The First 90 Days: Enrollment Risk
My conversation with the parent who was withdrawing their student from my client school after just one year went something like this:
JGC: Can you tell me when you first started to think about leaving the school?
Parent: In the fall. The admissions director told us there would be summer activities to meet new people since we are new to the area, but we never heard from anyone. The school store said they would special order her uniform since it was a specific size, but it didn't show up. I called the school store, but there was no answer. I left a message, but no one called back. I ended up driving an hour to the company's warehouse the day before school started to get the uniforms. Then, after a few weeks into school, our daughter came home and said no one would sit with her at lunch. I emailed the admissions office to find out what to do, and they said that I should have gotten a list of contact numbers. If I did, I couldn't find it. I emailed back and said I couldn't find the numbers. Did they know who I should call? They said to try her advisor. I did that, but the advisor said to give it a few weeks, and it would probably get better. But it didn't. We didn't know what to do from there or who to trust.
When a family commits to enroll their student at your school, they do so with a host of brand promises made by the school, a sense of excitement, and fear that they might not have made the right decision. They probably looked at multiple schools, and their student may have been accepted to more than your school. They formed a trusted relationship with you and your admissions team. So, do you cut them loose without an intentional, thoughtful strategy to build new relationships? That is a recipe for parent anxiety, bad word of mouth, and attrition.
When I present on the Six Components of Parent Retention the first component is the "Transfer out of the Admissions Office." As my work and practice evolve, so do the Six Components. Some schools find it more effective not to transfer parents out of admissions. Instead, they create another role within the department that works with parents as a continual bridge between families and all other aspects of the school.
I have had the privilege of working with visionary school leaders who see a better way to approach retention, and the following three examples illustrate the many ways to become more customer-focused in the journey that parents take through your school along with their students.
Example One. The Agnes Irwin School (PA), Allison Price, Director of Enrollment Management
Allison aimed to be proactive about attrition by creating an all-encompassing position. The role at the school has incredible latitude and agency to triage problems, gather data on parent experiences, and coordinate solutions across divisions, departments, and extra-curricular activities.
"After Jill presented to our board and leadership teams about ways we could think about retention in tandem with our new strategic plan, the Head of School and I spent six months formulating a plan for the best way forward. Our school is very collaborative. This means everybody's willing to consider partnering with us on this initiative. There are times when administrators and departments have different bandwidths and pressures, and parents' experience may not be top of mind. We continually think about that in admissions, and when families start to develop other relationships, it can sometimes be a different focus or energy. We can help support faculty and staff who are overwhelmed at busy times of the year. The Family Engagement Coordinator will chair the Retention Committee and work across all areas of the school to bring the people together who can solve the issue a family is having.
The school experience for a student can sometimes feel very siloed, and if a family has a challenging experience with the dining hall, the athletic department, or transportation, we need a way to track or resolve issues across campus. One person might see a parent with one problem, and it's not a big deal to that director or coach. But, it becomes a serious retention issue when parents have multiple issues with multiple areas, and no one addresses concerns holistically."
Example Two. Cranbrook Schools (MI), Drew Miller, Director of Enrollment
Drew's goal was to create an easier, more welcoming, and seamless experience for new parents to the schools, whether they were new to a division or the entire Cranbook institution. He also wanted to shift the timeline for family onboarding and connect with families much earlier in the process.
"We started our new student onboarding project a year ago by hiring a part-time person who knew the school well. She had previously worked in the admission, academic, and IT departments, so she was the perfect person to coordinate this project. She started by doing a series of interviews with various administrators and new parents. From those, she produced the sticky notes in the attached picture that were broken down by division and into categories such as Current Procedures, Ideas, and Sticky Spots. We then formulated a plan and worked to get buy-in from division heads. We were careful to show that this would not amount to more work for them, just different timing of what they were already doing.
As with any change, we started with the lowest-hanging fruit – items that would make the most positive difference with the least amount of hassle. Year one of our new student onboarding project went smoothly, and we will know when school starts if it reduced the attrition of students between the time families signed their enrollment contracts and the start of classes. Next year, we plan to refine our efforts after doing new parent focus groups to learn how families perceived the onboarding process."
Example Three. The Boys' Latin School of Maryland (MD), Brian Mitchell, Director of Enrollment Management
With the responsibility for both admission and retention squarely on the shoulders of the admissions team, Brian understood that his team cannot work in a vacuum but instead needs collaboration and understanding from all departments to bring awareness of how families experience their school.
"I decided that the best approach was to start with education for educators. My enrollment management team participated in a half-day retreat specific to our school with Jill, where she outlined the Six Components of Parent Retention. From there, we spent time with our division heads, introducing them to the concepts, and discussed the necessity of creating High Point Moments for all of our students. Finally, I presented everything Jill taught us to the entire faculty at our opening faculty meetings. We led with the action steps the admissions office would take, what we wanted to change, and why. We emphasized that we wanted to do this work together to welcome and retain all of our new families and that our focus is on enrollment and not just admissions.
In thinking about the Six Components of Parent Retention and how we wanted to prioritize them internally, my team and I focused on two overarching goals for all adults in the building: 1) Every single thing matters in the family's experience at our school, and 2) Demonstrate to parents that we know and see their son for their strengths, talents, and opportunities. From there, we are developing a plan with each division head to bring these goals to fruition through intentional classroom practice and communication with parents."
In my Attrition Studies, which are pieces of research conducted for a client school to understand the reasons for attrition better, I hear many accounts of experiences that one could liken to "death by a thousand cuts." By the time a school's retention committee is aware of a family that might be at risk of leaving, the family has probably experienced 750 of the thousand cuts. In my work with school leaders, we aim to identify the reasons for attrition and work together across the school to solidify the customer journey into a seamless, delightful, and decision-reinforcing experience.
The author, Jill Goodman, is a consultant working with independent school leaders to advance their school’s mission, enhance their processes, and bolster their skills. Learn more about all services here.
Photo Credit: Drew Miller
