Most schools treat a tour like a showing, highlighting the classrooms, cafeteria, and the school gymnasium, but when it comes down to it, families aren’t evaluating square footage. They’re asking one question the entire time: Can I picture my child here?
Parents that tour your school are watching how a teacher responds when a student gets something wrong, noticing whether the principal knows the students by name in the hallway. They’re feeling the energy in a classroom before they’re thinking about the curriculum. The tour is an emotional audition, not an information session and the schools that understand that fill their seats faster than the ones that don’t.
Here’s how to make sure your school is ready.
The Tour Starts Before They Walk Through the Door
Most enrollment teams think the tour begins at the front entrance, but families start forming impressions long before that.
It starts when a parent searches your school on Google and finds outdated hours, a missing phone number, or photos from three years ago. It starts when they can’t figure out where to park. It starts when they walk in and no one at the front desk looks up.
The impression your school makes before anyone arrives is just as important as what happens inside.
Your Google Business Profile Is Your First Impression
Your Google Business Profile is often the very first thing a prospective family sees, before your website, before your social media, before anything else. And most schools are leaving it half-finished.
Make sure yours has:
Accurate hours, school address, and a phone number
Recent photos that show your school as it actually looks today
A short, compelling description of what makes your school different
Responses to reviews – don’t stress if a few are critical
A family who finds a complete, active, professional profile arrives at your tour with confidence already building. A family who finds a photo from 2019 and an unanswered one-star review arrives with doubt already in the room.
How to Prepare Your School for a Tour That Converts
Once you’ve gotten the details right outside your doors, here’s how to make sure the experience inside delivers.
Brief everyone at the school, not just admissions
Every school representative a family encounters during a tour is part of the experience. Teachers, front office staff, the person they pass in the hallway. A warm, natural greeting from someone who wasn’t expecting to matter goes a long way. Let your whole team know tours are happening and what you want families to feel when they leave.
Don’t hide the school
The temptation is to route families through your best spaces and avoid the messier ones. Resist it. A real classroom in the middle of a real lesson, even an imperfect one, builds more trust than a polished showcase of empty rooms. Authenticity is the point.
Let your students share with prospective families
Some of the most powerful tour moments happen when a student speaks unprompted. Prepare a small group of student ambassadors, not with a script, but with a simple conversation about what they love about the school. Families want to hear from the students, and believe the honesty of kids in a way they don’t always believe administrators.
Make the next step obvious before they leave
A family who walks out impressed but unsure what to do next is a warm lead going cold. Before they reach the parking lot, they should know exactly how to apply, when the next open house is, and who to call with questions. Hand them something. Send a follow-up that day. Don’t make them work for it.
Families won’t remember every statistic you share about your school, but they will remember how the school, teachers, students and administration made them feel. They’re noticing whether the environment feels calm or chaotic, warm or institutional. Does my child belong here? Would they be seen here? Would they be safe here?
Following Up After the Tour
The tour might end when the family leaves, but your enrollment work is just beginning!
Send a personal follow-up within 24 hours. Make the follow-up personal, and reference something specific from their visit.
For families who toured but haven’t yet applied, a simple check-in within two weeks is a must. A genuine phone call from the enrollment team or even the administrative staff asking to answer any questions they might still have goes a long way.
One of the most important pieces is to log everything! Which families toured, when they came in, whether they followed up, and what their questions were. This data tells you where families are getting stuck in the process, and where in the enrollment process might need adjusting.
The families who tour your school are making one of the most important decisions they’ll make for their child. They’re not just choosing a curriculum, they’re choosing a school community. When you get the details right, from the Google search that brings them to your door to the follow-up note that lands in their inbox that evening, you’re not just running a better tour. You’re showing them exactly the kind of school you are.
No ad can do what a happy parent can do.
When a family genuinely loves your school and talks about it, at a birthday party, in a neighborhood Facebook group, at the grocery store, that’s peer-to-peer credibility that ads simply can’t replicate. Coming from a friend, it lands completely differently.
