EMA Publishes 2023 State of the Independent School Industry (SOTI) Report with Mission & Data
The Enrollment Management Association (EMA) recently launched The 2023 State of the Independent School Industry Report (SOTI). Since 2021, Mission & Data has served as EMA’s strategic data partner. SOTI is EMA’s flagship research project providing a snapshot of the independent school enrollment management industry approximately every three years. Mission & Data partnered with EMA on SOTI 2023’s updated survey design, enhanced analysis, report, and new interactive dashboards.
In launching the report, EMA’s Executive Director and CEO Heather Hoerle shared, “The Enrollment Management Association (EMA) is excited to release The 2023 State of the Independent School Enrollment Industry Report (SOTI), our fourth report taking an in-depth look at industry issues within the United States and Canada and how trends have changed (or not) from our previous SOTI reports. As our member community is well aware, the independent school landscape has evolved in ways we never imagined when we released our last ‘State of the Industry’ report in 2019. Despite strong disruptive headwinds in recent years, our newest SOTI Report reveals many positive trends as we continue to build our professional capacity and orient our schools towards a strategic view of the work of enrollment management.”
Hoerle noted in her opening letter, “It’s obvious, now more than ever, that EMA’s motto rings true: ‘admission practices of the past will not sustain independent schools of the future.’”
As a major enhancement, the 2023 SOTI included an interactive dashboard developed by Mission & Data allowing EMA members to gain a deeper understanding by drilling into data and filtering by cohorts. The dashboard also provides two predictive models, one related to compensation for the most senior enrollment leader in each school and the other related to staff headcount of enrollment offices.
Ari Betof, co-founder and partner of Mission & Data, shared, “EMA is deeply committed to serving its members. It brings Kelsey Vrooman and me great joy to be EMA’s strategic data partner and to help them continue to maximize impact for enrollment professionals and their school communities.” Mission & Data’s partnership supports EMA’s commitment to serve its members by promoting mission-driven, data-informed decision making related to strategic enrollment management.
Organized across seven themes, SOTI 2023 findings are highlighted to make it easy to integrate the takeaways into an enrollment leader’s practice. Additionally, many of the insights are mapped onto EMA’s Strategic Enrollment Management Spectrum, which identifies the components or ‘levers’ that independent school leaders can control to drive sustainable enrollment.
Heather Hoerle, wrote, “For the first time since we’ve collected these data sets, we are seeing progress in the movement of Enrollment Management as a critical leadership role (and mindset) in schools! More respondents told EMA that they are getting seats at the leadership table, attending board meetings, and seeing improved compensation.”
Mission & Data’s co-founder Ari Betof, and institutional research consultant, Sarah Enterline Roch, worked closely in partnership with EMA on the evolution of SOTI 2023 from previous reports.
On the State of the Independent School Industry 2023 episode of The Enrollment Spectrum Podcast, Ari Betof and Sarah Enterline share key findings and insights from the 2023 SOTI report, as well as factors that influence the transition from admission to enrollment management in independent schools. On the podcast Sarah Enterline also takes a deep dive into the data analytics results of survey responses and what this means for enrollment management.
Kelsey Vrooman, co-founder and partner of Mission & Data, explained, “Supporting schools that are building a culture of mission-driven, data-informed decision making is our firm’s north star, and we are thrilled to partner with EMA to share our insights.”
EMA members can learn more about SOTI 2023 on the EMA website or download the full report and explore the interactive dashboard in the EMA Member Community.
Mission & Data is a firm dedicated to the effectiveness, health, and vitality of educational institutions and other organizations that make the world a better place. We are committed to enhancing mission-driven, data-informed leadership and governance by:
- Consulting to improve organizational effectiveness and facilitate organizational transformation.
- Developing custom data products, visualizations, and dashboards to highlight progress, identify trends, and leverage actionable insights.
- Auditing current practices and analyzing organizational data to recommend process efficiencies and strategic improvements.
- Coaching leaders and boards of trustees to enact institutional vision and build a culture of inquiry-based decision making practices.
If you would like to know more about how Mission & Data can help your organization, please contact us at contact@missionanddata.com.
