Spreading Joy to Schools Everywhere

BY LAURA SPAULDING Staff Writer / Educational Consultant

This week, two of our own are presenting to a group of admissions directors from around the country at the Enrollment Management Association Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rob Wise, our Director of Enrollment Management, and Andrea Dorr, our Transition Coordinator are answering the important question, “What do admissions offices need to know about learning differences?”.  

After sharing The Joy School’s mission and our Keys to Success, Rob and Andrea offered some definitions and descriptions of the most common reasons students struggle. This includes sharing descriptions of some of the more pervasive learning disability labels seen in students going through the admission process in traditional independent schools. These include diagnoses such as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, ADHD, Receptive and Expressive Language Disorders, and Social Pragmatic Communication Disorders. Factors such as anxiety and slower processing speeds can also impact a child’s success in classroom settings.  

After detailing what these common learning differences and diagnoses look like in a classroom or home setting, they share how students might present during the independent school admission process or on admissions testing. Most admissions offices utilize either Intelligence Quotient testing such as the WISC or WIPPSI, or academic abilities testing such as the ISEE or SSAT. We can gain more insight into how a child learns and processes information from an IQ test than from other types of testing, however, a full-scale IQ score offers us little insight into if or how a child might struggle in a classroom setting. The most valuable information and primary red flags to predict school difficulty in traditional admissions offices are discrepancies between subtest scores on an IQ test. Splits of 15 points or more are significant and should indicate the need for a closer look into a child’s learning profile and potential for success at any given school.

Rob and Andrea rounded out their presentation by offering practical considerations for admissions directors when they are working with a student they suspect might have a learning difference. The first and most important consideration should always be what is in the best interest of the student and their family. How does an admissions office share what they know and have observed during the admissions process in a way that is both honest and hopeful no matter what the final admissions decision might be?

First, every school must understand their own mission, and who they are and are not equipped to serve. The worst thing a school can do for a child who is struggling is to offer them placement in an environment where they are being set up to continue to struggle and fail. The question should not ever be, “Can this child survive here?”. Instead, we should always be asking, “Where will this child best thrive?”. Even when a school is able to support students with learning differences, they should be very honest from the beginning about what they are able and unable to offer in terms of interventions and accommodations. 

Even when the message to a family includes an admissions denial, it can be a message of hope if shared in a way that focuses on the school's limitations and the child’s potential, rather than the child’s weaknesses and lacking the ability to fit in. A school can also offer hope to families by maintaining a list of other schools in the area that provide the type of instruction and environment where children with learning differences will receive the support they need. Schools should always see themselves as partners with the families they serve while realizing this does not mean they change what they offer to match a family's needs. Rather they should change how they communicate what they can offer in terms of what any one individual child needs to be successful and reach their own individual potential.

Picture of our Director of Enrollment Management Rob Wise and Transition Coordinator Andrea Dorr

Rob Wise has been a member of the EMA's Enrollment Leadership Council for the past five years and currently serves as co-chair over Financial Strategy and Tuition. The EMLC serves to realize the strategic goals of EMA and assist enrollment management professionals in the U.S. and internationally.

A special thank you to Rob and Andrea for representing The Joy School at this year's EMA annual conference, spreading our mission as we continue to advocate for all students everywhere to be empowered to reach their social and academic potential in safe supportive environments! 

To learn more about our own admissions process and what we offer students with learning differences visit our website or register for a tour of our school.

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