Creating a document and scoring rubric that helps readers be more aligned with your school’s mission and tracking the success of your team’s decisions.

Speakers:

• Anne Behnke, Director of Admission and Enrollment Management, St. Mark's School (MA)
• Sarah Enterline, Director of Institutional Research, St. Mark's School (MA)

This session will showcase one example of what and how to orient and re-orient your admissions committee. We will highlight topics to include, brainstorm appropriate content that’s specific to your institution, and how to embrace and anchor the committee with data. We will also discuss who sits on the committee, the purpose of the committee, and how to select members of the committee. 

Speaker:

• Susan Emery, Director of Enrollment Management, Kingswood Oxford School (CT)

This session will review the most relevant types of Bias that impact Admissions Offices and recommendations for mitigating bias in the Admissions process as a whole and with a particular lens on application reading. This session will give tips for long-term and short-term considerations to your admissions process to reduce the impact of individual biases on your overall process.

Speaker:

• Alex Halladay, Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management, The Northwest School (WA)

Cognitive shortcuts are subconscious thought patterns that help make decision-making more efficient. These shortcuts, however, may lead to unconscious bias playing a role in the decision-making process. 

Applicant file review is an important part of any admission team's work, and getting it "right" is tricky enough. Join this session to learn about cognitive shortcuts, and develop a plan to avoid having them influence your admission committee's review of applicants. Take the time to take the long road. Your applicants deserve it! 

Speaker:

• Ray Cross,  Director of Community, Equity, and Belonging,  St. Andrew's School (RI)

In April 2022, the admissions and financial aid team at Lakeside School (WA) decided to overhaul the admissions application review and evaluation processes. Centering our school’s mission, anti-bias work, and equity, the revisions resulted in a new admissions committee manual, new application evaluation rubric, new training for committee members, a re-envisioning of committee time, and a stronger relationship within the admissions and financial aid team. Attendees will learn how to identify potential areas of improvement in their own admission programs and gain advice on making similar changes at their school.

Speaker:

• Tearon Joseph, Associate Director of Admissions/Financial Aid Programs Director, Lakeside School (WA)
• Kimberly Shephard, Assistant Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Lakeside School (WA)
• Patrick Stancil, Assistant Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Lakeside School (WA)
• Wellesley Wilson, Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Lakeside School (WA)