Thought Leaders in Online Education: Stephen Spahn, Dwight Schools Group (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What do they pay? What is the pricing of this program?

Stephen Spahn: It depends. It’s fairly flexible in terms of what parents can afford so that you can have parents paying more or less depending upon their circumstances. We have our own internal guideline so that if a person is very talented and can afford very little, we try to make sure that we can make a place for them.

Sramana Mitra: Is there a range that you can provide?

Stephen Spahn: One is, if you have the best teachers, then you have to pay for the best teachers. How many students can a teacher really reach and have a meaningful relationship online? What we have discovered is it isn’t really different from a brick-and-mortar institution.

Then the next stage was how do you reach a larger audience so that the price can come down when you’re concerned about that. You have to have students who have the self-discipline to do it. They need to have the ability to concentrate or focus. They have to have optimism. Then we have to make sure that it’s really enjoyable.

There’s a major shift in the way we’re thinking. It’s moving from the teacher to the student setting the goals with the teacher so that they can research and go as deep into things as they would like to. This really allows for the teacher to extend their reach.

It isn’t the fact that it’s just their assessment. The student has to learn to assess themselves. That’s a major change in education. We live in a world where teachers have not been given that latitude.

Sramana Mitra: So what is the certification?

Stephen Spahn: It’s one of the limiting factors. For example, teachers that have been working in the aircraft industry as engineers. When they teach mathematics, they teach it in a totally different way.

Whether they have been to teacher training college, it’s one of the great things that independent schools are limited by so we can actually find the best minds who can work with the kids. They, very often, bring the practical side.

Sramana Mitra: Dwight School doesn’t have certification?

Stephen Spahn: We do have certification. Dwight has a price of approximately $39,000 at the top end. 

Sramana Mitra: A year?

Stephen Spahn: For the full program. It’s for three years and they can come to campus three times a year. They know their teachers. We know the quality.

Sramana Mitra: What’s the certification for this $39,000 program? 

Stephen Spahn: They are getting a Dwight diploma.

Sramana Mitra: What is that equivalent to?

Stephen Spahn: We are accredited by the Middle States Association. We’re accredited by the Council of International Schools. We’re able to make sure that they meet all of the standards that any school would have. But we have more. We’ve trained them, and we’re training all of our teachers at Dwight.

Sramana Mitra: I’m missing something very basic here. I may have missed it. Is this a high school level program?

Stephen Spahn: It’s only grade 7 through 12.

Sramana Mitra: For example, when does Juilliard start taking students in? Does that overlap?

Stephen Spahn: They have them from the early grades up to high school.

Sramana Mitra: Regardless of when they come in and with what background, you are positioned to take them from middle school all the way to high school.

Stephen Spahn: Yes. For highly-talented students, they can attend the brick-and-mortar school. We have a scholarship program that allows us to attract students who are not able to afford the full price.

This segment is part 4 in the series : Thought Leaders in Online Education: Stephen Spahn, Dwight Schools Group
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