Retention Begins in Admission: Nurturing Long-Term Enrollment From Tour to Contract

Posted on by Society for Classical Learning

In admissions, we’re usually thinking about how to recruit
new students to ll our empty seats. But is there a way to have fewer empty seats in the first place? Yes! While most of the responsibility for retention falls outside of the Admission Department’s control, we will discuss ways to raise your retention rates by nurturing new families toward a long-term vision with tours, admission events, parent interviews and orientation.

Amy Burgess

Amy Burgess is a corporate marketing consultant with a heart for growing classical Christian schools. She spent five years as the Admission/Marketing Director at Covenant Classical School in Fort Worth, Texas, and continues to support SCL’s efforts to grow the CCE movement by growing individual schools. She loves to take strategic marketing tools and ideas from the corporate world and translate them for the benefit of classical schools.

Enrollment Management: A Case Study in Attrition and Retention (Part II)

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Enrollment and Re-Recruitment: Why do students come to your school? More importantly, why do they stay? Do you know? Are you sure? If not, you are quite possibly jeopardizing your ability to deliver on your mission. Building on the data of the preceding session, we will explore management and teacher strategies that will make a difference in a family’s decision for classical Christian education.

John Heaton

John Heaton is a native of Orlando, Florida. He has concluded his 20th year as the second Headmaster of New Covenant Schools in Lynchburg, Virginia. New Covenant is a classical Christian School serving around 450 students in Pre-K through 12th Grade.

Enrollment Management: A Case Study in Attrition and Retention (Part I)

Posted on by Society for Classical Learning

What Matters Most at School: Data can show us precisely the driving factors that sustain academic excellence over time. How is this to be accomplished with GenX’ers and Millenials? This session will explore those drivers using New Covenant as a case study. The practical takeaways will include what school boards, administrations and faculties must do to achieve real academic results.

John Heaton

John Heaton is a native of Orlando, Florida. He has concluded his 20th year as the second Headmaster of New Covenant Schools in Lynchburg, Virginia. New Covenant is a classical Christian School serving around 450 students in Pre-K through 12th Grade.

From Empty Seats to Wait Pools

Posted on by Society for Classical Learning

As the first touchpoint to your school, the Admissions Department has a tremendous opportunity to share your school’s mission and vision with hundreds of families each year. How does the admissions process and office need to evolve over time to accommodate increased interest and applications? We will walk through the steps from initial inquiry to the first day of school to explore potential pitfalls and victories. Learn how the Veritas School has refined and streamlined its admissions process over the last decade — while maintaining the personal touch with each prospective family. This seminar is designed for admissions personnel or those who are directly involved in the admissions process.

Gretchen Gregory

Gretchen Gregory is enjoying her 13th year at Veritas School in Richmond, Virginia. In the early years, she served as the Director of Administrative Services, gaining experience in many of the departments and duties of a growing school. For the last 10 years, she has served as the Director of Admissions and has watched the school grow from 153 students during her first year to the current enrollment of 529 students, full classrooms and wait pools in several grades. Gretchen thoroughly enjoys introducing prospective families to the school, walking them through the admissions process and seeing them on campus for their rst day. She believes that unpacking the story of what it means to be a classical, Christ-centered community of faith and learning is a great privilege and responsibility. Gretchen has three children — one Veritas senior and two graduates — and has been married to her husband, Kevin, for 25 years.

Enrollment Data Analysis, Forecasting and Reporting

Posted on by Society for Classical Learning

Enrollment data is extremely valuable for the achievement of school growth. You can use it to uncover trends and truths about your target market of families, and to more accurately forecast enrollment and tuition. Learn how to collect and use data to produce more useful reports and brand stories that will advance your leadership capacity. In this session, we’ll share strategies for improving data collection and analysis, along with techniques for improving forecasting and reporting.

Tammy Barron

Tammy Barron has a multifaceted background that reflects her broad range of expertise. Following her studies in chemical engineering and journalism, she completed an interdisciplinary degree program and began her career in education. She has a distinct passion for learning, teaching and improving. After serving as a teacher at multiple levels for 10 years, Tammy took on the challenge of building the brand and enrollment for a large private school. She developed processes for growth, built a high-performing team, coordinated marketing plans, re ned the brand and achieved the school’s multimillion dollar revenue goals every year. As part of the school’s growth team, Tammy draws from her expertise in operational excellence and data intelligence. She is also uniquely talented at defining and executing optimal work flows, anticipating the needs of clients, giving direction and feedback and extracting key decision points from the databases that she constantly builds and curates.

The Role of Faculty in Re-Enrollment

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Are you an admission office of one? Or an admission office of five? What if you could harness the power of your entire faculty and staff? In this session, we will explore the role of faculty in re-enrollment and retention and how you can inspire them to assist you! Session will include a lecture and time for roundtable discussion. Bring ideas and best practices to share from your school and learn from each other.

Elizabeth Perkins

Elizabeth has been serving as the Director of Admission & Marketing for Westminster Academy in Memphis for three years. Prior to joining Westminster, Elizabeth served as adjunct faculty in the department of Management for the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis. There, she drew on her experience as the Global Internal Communications Leader for GE’s Capital Aviation Services to teach courses in Management, Communication, Employee Engagement, and Human Resources. She holds an MBA from Union University and a degree in Political Science from the University of Memphis.

First Touch – The Culture of the Admin Wing

Posted on by Society for Classical Learning

First impressions are just that – FIRST Impressions. Is the mission of your school communicated clearly by your office staff? More importantly, does the “feel” of your admin wing welcome new and old members of your school? This seminar will address the culture of your Administrative Team, use of technology, and mission-based personal touch.

John Heaton

John Heaton is a native of Orlando, Florida. He has concluded his 20th year as the second Headmaster of New Covenant Schools in Lynchburg, Virginia. New Covenant is a classical Christian School serving around 450 students in Pre-K through 12th Grade.