Ads create awareness. But a real parent saying “We love it here and here’s why” creates conviction. As an enrollment marketer, I always tell schools: their most powerful channel is already sitting in the carpool lane. The question is whether they’re activating it.
Your Ambassador Families Are Already Talking
You don’t have to look hard. They’re the families who stop you in the hallway to rave about their child’s teacher, leave glowing comments on your social posts, show up to every event, and re-enroll without hesitation.
That re-enrollment moment is one of the clearest signals you have. When a family chooses to stay, especially when they had options, that’s them voting for your school. That’s your ambassador.
These families aren’t just satisfied. They’re enthusiastic.
And enthusiasm is contagious in ways satisfaction never is.
What Makes Referral Programs Work
Programs that fail treat referrals like transactions: “Here’s a discount, go find us a family.” That reduces something meaningful to something mercenary.
Programs that work make families feel like insiders who are proud to share something great. Three things have to be in place:
The ask needs to be specific and easy.
Not “send anyone our way” but “Do you know anyone who’d be a great fit here?” Then make it effortless to act. Give families a pre-written text they can copy and paste: “Hey! We’ve loved [School Name], happy to connect you with admissions if you want to learn more.”
Timing has to catch families in high-joy moments. Right after re-enrollment. Right after a big school event when families are buzzing. These moments make the same ask feel natural instead of forced.
You have to close the loop. When a referred family enrolls, acknowledge it. Follow up with the referred family warmly and mention who sent them: “Sarah mentioned you might be exploring options. We’re so glad she thought of you.” Then update the ambassador: “The family you referred, toured last week, thank you.” When people see their efforts working, they keep referring.
Give Families Something to Say
Most families want to talk about your school. They just don’t know how to say it naturally. So make it easy.
Give them a simple one-pager with two or three honest answers to questions parents always ask, and update it throughout the year. A “this month at our school” snapshot families can forward to a friend on the fence is simple and incredibly shareable.
Create pre-written social captions for milestone moments, student spotlights, and event recaps. And here’s the key insight: don’t design content for the people already following you. Design it for the stranger who’s going to see it when a current family reposts it. That reframe changes everything about how you build graphics and write captions.
After a big win, an award, an accreditation, send families a one-liner they can drop into a text. Low lift, high impact.
One Thing You Can Do Tomorrow
Share a simple stat in your next newsletter: “30% of our new families this year came through referrals from families like you.”
That one sentence celebrates your community, plants a seed, and reminds families they’re part of something worth sharing. Then pay attention to who engages with it. Those are your next ambassadors.
Because no amount of marketing sophistication can replace the power of one parent telling another: “We love it here, and here’s why.”
Kerry Selfinger is an enrollment marketing specialist who helps schools activate their most powerful marketing asset—their current families.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are parent ambassadors more effective than paid advertising for schools?
Parent ambassadors create peer-to-peer credibility that advertising simply cannot replicate. When a parent tells their friend “We love it here and here’s why,” that recommendation comes from a trusted source making a high-stakes decision for their own child. Ads create awareness, but personal recommendations from parents create conviction. As Kerry explained, “No ad can do what a happy parent can do”—because recommendations carry the weight of lived experience, not marketing messages.
How do I identify which families at my school would make good ambassadors?
You don’t have to look hard—ambassador families are already talking. Look for families who stop staff in hallways to share positive feedback, leave glowing comments on social media posts, attend every school event, and re-enroll without hesitation. The re-enrollment moment is one of the clearest signals, especially when families had other options. When a family chooses to stay, they’re voting for your school—that’s your ambassador.
What’s the difference between referral programs that work and ones that fail?
Programs that fail treat referrals like transactions—”Here’s a discount, go find us a family.” This approach feels mercenary and awkward. Programs that work make families feel like proud insiders sharing something great. Successful programs have three elements: specific and easy asks, timing that catches families in high-joy moments (like right after re-enrollment or big events), and consistent follow-through that closes the loop with both referred families and ambassadors.
