Cultivating a culture of retention

*This article was written in partnership with Miriam Stein and originally published in Prizmah’s journal, Hayidion.

To build a "look-ahead" culture, schools need to build internal systems that help parents and students envision their child's entire education at your school, not just one year at a time. 
Establishing this outlook can make a significant impact on the likelihood of families re-enrolling year after year, saving you and your team unnecessary anxiety around your enrollment numbers. 

This shift in mindset starts with redefining the enrollment journey. Schools that create a look-ahead culture help themselves and their families to remain committed. Rather than viewing enrollment as a one-time commitment, schools should frame the first year of enrollment as the beginning of a long-term relationship. By prioritizing student retention, schools can foster a strong sense of belonging, build lasting relationships, and create a vibrant learning environment that benefits students, families and the community as a whole.

Using Events to Build a Look-Ahead Culture 

All of our schools have milestone events that mark the educational journey. One of the most effective ways to foster a culture of retention is by providing families with a clear vision of their child’s educational journey. This involves highlighting the unique opportunities and experiences available in each division. 

For instance, during kindergarten orientation, parents can be introduced to the vibrant world of elementary school, including specialized programs, extracurricular activities and the strong sense of community that defines the division. If you are a K-12 school and you have “graduation” at the end of eighth grade, you are communicating to parents that this is an endpoint, rather than a midpoint. There are so many other titles for end-of-division events. Call it Siyum, Moving Up, Naaleh. Anything but “graduation,” until you are truly prepared for your students to leave the school. 

Consider not only titles, but who attends the events. Invite families early enough to excite them about upcoming milestones. Exposing parents to milestone events, such as eighth grade graduations or high school college fairs, provides them with a firsthand experience of the school’s culture and values. These occasions also offer opportunities for current families to connect with older students and parents, fostering a sense of continuity and belonging.

Moreover, schools can create exclusive events tailored to specific grade levels. For example, a Middle School Preview Day for fourth and fifth graders and their families can showcase the academic and social highlights of the upcoming years. Such initiatives not only generate excitement but also demonstrate the school’s commitment to supporting students and families throughout their educational journey.

And more so, well before students transition to middle school, give parents a glimpse into the rigorous academic curriculum, character-building initiatives and leadership opportunities that await them. Schools that wait until the fall of fifth grade to think about retaining students into middle school have missed their chance. Invite fourth and fifth grade parents to middle school highlight events (theater productions, academic celebrations, internal open houses to resell parents on their own school). If your school continues through high school, follow this model and invite parents and students to learn about the gem that your high school is well before they are thinking about leaving. By showcasing the distinctive qualities of each division, schools can create a compelling narrative that encourages families to envision their child’s growth and development within the school’s ecosystem.

Paperwork Isn’t Just Paperwork

The cadence and symbolism of re-enrollment paperwork also sends a powerful message about how a school views families’ commitment to staying at the school long-term. Two key drivers in signaling long-term commitment between school and family are continuous enrollment and not having an application between divisions. 

Moving to continuous (or evergreen) enrollment is a powerful tool to encourage long-term commitment to the school. This means that when families enroll with your school for the first time, their contract includes language that they are automatically enrolled year over year, unless they tell you otherwise. Without continuous enrollment, you are asking families each year to recommit to a significant financial and values-driven decision. Messaging to them that “We’re in this together for the long term” will save staff significant time and effort in chasing down contracts each spring and, more importantly, communicates a confidence in the strength and commitment of the school-family partnership. 

When a school assumes that a family will re-enroll, it makes it easier for the family to assume they will re-enroll. They do, of course, have the opportunity to opt-out. But we do know that most families re-enroll every year. It is a small—yet very time-consuming—number of families who are undecided come registration time. 

Another deep fissure in creating a long-term commitment arises when schools have an application between divisions. With that application, schools are asking families to evaluate if the next division is right for their children. Sure, for some children, it is not appropriate to continue in the next division, and we may counsel them out. That scenario is no different than counseling out a child moving between any grades. By establishing a process for evaluating school choice between divisions, schools are essentially encouraging families to reevaluate where they invest their tuition dollars, and your school risks significant time investment, losing students, committed families and revenue. 

Creating seamless, continuous enrollment from the start point through the graduation year is a win-win and a smart way to approach long-term enrollment.

The People Who Make it Happen

Along with systems and procedures, our faculty members play a pivotal role in retaining students. They are on the front lines, building relationships with students and families, and creating a positive and engaging learning environment. It is therefore crucial to equip faculty with the knowledge and tools necessary to effectively communicate the school’s value proposition and the benefits of staying through graduation. 

As educators, they may not be naturally oriented toward marketing the school, but the marketing and enrollment team can work with them to give them messaging points to help build this look-ahead culture. Professional development opportunities can focus on topics such as understanding the unique needs of different age groups, effective communication strategies and building strong parent-teacher relationships. Teachers can frame parent-teacher conference conversations with language around how their classwork fits in with the scope and sequence of the full curriculum. Every interaction with a family, from the initial inquiry to graduation, should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen the bond and reinforce the school’s value proposition.

Educate your teachers internally so that they know how your curriculum and the student experience builds upon itself. Small statements at parent events will make a big difference to those parents as they assimilate knowledge about their school. Consider the difference between these two faculty statements that could be delivered at Back to School Night: 

“Forget about last year! Your child is in third grade now, and let me tell you how amazing it is! We learn X and Y, and this is how we’re going to have a great year.” 

vs. 

“Third grade is the next chapter in your child’s journey. We have a strong handoff from the second grade team and build upon where they left off. We’re looking ahead to where they are going and will make sure that every step we take is fun in the moment, with an eye toward their future. Your child’s experience is unique to our school’s full program.” 

Invite teachers to know enough about the full scope and sequence to make those connections for parents. A simple “Let me tell you how this fits into what’s next” plants the seed with parents that their child’s year is not a standalone event. 

The admission and marketing teams should work together to prepare academic teams for consistent and compelling messaging that promotes this look-ahead feel. From teacher communications to introductions at school events to social media to the organization of the hallways and classrooms, the entire package should feel authentic, seamless and inviting. 

If you don’t have meetings already set up to discuss this, now is the perfect time to start. 

The most dynamic and exciting schools we have worked with see themselves as a full progression from the youngest grades through the final days of their oldest grades. At our previous school where we led the admission and marketing teams, we instituted a tradition that became the definition of the look-ahead experience. Every year, the week before graduation, the 12th grade students return to the lower school campus and walk the halls in their graduation regalia. They are tall, inspiring, mature, sparkly and larger-than-life to the preschoolers. Their own kindergarten teachers embrace these gowned giants with bear hugs and simultaneously say to their littlest ones, “One day, you’re going to come back to my class and I’m going to give you a giant hug before you leave!” 

Nothing says “We love you; stay with us to the end” more than that.