[26] According to Choate's website, the purpose of the ESA was "to show a connection between these [member] schools in academic philosophy, admissions standards, and athletic pursuits.
[29] These roles were staffed by administrators of the member schools (i.e., not full-time ESA employees), who would rotate every three years.
However, those two schools focus on educating specific subsets of the American population: Native Hawaiians and low-income students.
[29][27] In 2015–16, the six ESA members closest to Boston (that is, all except Hotchkiss and Lawrenceville) announced their intention to start a new athletic conference.
[50][51] After formalizing the ESA, the schools identified several possible ideas for future cooperation, such as "a debate invitational, a joint literary publication, athletic play days, [] a musical group jamboree," and "collaborating on critical issues like pandemic preparedness.