How can I make it easier for families to refer other families to our school?
Remove every barrier by providing ready-to-use content families can copy and paste. Give them pre-written text messages they can send to friends, one-pagers with honest answers to common questions, monthly highlight snapshots they can forward, and social media captions they can repost with one tap. After big wins or accreditations, send families one-liners they can drop into conversations. When the ask is simple and the tools are ready, most families will say yes without hesitation.
When is the best time to ask families for referrals?
Ask during high-joy moments when families are feeling most enthusiastic about your school. The best times include: right after re-enrollment (they just voted for your school with their feet), immediately following big school events when families are buzzing with excitement, and after milestone celebrations or student achievements. These moments make the ask feel natural rather than forced, and families are more likely to think of friends who might benefit from what they’re experiencing.
Should I create a formal family ambassador program or keep it informal?
Both approaches can work—it depends on your school’s size, culture, and capacity. Formalized programs with structure, recognition, and clear expectations work well for larger schools or networks with resources to manage them. Organic approaches work better for smaller schools without bandwidth for ongoing program management. What matters most isn’t the structure—it’s the consistency of identifying enthusiastic families, giving them tools to share, asking at the right moments, and closing the loop when referrals happen.
How do I “close the loop” on family referrals?
Closing the loop means following up with both the referred family and the ambassador family. When someone refers a friend, contact the referred family promptly and mention who sent them: “So-and-so mentioned you might be exploring options for next year. We’re so glad they thought of you.” This honors the referral and warms the lead. Then update the ambassador on progress: “The family you referred toured last week—thank you for thinking of us!” This follow-through shows ambassadors their efforts matter and encourages them to keep referring.
What can I do right now to start activating family ambassadors?
Share a simple stat in your next newsletter: “30% of our new families this year came through referrals from families like you.” This one sentence celebrates your community, plants a seed in parents’ minds about friends who might be looking for schools, and reminds families they’re part of something worth sharing. Then pay attention to who engages with that message—those are your next ambassadors to activate with tools and personal asks.
After five years helping schools tell their stories, and twenty in the classroom before that, I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting the gap between what a school is and what its homepage says it is. What most prospective families want from a homepage is to see happy kids, a real community, and enough information to answer the questions they walked in with. Most of the time, that story exists. The words just aren’t carrying it.
That’s fixable. Here’s how I think about it.
Your Headline has One Job — Make Sure It’s Doing It
The headline at the top of your homepage is the first thing a family reads. It’s also often the only thing they read before deciding whether to stick around or move on.
Most school headlines I see fall somewhere on a spectrum from generic (“Welcome to Our School”) to aspirational but vague (“Where Curious Kids Become Confident Leaders”) to specific and real (“K-8 STEM Education Preparing Tomorrow’s Innovators in [City]”). The first is a missed opportunity — any school could say it. The second is warmer, but it still could belong to almost anyone. The third is what you’re aiming for: one sentence that tells a family the grades you serve, who you are, where you are, and what you’re trying to do for kids. A simple test: could another school say your headline word for word? If yes, rewrite it.
A Simple Formula for Writing Headlines
Here’s what I try to include in every headline:
An action verb. Words like transform, prepare, cultivate, launch, shape. These imply motion. They tell a family what kind of school you are.
Identity words. Inspire your families with images of who their child will become as a result of attending your school. Critical thinkers, problem solvers, changemakers, storytellers. What fits with your mission and brand?
Your distinct ingredient. This is the part only your school can claim. Through real-world projects. Rooted in our community. In partnership with families. One relationship at a time. If another school could say it, rewrite it.
Put those three things together and you have a headline that tells a family what you do, who your kids become, and what makes you different. That’s a lot to accomplish in one sentence and it’s exactly what a great headline does.
The Subheadline is Where You Talk Directly to Families
The line underneath your main headline is your promise. It expands on what the headline said, and it speaks to what a family actually cares about.
