Educational Approach

Build People Capability

Paying close attention to the ongoing development of our employees is beneficial to our students, and therefore to our company and its shareholders. Toward that end, we are making extensive investments in training to build people capability, reduce voluntary turnover and strengthen our entire organization.

In fiscal 2009, we invested more than $16 million to further develop the skills of existing employees and to train new hires. For example, every campus leadership team received training on managing diverse personalities and styles and on effective delegation. We delivered more than 105,000 hours of training during fiscal 2009, an increase of 48% over the previous year.

Successful campuses have talented leaders, and for that reason we use a rigorous process to screen and hire capable individuals to run our schools. The process includes evaluating candidates based on a core competency assessment and hiring only those that possess the key attributes required of top performers.

For instructors, we are piloting a management system that bases promotion on teaching effectiveness and promotes student retention, continuing professional development and campus and community service. In fiscal 2009, we also piloted an assistance program that provides students in need with phone access to professional financial, legal and psychological counselors as well as referrals for services such as childcare and eldercare. This program allows faculty to help students address issues more quickly, and helps students stay focused on learning. We expect to implement the asistance program at all campuses in fiscal 2010.

All of these initiatives helped reduce employee turnover by 14 percentage points in fiscal 2009 compared with the previous year. We believe that higher employee retention is a pivotal factor in providing an outstanding educational experience for every student.

Expand & Enhance Programs

We are driving growth and strengthening our product by expanding core programs across our schools and enhancing course offerings.

Each year, we conduct an in-depth analysis of our markets to optimize the mix of courses offered at our schools, update current programs and add new ones. During fiscal 2009, we rolled out 114 core programs to our existing campuses – up from 80 the previous year. Our centralized curriculum support team executes each program rollout to ensure effective implementation.

Our instructional design and development team is charged with enriching existing curricula company-wide. This team explores new ways of capturing the interest and imagination of our students, often through digital learning and other innovative technologies. They routinely update, standardize and otherwise improve our current program offerings. In fiscal 2009, for example, we redesigned the curriculum for Medical Assistant (MA), our most popular health care program. Now in the pilot phase, the new curriculum includes customized textbooks; greater use of online technology; a wealth of new presentations and interactive learning resources; and new modules on basic MA skills and medical software.

We are also committing considerable resources to our online division, which is experiencing robust growth. In addition to attending school, most of our students work and have parenting responsibilities. They appreciate the flexibility of online learning, which allows them to work when and where they prefer. We are continuing to expand our online offerings and enrich the curricula with interactive learning technologies.

Our students consistently give us high marks for program content and quality. In student satisfaction surveys conducted twice annually, they tell us that they appreciate the relevance of their coursework to the requirements of their chosen careers, as well as the real-world experience of their instructors.