The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) was founded in 1962, long after elite prep schools were established in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Pre-internet, it made sense to have a membership association to connect schools and share data and resources. NAIS leadership anointed themselves the “experts,” overseeing quality control through accreditation (until 2018) and approving their own principles of good practice for all aspects of independent schools. Today, it is a $23 million organization that derives revenue from membership fees, programming, resources, and events. NAIS is also a lobbying group protecting its schools' 501(c)3 status.
NAIS’ stated mission is to “co-create the future of education,” claiming to value independence, diverse perspectives, and the rights of every individual to belong and flourish. But they are not upholding these values. Their ideological agenda coerces schools to become agents of social change by training students to become social justice activists who must express fealty to only three causes—race, gender, and climate. The school incentive structure allows children to be pressured into saying things that aren't true.
Highly competent heads of school do not rely on NAIS for educational resources because there is no innovative thought leadership. Who does utilize NAIS resources? Newly hired and less confident heads of school and others who seem to need NAIS as a “crutch.” Additionally, school administrators in the business and admissions offices at independent schools may find market and demographic data useful for now.
NAIS has not been accountable to anyone for the last 62 years. It has charged itself with shaping the independent school landscape, pushing schools to be more interested in social engineering and condemning parental values than instilling knowledge. The result is that independent schools are producing too many self-loathing graduates who have been taught to reject Western values and even their home country. They are not prepared to enter college as free-thinking, curious adults. As we have seen post the 10/7 attack on Israel and the recent election responses, many students are not thriving. They enter college mentally fragile, having been sheltered from uncomfortable ideas, and once on campus, the ideological conformity continues. This is why NAIS either needs to change or risk further irrelevance.
NAIS’ “value add” is becoming increasingly “valueless”
How might the recent elections impact independent schools?
For starters, the newly elected leadership in Congress and the Oval Office, buoyed by very strong nationwide consensus, is committed to free speech and dismantling DEI and gender ideology. Independent schools would be wise to retreat from (not repackage) these highly political, negative, and divisive beliefs.
At the same time, AI, Elon Musk’s purchase of X, and the rise of independent media outlets might also pose increased threats to the NAIS business model as savvy parents and students, whose media consumption has dramatically changed, become less interested in what many independent schools are promoting. Finally, the advocacy of the NAIS protective lobbying efforts may be thwarted by their political activism.
What would a useful NAIS look like?
If NAIS is to be relevant going forward, it should provide professional development and programming that vigorously promotes choosing the telos of truth over social justice. It should prioritize values such as:
Facts over feelings
Common sense over luxury beliefs
Curiosity over condemnation
Intellectual humility over hubris
Free inquiry over viewpoint suppression
Compassion over suffocating empathy
Gratitude over grievance
The three NAIS flagship events should be reconsidered:
The Annual Conference should feature thought-provoking ideas from more intellectually honest voices outside the elite echo chamber bubble.
The People of Color Conference (POCC) has run its course. It’s time to renounce victim hierarchy and identity politics. The election has proved that not everyone who looks alike thinks alike.
Replace The Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) with an actual leadership seminar that would appeal to a broader range of participants, not just social justice warrior cliques. Move on from the tired themes of “identity, power, privilege, and allyship” and choose a speaker that is aspirational to a wider audience.
What initiatives might NAIS consider pursuing?
Address the real challenges of attracting, training, and retaining excellent ideologically diverse faculty.
Scrutinize the school governance model—a closed, opaque system run by predominantly current parents who have no incentive to challenge the status quo.
Reassess school business models to ensure long-term sustainability.
Reduce reliance on biased sources like academia and legacy media and engage with more independent truth-tellers.
Help schools navigate the rapid onslaught of digital information, media fragmentation, and independent media sources.
Commit to promoting transparency in schools, starting with accreditation reports—create a digital library of school accreditation reports (with the recommendations) and bylaws that parents can access.
Defund DEI and train students to become courageous, independent-thinking truth seekers instead of fearful conformist social justice activists.
In closing, schools are people businesses operating as mini corporations. To operate well and endure, they require principled, courageous, and transparent leadership. How will schools find such leaders?
“Today’s elite educational institutions are too often nurseries of vanity and futility rather than character and wisdom. Rather than correcting for the corrosive effects of wealth and self-indulgence on young people, educational institutions too often amplify them. Flattered by their elders, carefully bubble-wrapped and protected from all injury or insult, they lack the experiences and inner resources that the old methods of education attempted to provide. The result is an educated elite that increasingly lacks the strength, vision, and character to lead.” -Walter Russell Mead
Can NAIS meet the moment and break free from its ideological capture before the government intervenes? Independent schools would be well served to reclaim their independence from NAIS and the accreditation grift and stand up for their founding principles. The market is speaking.
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