By Maggie Twaroski, Truth Tree Contributor
With the first months of school already underway, your staff, students, and their parents are settling into a new routine. You’ve welcomed new and returning families onto campus, distributed helpful resources, and set everyone up with the digital tools they’ll need for the year. Don’t get too comfortable yet though–these early days of the school year are critical in establishing positive first impressions that will last the whole year and beyond. Having a solidified retention strategy for your school is a vital piece of the puzzle.
Retaining families starts in the initial weeks of school when your school lays the foundation for positive communication and relationships that will last for their entire education experience. Supporting students and engaging parents in these early days is the first step to improving retention rates in the long term. In fact, a recent study found that schools who effectively engaged parents saw an 8% increase in student retention.
Here are five things your school can focus on to build early retention efforts for families:
Consistent Communication
Communication is one of the top factors related to retention, especially in the beginning of the year when parents are seeking prompt and organized responses to their questions. One survey found that many parents who withdrew children from school reported disorganized and infrequent communication as one of the deciding factors. Keeping communication open with families at the start of the year sets the framework for a positive school-home relationship further down the road, and puts parents’ minds at ease knowing that your school is committed to keeping them informed on all areas of their children’s education.
Use the first few weeks to update parents on helpful onboarding resources, support services, and student progress. Families who are new to your school will be adjusting to new digital tools like their LMS or parent portal, and may have questions or issues that arise. Being accessible and communicating with new families regarding these systems ensures both parents and students start the year off with confidence.
It’s worth noting that the way your school communicates is just as important as what you’re communicating. Make sure your messages are consistent, clear, and relevant to the recipients in all channels–whether it’s emails, texts, newsletters, or mass notifications.
Helpful, accessible content
Students and parents (especially those new to your school) will have a plethora of questions during the first few weeks and months of the school year–from field trip logistics to how to make a payment. While your staff should be accessible to answer questions as they come up, providing content that answers common questions can alleviate some of the administrative burden and make information more accessible.
To help new families learn the ropes of your school, consider creating a “new families” hub on your website that welcomes new parents and students to your school, reminds them of your mission and values, and provides helpful resources like contact lists, calendars, payment links, and more. If you haven’t updated your blog in a while, now is the time. New families browsing your site benefit from seeing updated content about how to best succeed at your school–whether it’s tips for relocating families, back-to-school checklists, or top school traditions.
Making your website organized and accessible to new families is an important step in your retention efforts, but don’t stop there. Parents check their emails regularly (at least once per day), so use that communication channel to provide helpful, engaging content new families care about.
Feedback
Retaining families is all about being proactive and fostering a positive experience from the beginning. Getting feedback from students and parents early in the year is key to catching complaints and concerns before they get too big. While schools typically save surveys until the end of the year, it doesn’t hurt to send one within the first few months of school to check on how students and parents are adjusting.
What’s going well? Which areas do they need more support? Is your school meeting their communication preferences? Do they feel welcomed into your school community? Are they satisfied with the amount of information they receive on their child’s academics? Ask these (and more) questions to gauge where people are at and where you may need to adjust strategies or provide more outreach.
You can also use these surveys to assess how families perceived the enrollment process, while it’s still fresh in their memory. Getting feedback on this process can provide helpful insights into which factors were successful and what could be improved for next enrollment season.
Relationships
Setting the groundwork for positive relationships among teachers and students will have a big impact on your retention efforts. One study found that students who have good relationships with their peers and teachers have better academic motivation, higher GPA, and a positive perception of school climate. In this first semester, focus on facilitating new student connections. Provide a welcoming orientation, host events inside the school and out in your community, connect students with peer leaders, and encourage extracurricular involvement.
Marketers play an important role in facilitating relationships because they’re the ones who craft the messages and content that direct families towards deeper involvement in your school community. Use your marketing assets not just to inform, but to engage and connect. Inspiring content in your emails, website, and social media can go a long way to improve school retention.
Track website data
Your website acts as a central hub for parents and students to find valuable information on anything they might need throughout the year–from billing procedures to the lunch menu. Tracking which pages families are visiting, and which phrases they’re searching for can reveal important insights into what your constituents need, and which information they may be struggling to find.
Let’s say you find an uptick in searches for academic support services within the first couple months of school. This poses an opportunity to create more content and easier navigation in that area. Consider writing a blog post, FAQ page, or email campaign about the types of academic support your school offers. Make sure all relevant links to academic support services, such as counseling or tutoring, are prominently displayed on your website. These actions will help families find the information they need when they need it, and reaffirm your commitment to retention.
Tracking data to reveal gaps extends beyond your website and into your student information systems too. Keep tabs on how students are progressing through your SIS data to identify students who may need early intervention. Retention starts with prevention–use your SIS and other student data systems to track grades, behavior, attendance, and participation, so you can offer preventative support to at-risk students.
Maintain year-round retention efforts for stronger school retention
Starting the year off with solid school retention strategies in place will have a ripple effect through the whole year and beyond. Don’t lose the momentum you build in these early days–keep your efforts going by maintaining relationships between parents, teachers, and students, delivering consistent communication and engaging content, responding to feedback, and tracking data trends on your website and student information systems.
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