enrollment management pioneered by leading colleges and universities to independent schools large and small. Along the way she has inspired and nurtured a new wave of the savviest admission leaders in the business. Working with The Baker Group is not only an investment in the financial health and sustainability of your school; it is an enduring investment in the people on your team.
"Enrollment management is more than admissions - it is a strategic integration of admissions, retention, research and marketing. To thrive, schools must apply this big picture, synchronized approach.” Read more here.
Develop data driven solutions.
Develop data driven solutions.
Developing an effective enrollment management strategy means integrating admissions, retention, research and marketing. Our projects begin with an assessment of the necessary research that will enhance a school’s understanding of its current and potential new markets. We do this by identifying relevant economic, demographic and education trends, by evaluating the current admission operation and by making recommendations to strengthen and expand institutional marketing efforts.
Our electronic surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews provide an effective means to gather “directional” feedback from internal and external constituents. We most often recommend a comprehensive strategy that includes surveying the entire parent and student bodies. Analyzing attitudinal feedback from current parents and students plays a critical role not only in more fully understanding a school’s enrollment picture, but also in viewing an institution’s strengths and weaknesses through an enrollment management lens.
Once tailored to a school’s specific circumstances, the quantitative research collects data that allows school leaders to compare constituent satisfaction levels and the strength of a school’s programs. We segregate respondent answers by demographic subsets of the school’s population: full pay students/financial aid recipients, day students/boarding students, and lower/middle/upper school students. Using this research, a school can bring clarity not only to how it is regarded by its own families, but also how the school is perceived in the broader market. Our research identifies economic and demographic trends in the education marketplace. Understanding both constituent satisfaction levels and broader market trends is critical for effective strategic planning, for the development of mission statements, the coordination of effective print and web messaging, and the conducting of successful fund raising campaigns.
Our recommendations are designed to assist the school leaders in framing how, by using the media and its improved understanding of their markets, it can plan effectively for the future. Given the recent national downturn in admission activity and enrollment, our research can inform immediate tactical adjustments and longer term strategic direction.
Our research provides school decision-makers with answers to specific enrollment management and marketing questions, and positions them well to guide their school’s internal decisions regarding admission and retention, financial aid allocation and tuition discounting, as well as marketing and public relations efforts. To organize, revitalize, and prioritize strategic and tactical decision making we collect and use data like that listed here.
While the process was, at times, arduous, one cannot help but be amazed at the positive results. We contracted the Baker group for a multi-month engagement that focused on our admission and enrollment management processes, along with a strategic review of marketing and financial aid. The creation of action plans to improve operations infrastructure and develop “best practices” in student enrollment has been incredibly useful in fulfilling the school’s strategic goals in this vital area. A hearty thank you to Chris Baker and her team!
Optimize your operation.
Optimize your operation.
With more than 50 years of experience in directing both independent school and college admission offices, our consulting team knows more about the independent school admission process than most anyone in the country. Because we understand the unique impact that history, location, mission, and leadership can exert on how a school is perceived, we are able to assess a school’s admission office infrastructure, measure its relative market strength, and identify enrollment management challenges and opportunities.
Admission offices at independent schools need to be as externally focused on trends, market indicators and marketing as they are internally focused on their school’s day-to-day programs. We assist clients in achieving an appropriate external and internal balance to effectively market their schools with projects like the ones listed below.
Admission Office Assessments in the last two years have often produced outcomes like the following:
Build your best team.
Build your best team.
We have consistently received high praise for our success in building cohesive admission teams and instituting operational improvements when facilitating an admission office retreat.
The scope of our admission workshops and retreats depends entirely on the specific needs of a school’s admission and marketing staff. After reviewing basic admission data, we will advise a school on ways to focus their time together. While some schools might choose to have a facilitator for an entire admission office planning retreat, others may direct their attention on the development, training or enhancement of a particular admission and/or marketing skill, such as interviewing, maximizing the applicant review process, or utilizing volunteers in the admission process. We develop the retreat agenda collaboratively with the Admission Director in order to meet an admission and marketing staff’s professional development needs and a school’s institutional advancement opportunities.
Admission Office Retreats often include:
In the short term, the most valuable aspect of the work conducted by the Baker Group was the camaraderie that developed among the office staff and the admissions officers. We were all focused on the goals, and Chris helped bring us together. In the long term, the most valuable aspect of the work conducted by the Baker Group was the analysis of the admission statistics and the trends that she highlighted (both positive and negative), which helped us refine our process and improve our yield ratios.
Find your next enrollment/admission leader.
Find your next enrollment/admission leader.
The Baker Group directs searches for the senior enrollment officer and provides both search support and training to each school’s chosen hiring committee. Our approach to guiding schools through the search process for a senior admission professional includes:
Outline the search process for the senior enrollment officer.
Provide preliminary and ongoing support and counsel to the Head of School and/or director of search committee.
Assist in updating job description and create timeline and structure for candidate interview and visit process.
Assist search committee and admission staff to identify “ideal candidate” qualities.
Assist in creating and placing advertising in suitable publications.
Develop strategy for promoting the position among alumni.
Assist in outreach to candidates from both independent and college admission.
Assist in review of resumes and candidate screening resulting in recommendation of top six candidates for initial interviews, followed by recommendation of top two finalists after interviews have taken place.
