Best Practices

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Reduce Attrition

  • Attrition is defined as anyone who leaves a school for any reason before graduating. Every school has some attrition. The question is: to what degree and for what reasons? And who will find out why families want to leave and what is the best timing for finding this information?
    Consultant Rheua Stakeley tackles these questions and offers tips in: "Reasons for Attrition List"
  • Jane Cohen, Head of School at South Area Solomon Schechter School developed a retention assurance program, ensuring that every family receives personal telephone calls at the beginning of the school year: Retention Assurance Program
  • Students have a natural apprehension about changing schools - meeting new people and leaving old friends. Independent School Management suggests that Schools can ease this uncertainty by marketing the benefits of moving up to the next grade
  • Proactive contact with enrolled families can play an important role in minimizing attrition! A successful start up high school, Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, reduces initial attrition.

Nurture Feeder School Relationships

In order to improve the relationship with so-called "feeder" schools, both parties need to recognize that the relationship is reciprocal, and that each has something valuable to contribute.

  • Admission directors and Heads of School should create strong personal relationships with the heads of feeder schools through lunches and value added presentations of information about how well the alumni of the feeder school are doing in their school! This gives the feeder school something to boast about to its own staff and "customers."
  • Feature stories about the achievements at your school of alumni of various feeder schools. Run the stories in your school's newsletter and offer the opportunity for the feeder schools to distribute the newsletter to their parent body as a way to demonstrate their own successes. Gann Academy on feeder schools (Audio)
  • Host an annual Fall lunch and tour for feeder school faculty so they can see firsthand what your school offers its students. Where possible, showcase the feeder school's alumni in presentations so they can see the benefits of referring your school to parents. Cheryl Finkel on feeder schools (Audio)
  • Offer value added services to feeder schools which enhance their own success. Examples might include:
    • Offering a feeder school access to your school's sports facilities or drama facilities.
    • Inviting their students and parents to unique programs, e.g., entertaining concerts or plays.
    • Inviting their staff to informative lectures featuring acknowledged experts.