Think about who’s coming to your homepage. If you serve families who are motivated by college prep, speak to that. If your school is a place for kids who didn’t quite fit their neighborhood school, speak to the parents who are out there looking for a place for their child to belong. The subheadline is where you say: we see you, we know what you’re looking for, and here’s how we answer that.
A strong subheadline expands on your headline, addresses a real concern or desire, and includes an outcome. Something like: our project-based curriculum builds independent thinkers ready for high school and beyond. One sentence, and a family knows exactly what to expect.
Write for the Person Who Isn’t Going to Read Your Page
Most of your visitors are skimmers. They scan before they read closely, and if the page doesn’t work for someone moving fast, a lot of them won’t make it very far.
This means your writing has to work on two levels — for the skimmer who’s moving quickly, and for the researcher who’s going to read every word.
A few things that make your homepage skimmable and informative:
Use headers to break up your sections. If a family can read only the headers and still understand what your school is about, you’re on the right track.
Bold the words families are scanning for. STEM. Arts-integrated. Tuition-free. Make them easy to find.
Favor bullet points over dense paragraphs wherever the content allows it.
Write in active voice. Instead of “students are prepared for high school by our curriculum,” try “our curriculum prepares kids for high school.” Same information, more direct, and it moves.
The Most Powerful Words on Your Page Might Not Be Yours
The words that convert hesitant families most often aren’t written by you, rather they come from other families who chose your school and want to talk about it.
Parent testimonials, especially in video form, consistently outperform almost anything else on a school homepage. Keep them short, unscripted, and genuine. A family talking honestly about their experience is far more persuasive than any copy you can write.
Other things that build trust:
Parent quote overlays on real photos of your school
Achievement data with context: 95% of graduates are accepted to college!
Awards and accreditations that don’t get buried mid-scroll
A “why choose us” section with five honest, specific reasons families pick your school
All of these are answering the question every prospective family is really asking: are you real, are you thriving, and can I trust you with my child? Your page needs to answer that with a confident yes.
A Quick Trust Audit
Pull up your homepage and run through this:
Is there news or an event posted within the last thirty days?
Do you have parent testimonials on the page?
Do you have achievement data or awards?
Are your social media links pointing to accounts that are actually active?
Each of these may feel like small items on their own, but together, they truly add up to build trust with prospective families. One note: a news section that hasn’t been updated in months can work against you. If the most recent post is from last spring, it signals that nobody’s home. Keep it current or take it down.
Your Buttons Matter More Than You Think
The words on your call-to-action buttons are doing real work, and most schools underestimate how much.
Words that work: schedule, discover, join, start, experience. I love active verbs that tell a family exactly what will happen when they click.
Words that don’t: submit, learn more, click here. These words can be vague or easy to skip past.
A simple test: read your button copy out loud and ask, what’s going to happen next? “Schedule a Tour” passes the test. “Submit” doesn’t.
One more thing about writing for mobile: keep the button text short. On a small screen, a label that wraps to two lines looks awkward and is harder to tap. Punchy and specific is the goal.
Where to Start
If you’re looking at your homepage and feeling like there’s a lot to fix, start with the headline. You may not need a developer or a designer at this point – you may just need better copy. Use your homepage to tell the story that only your school can tell.
Jesse Foss is a Content Strategist and Project Manager at Grow Schools. She spent twenty years in the classroom before joining the team. Grow Schools partners with charter schools on enrollment marketing, facilities financing, and working capital. Learn more at growschools.com.
I hear from school leaders all the time that they are posting regularly, but nothing seems to happen. No inquiries from Facebook. Nobody is scheduling tours. No enrollment bump from all that effort. If that sounds familiar, here is the thing I want you to know: it is not your fault, and it is not really a posting problem. It is an expectation problem.