Perhaps more important than any other person on campus other than the Head of School, the Director of Admission/Enrollment Management needs to be a scholar and guide, a strategic thinker and analyst, a resource for other senior administrators, faculty and trustees on the internal and external trends impacting the school’s future. The admission director and the admission operation must play critical roles in an independent school’s strategic thinking and planning.
Because independent schools are so heavily dependent on enrollment to generate the major portion of their annual operating incomes, admission/enrollment management directors must be experienced professionals who are well informed about the shifts in thinking relevant to admission, marketing, the education landscape, the increased affordability challenges for families, and the impact all these elements have on independent school admission and future enrollment.
We assist schools to think more creatively, more energetically and more intentionally when they choose the senior enrollment officer of their school.
Crossroads School, Santa Monica CA
Friends Central School, Philadelphia PA
Lakeside School, Seattle WA
The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville NJ
Recent Searches, Completed 2017-18
Columbus School for Girls, Columbus OH
Culver Academies, Culver, IN
Hawken School, Cleveland, OH
Katherine Delmar Burke School, San Francisco, CA
Latin School of Chicago, Chicago IL
Sacramento Country Day, Sacramento, CA
Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, OH
White Mountain School, Bethlehem, PA
Wildwood School, Los Angeles, CA
Working with Chris Baker on the search for a new Dean of Admission was invaluable to me and to others involved in the search. She is honest, thorough, knowledgeable and a pleasure to work with. We would give Chris and the Baker Group the highest recommendation.
In our 16 years, we have served over 600 schools.
In our 16 years, we have served over 600 schools.
Alphabetical Listing of Baker Group Client Schools and Collaboratives
* Clients who provided photographs for the website.
Abington Friends School Jenkintown, PA
Agnes Irwin School-Rosemont, PA
Assoc. of Indep. School Admission Profess.
Boston University Academy-Boston, MA
Brearley School, New York, NY
Brooks School- Andover, MA
Brookwood School- Manchester, MA
Buckingham, Browne & Nichols - MA
Cape Cod Academy, Osterville, MA
Cardigan Mountain School-Canaan NH
Carlisle School-Martinsville, VA
Chatham Hall- Chatham,VA
College Prep School- Oakland, CA
Collegiate School-New York, NY
Columbus School for Girls-Columbus OH
Culver Academies-Culver, IN
Cushing Academy- Ashburnham, MA
Dana Hall School-Wellesley, MA
Dedham Country Day - Dedham, MA
Derryfield School-Manchester, NH
Emma Willard School- Troy, NY
Falmouth Academy-Fallmouth MA
Fessenden School – Newton, MA
Fountain Valley- Colorado Springs, CO
Frind's Central Schooll-Wynnewood, PA
Friends School Haverford-Haverford, PA
Governor’s Academy- Byfield, MA
*Groton School- Groton, MA
Havergal College-Toronto, Canada
Hawken School-Cleveland, OH
Hopkins School- W. Hartford, CT
Hill School-Pottstown, PA
Hotchkiss School- Lakeville, CT
Independent Day School- Middletown, CT
Independent Schools of Northern
New England
Lakefield College-Lakefield ON, Canada
Langley School-McLean, VA
Lawrence Academy- Groton, MA
Lincoln School- N. Providence, RI
Loomis Chaffee School- Windsor, CT
Meadowbrook School-Weston, MA
Malvern Preparatory School-Malvern, PA
Marin Academy-San Rafael, CA
McCalllie School- Chattanooga, TN
Masters School- Dobbs Ferry, NY
Inly School- Scituate, MA
Katherine Delmar Burke School-San Francisco, CA
Kingswood-Oxford School- Hartford, CT
Latin School of Chicago-Chicago, IL
Milton Academy- Milton, MA
New Hampton School- New Hampton, NH
National Cathedral School- Washington, DC
New England Boarding Schools Collaborative
Newman School- Boston, MA
Noble and Greenough School- Dedham, MA
Notre Dame de Namur-Philadelphia, PA
Notre Dame de Sion-Kansas City, MO
Northfield Mt. Hermon School- Northfield, MA
North Yarmouth Academy- North Yarmouth, ME
Oak Knoll School-Summit, NJ
Penn Charter School-Philadelphia, PA
Perkiomen School- Pennsburg, PA
*Phillips Academy-Andover, MA
Phillips Exeter Academy-Exeter, NH
Pinepoint School- Stonington, CT
Pomfret School- Pomfret, CT
Ravenscroft School-Raleigh, NC
Sacred Heart Schools of San Francisco- CA
Sacramento Country Day-Sacramento, CA
Sage School, Newport Beach, CA
Shady Hill School-Cambridge, MA
Shawnigan Lake-Victoria, BC Canada
Shipley School-Bryn Mawr, PA
St. George’s School- Newport, RI
St. John's School-Houston, TX
St. Mark’s School-Southborough, MA
St. Paul’s School- Concord, NH
St. Timothy’s School- Stevenson, MD
Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart- MD
Tabor Academy- Marion, MA
*Thacher School- Ojai, CA
Tilton School- Tilton, NH
University of Chicago Lab Schools- Chicago, IL
Waynflete School- Portland, ME
Western Reserve Academy-Hudson, OH
Westtown School-Westtown, PA
White Mountain School-Bethlehem, PA
Wildwood School-Los Angeles, CA
Winsor School- Boston, MA
Woodberry Forest School- Woodberry Forest, VA
Worcester Academy- Worcester, MA
* Clients who provided photographs for the website.