Thanks to Nicole LaPorte at Town & Country for her insightful summer article, Can Private “Alternative” Schools Survive in the Age of Cutthroat College Admissions?
As LaPorte notes, as college admissions become more competitive, traditional academic metrics are increasingly prioritized by families. Progressive private schools like Saint Ann’s in Brooklyn and Peninsula in California—known for creative, child-led learning and no grades—are under pressure. Some are responding by adding academic structure, issuing narrative reports, and highlighting college admissions outcomes more directly.
Still, enrollment at many of these schools has declined. Some, like the Blue School and Manhattan Country School here in the city, have closed. Others have merged or downsized.
Emily Glickman, a private school advisor in New York City, says that even parents who are dead set on “measurable achievement and clear academic pathways” will choose Saint Ann’s “because its prestige is so great.”
But for progressive schools without a high-profile brand or elite college track record, this moment presents real challenges.
Parents today want reassurance. Many are asking whether alternative approaches actually prepare students for selective colleges and competitive careers. Schools that can’t clearly answer that question struggle to stay relevant, and even operating.