Audience: Admissions Leaders, School Leaders

This course empowers admissions officers in international schools to make more confident learning placement decisions for a diverse range of applicants. The course introduces Optimal Admissions as a framework for building an intentional learning community. The course is designed to foster collaboration and practical decision-making by following the admissions process for four student applicants and their families.

Participants engage with a cohort of fellow professionals through interactive online discussions and real-world assignments. The course provides strategies to collaborate effectively with decision-making partners and advocate for policies and shared language that apply to all learners. 

By the end of the course, attendees will have actionable tools to create coherent admissions pathways tailored to their school contexts, ensuring that all accepted students can thrive.

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand how a clear relationship between a school’s mission, vision, and values and its admissions process can enhance the clarity, consistency, and confidence of admissions decisions.
2. Understand the Optimal Admissions framework and gain visual tools for building a more intentional Learning Community.
3. Understand the full array of learning profiles and their impact on student performance, and how an Optimal Learning Community enhances higher levels of learning and engagement for all students.
4. Understand the power of transition support and the role that well-managed mobility plays in the learning and growth of new students.
5. Develop collaborative approaches to application review and an awareness of key student indicators that might recommend shared file review with Student Support Services, Divisional, and/or Counseling professionals.
6. Build a bank of communication strategies for engaging families in sensitive or difficult conversations that build trust, highlight student potential, and navigate challenging decisions, including denials, with empathy and balance.
7. Understand the spectrum of learning profiles and their impact on student performance.