Fresh data about your district’s families
Written by Niki Juhasz
After schools shut down a couple of years ago, I remember seeing striking images of empty classrooms. Today, we’re seeing empty seats for a different reason: public school enrollment continues declining, and the U.S. Department of Education has the data to prove it.
We’re sharing more of the fresh stats – and of course tips for your next steps – below.
New enrollment statistics + the opportunities
When we talk about student enrollment declining, the first question we often hear is “well, where are the kids going?” New data gives us some of the answers below.
An analysis by The Associated Press and Stanford experts showed a 30 percent growth in homeschool enrollment and a 4.4 percent increase in private school enrollment. But according to Chalkbeat reporting, about 30 percent of the missing students are unaccounted for. Experts believe some students may be homeschooling and are still unreported. In other cases, students may have left school during the pandemic and never returned.
We’re seeing more details in the data, too:
Kids might have skipped kindergarten. The AP/Stanford report theorized that some families simply didn’t send their children to kindergarten. As a matter of fact, “among the 21 states in the analysis and D.C., the share of unaccounted for students was significantly higher in places where kindergarten is not mandatory.” This means public schools have a HUGE opportunity to attract families with younger children to your district.
Families are questioning homeschooling. Richard Welsh, Vanderbilt public policy and education professor, talked about homeschooling, saying “I do think there could be some buyer’s remorse.” Now that pandemic-era shutdowns are over, families may be reconsidering homeschooling and if it’s the best option for their kids in the current education climate. By showing families how your district benefits students, you can help them make decisions about next steps.
Parents and caregivers are considering their options. According to a National School Choice Awareness Foundation (NSCAF) survey, more than half of parents have considered (or are considering) enrolling their child in a new school. This means you have the opportunity to showcase all the different options your district offers that make you unique – from extracurricular activities to school culture to sports programs and more.
What parents care about
So now that you know there’s a huge opportunity to get in front of families looking for new schools, what do you do about it? You start creating a plan to reach them! Here’s our tried and true formula:
Determine which parents you want to reach → figure out what they care about → show them how your district meets their unique needs.
To help you do this, we dove into some of the most recent research about what families care about:
The National Education Association shared that 85 percent of surveyed parents worry about mental health supports, students falling behind academically and teacher recruitment/retention.
Nearly two thirds of parents surveyed by the NSCAF shared that they would like to know more about the choices available for their child’s education.
According to the same NSCAF survey, transportation is a key issue. As a matter of fact, a third of parents who weren’t looking for new schools might consider a new school if they had the right transportation options.
Finally, during a Populace Insights study, survey takers shared that helping students learn practical skills and character development is important, in addition to basic skills such as reading, writing and math.
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By showing families how you meet these values (and additional values they have), you can build a strong student enrolment pipeline.
Resources to help you market your district
We created an entire darn guide with seven step-by-step instructions to help you market your district. It includes worksheets to: help you identify the families you want to reach, figure out your objectives, create messaging and brainstorm about tactics.
Here’s a blog to help you ensure that teachers have what they need to be effective spokespeople for your district.
Here are six ways you can combat misinformation – helping you nip rumors in the bud before they bloom like the daffodils I’m seeing everywhere. (Sorry, cold-state friends.)
You KNOW your district offers a quality education for kids in your community (we know it too)! Now go show families why they should choose you.
