Cases in Partnership Between Independent Schools and Universities

Abstract

This study provides an in-depth look at six unique models of partnership between independent schools and a nearby college/university. The six cases include the University School of Nashville and Vanderbilt University; the Lab School and University of Chicago; the School at Columbia and Columbia University; the Boston University Academy and Boston University; the Hopkins School and Yale University; and the University School and Nova Southeastern University. Descriptions capture key historical, governance, fiscal, personnel, and programmatic components of the connections. The study generates observations for wider application by looking closely at the sources of mutual benefit, for the practices that help avoid a loss of interest or a sense of resentment from either side, and at the ways partnerships can develop over time. These observations could be of use as schools and colleges come under increasing societal pressure to find common ground, and can help the partners avoid the mutual recrimination that can generate a culture of despair or crippling inertia in the face of growing challenges to accepted educational models. Lessons from these cases in contrasting experience run in two broad directions: the practical, how-to insights gleaned from daily life in these varied partnerships, and the philosophical, broad-sweeping implications for connecting one segment of the American educational sequence with another, connecting school to university. Additionally, since no such comparative study currently exists, even with such prominent schools, the historic and archival value of this work may be significant. Documenting these relationships could be a link to new ways of defining school–university partnerships in time.

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Notes on contributors

Vincent W. Durnan

Vincent W. Durnan has served as the Director of the University School of Nashville, a K–12, independent, coeducational, nonsectarian day school established in 1975 as the successor to Peabody Demonstration School since 2000. USN is known for its academic excellence and for its commitment to putting students first. The main campus is situated adjacent to Vanderbilt University and enrolls 1,050 students. Prior to joining USN, Vince's independent school experiences included Suffield Academy, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Kingswood-Oxford School, and Harvard Westlake School. Vince completed his Ed.D. degree at Vanderbilt University in 2015, and this article draws upon his dissertation research.