What Social Media Does
Social media is an awareness tool, not a lead generator. Social media gets families to notice you. Your website and your application process are what convert them. If you have been treating social media like a direct enrollment channel and feeling frustrated by the results, that mismatch is probably why. That does not mean social media does not matter. It means it matters for a reason you might not expect. When a family sees your posts consistently, they start to recognize your school. They build familiarity. By the time they visit your website, they are not starting from zero — they already have a sense of who you are. That recognition is real, and it is worth building. It just does not happen in a straight line from post to enrollment.
Where to Invest Your Time — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok?
Facebook and Instagram remain your strongest foundations for awareness. Families are actively using both, and they are where you can build the kind of ongoing recognition that eventually leads to action. Paid advertising on both platforms also works—and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Boosting a post for $5–$10 a day can put your school in front of hundreds of local families who don’t yet know you exist. If the idea of paid advertising feels complicated, boosting a post is the easiest place to start. TikTok is worth exploring if your team has the capacity. It is genuinely great for showing your school’s personality — what a real day looks like, what your community feels like. But I would not let it distract you from the fundamentals. We do not see many families completing an inquiry form right after watching a TikTok. It is an awareness channel, even more so than the others. The bottom line: go where your families actually are, not where the headlines tell you to be.
Paid vs. Organic — You Need Both
Paid advertising helps with discovery. It gets you in front of families who do not know you exist yet. Without it, your posts are mostly being seen by people who already follow you — and even then, only a fraction of them. Organic content is your credibility. When a family finds you through a paid ad and goes to check out your page, what do they see? A page with no recent posts looks like maybe your school is not active anymore. Organic content is the social proof that makes paid advertising worth clicking. You need both. Neither one works as well without the other.
What to Post
The most powerful content shows your school in action. Not stock photos. Not generic messaging. Not AI-generated anything. Think about it as hanging your shingle. You are showing families who you really are. The content that works: Kid testimonials on video. Short, unscripted, authentic. A kid talking about what they love about your school for thirty seconds will outperform almost anything else you can post. Day-in-the-life content. Follow a teacher or a kid through a real day. Show the hallways, the classrooms, the lunch table. Families want to picture their own child there, and this is what helps them do it. Virtual tours. You can shoot these on your phone. Show the spaces where learning actually happens. Family voices. Your current families are your best marketing. Let them tell your story and put it on social media so more people can hear it.
The 60/40 Rule
Here is a framework I keep coming back to. Sixty percent of what you post should be brand and community content — showing who you are, what your school feels like, what your kids are up to. 40% should be enrollment-focused—inviting families to take the next step. If you use social media only to broadcast announcements, you are not building the relationships that lead to enrollment. The balance between the two types of content is what builds trust over time and drives families to find you and take action.
What You Can Do This Week
On Facebook: Post at 7–9 AM or 5–7 PM when families are most likely to be scrolling. Video outperforms everything else by at least three times.
Boost your best post for $5–$10 to reach more local families.
On Instagram: Use Stories for behind-the-scenes daily moments.
Keep Reels short — thirty to sixty seconds.
Organize your saved Stories into Highlights so prospective families can easily find tour info, programs, and testimonials. It is a tool most schools are not using well, and it makes a real difference.
One event, multiple posts: Whatever is happening at your school can become content before, during, and after. A single open house can become an announcement, a behind-the-scenes story, a highlight reel, a family quote, and a follow-up recap. You do not need more events. You need to get more out of the ones you already have.
Clean up your profiles. Make sure your phone number and bio are up to date, and that your profile clearly states the grades you serve.
Frequently Asked Questions: Social Media and Charter School Enrollment
Does social media actually increase charter school enrollment?
Social media does not directly generate enrollment, but it plays an important role in the process. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram build awareness and familiarity — families who see your school consistently in their feed are more likely to visit your website and take action when they are ready to enroll. The conversion happens on your website, through your inquiry form, and at your tour. Social media is what gets families to that point.
What is the best social media platform for charter school marketing?
Facebook and Instagram are the strongest platforms for most charter schools because that is where the majority of school-age families are active. Facebook works well for community building and paid advertising. Instagram is effective for visual storytelling through Reels and Stories. TikTok is worth exploring if your team has capacity, but it should not replace a consistent presence on the two core platforms.
How often should a charter school post on social media?
Consistency matters more than frequency. A school that posts two or three times per week with content that shows real students, real moments, and real community will outperform a school that posts daily with generic or stock-photo content. The goal is to build ongoing recognition with families in your area, not to maximize post volume.
What kind of content drives enrollment for charter schools?
The content that performs best for charter school enrollment shows the school in action. Short video testimonials from students, day-in-the-life content following teachers or kids through a real day, phone-shot virtual tours, and parent voices are consistently the strongest performers. Authentic, unscripted content outperforms polished stock imagery because families are trying to picture their own child at your school.
Should charter schools use paid social media advertising?
Yes. Organic content reaches primarily families who already follow your page. Paid advertising — even boosting a post for five to ten dollars a day — puts your school in front of local families who do not know you exist yet. Paid and organic work best together: paid ads drive discovery, organic content builds the credibility that makes families trust what they find when they click through.
What should a charter school post on Instagram?
On Instagram, use Stories for daily behind-the-scenes moments, Reels for broader reach — kept to thirty to sixty seconds — and organized Highlights so prospective families can easily find tour information, program details, and testimonials. Highlights in particular are underused by most schools and give families a way to explore your school on their own timeline.
How do I measure whether social media is working for my school?
Do not measure success by followers, likes, or shares. Measure it by website visits from social traffic, inquiry form submissions, tour sign-ups, and direct mentions from families who say they found you on social media. These are the signals that connect social activity to actual enrollment outcomes. Vanity metrics feel good but do not tell you whether your marketing is working.
What is the easiest way to improve charter school social media marketing?
The single most impactful, least effort move is setting up an automated response for your inquiry form. When a family reaches out, an immediate confirmation keeps them engaged and buys time for a personal follow-up. Beyond that: make sure your profile bio and phone number are current, post at least twice a week using real photos or video of your students, and boost one post per month to expand your reach to local families who do not already follow you.
Ashley MacQuarrie is VP of Marketing at Grow Schools, where she leads marketing strategy and school partnerships across the country.
I have been working with charter schools on their websites and visual identities for about eight years now. And the thing I come back to, every single time, is this: a homepage that looks good and a homepage that works are not the same thing.
The goal is both. But if I had to pick one, I would pick works every time.
Here is what I mean — and how to get there.
Why Your Homepage Matters More Than Any Other Page
Between 40 and 60 percent of all your website traffic lands on your homepage first. That is the majority of families who are considering your school, arriving at one place, before they have seen anything else.
And when they get there, you have about eight seconds before they decide to stay or go.
Eight seconds isn’t a lot. But it’s enough, if your homepage is doing its three jobs.
Trust. Proving that your school is real, active, and worth a family’s time. This is what keeps people from clicking away.
Differentiation. Showing clearly what makes your school different from every other option available to a family in your area. If a family cannot tell why they would choose you over the school down the street, your homepage is not doing this job.
Conversion. Making the next step obvious. Families who are ready to act can’t guess what to do next. The path forward needs to be visible from the moment they land — whether they schedule a tour, start an application, or get in touch.
What a Struggling Homepage Usually Looks Like
These things show up on school homepages regularly, and they are all fixable:
Stock photos that could belong to any school. Families want to see your actual kids, your actual hallways, your actual community. When they see a generic kid at a generic desk, it does not land. If you do not have a full library of real photos yet, mix real images with stock photos that look natural and unposed — and prioritize getting real photos as soon as you can.
A mission statement that could belong to any school. “We inspire lifelong learners” sounds fine. It also tells a family nothing about what makes your school different. Your homepage copy needs to be specific to you.
A buried “Apply Now” button. The action you most want families to take should be the easiest thing to find. If they have to scroll to find it, some of them will not bother.
Too much text. You have a lot to say about your school. I understand that. But most visitors scan before they read. If your page does not work for skimmers, you will lose them before they get to the parts you worked hardest on.
The 5-second Test
Here is a quick way to assess whether your homepage is doing its job. Pull it up and ask: can a brand-new visitor — someone who has never heard of your school before — answer these four questions within five seconds?
What grades do you serve?
Where are you located?
How do I schedule a tour?
What makes you different?
If the answer to any of those is “I am not sure,” that is your first fix. And here is a useful signal: if you have to think about it, your first-time visitor will too.
The Anatomy of a Homepage that Works
A strong homepage has a clear structure, and the order matters more than most people realize.
The hero section is everything a family sees before they scroll. It is your most valuable real estate, and it has five components:
Your headline — what you do and who you serve, in one clear sentence. Not a tagline, not a welcome message. Something specific.
Your subheadline — the promise that expands on the headline. What does your school do for families? What problem does it solve? This is where you talk directly to them.
Your visual — real kids in real moments at your school. The goal is to help a family picture their own child there. Stock photos cannot do that.
Your primary call to action — one clear button, above the fold, that tells families exactly what will happen when they click. “Schedule a Tour” or “Enroll Now” — not “Learn More” or “Click Here.”
Your secondary call to action — for families who are not ready to commit yet. “Read Our Story” or “See What’s Happening” gives them somewhere to go without pressure.
Below the hero, the page should flow in an order that tells a complete story:
Social proof — testimonials, stats, awards — to back up the promises you just made
Your differentiators — three or four specific things that set you apart
Programs or curriculum highlights — what will kids actually learn here
Recent news or events — showing that your school is active right now
A second call to action — for families who have made it this far and are ready to move
A footer with all key links, contact information, and social media
Four Types of Visitors — and How Your Design Serves All of Them
Families do not all make decisions the same way. Your homepage needs to work for all of them.
The Scanner is fast and data-driven. They want numbers up front, bullet points, and a page they can move through in thirty seconds. They decide quickly based on facts.
The Gut-Feeler makes a snap judgment based on how the page makes them feel. They need a strong hero image, bold copy, and photos of real human faces. Emotion is their entry point.
The Researcher is thorough. They will read the FAQs, check your credentials, go through your program pages, and come back to your site multiple times before deciding. They want detail and evidence.
The Storyteller needs to feel connected before they can commit. They respond to testimonials, video, and language that explains why your school exists — not just what it does.
A well-designed homepage serves all four. The hero and visual elements serve the Gut-Feeler. The stats and credentials serve the Scanner and the Researcher. The testimonials and narrative copy serve the Storyteller. Every section is doing work for someone.
Mobile is Not Optional
Between 60 and 70 percent of school website traffic is mobile. Families are looking at your homepage on their phones while waiting to pick up their kids, sitting on the couch after dinner, scrolling between other things.
A homepage that looks beautiful on a desktop but is hard to use on a phone is working for less than half of your audience.
What mobile-first design actually requires:
Thumb-friendly buttons. If a button is too small to tap accurately on a phone screen, some families will not tap it. A good rule of thumb: if it feels too small on your phone, it is too small.
Readable text without zooming. If a family has to pinch and zoom to read your homepage copy, you have already lost their attention. Font sizes need to be comfortable on a small screen.
Fast loading. Mobile connections are not always strong. A homepage that takes more than three seconds to load on mobile will lose visitors before they see anything. The most common culprit: large, unoptimized images. Resize and compress before uploading.
A free tool worth bookmarking: Google PageSpeed Insights. Type in your URL and it will give you both a desktop and a mobile score. It is free and takes about thirty seconds to run.
What Your Buttons are Actually Communicating
The words on your call-to-action buttons are small in size and significant in impact.
Words that signal action: schedule, discover, join, start, experience. These tell someone what is going to happen when they click.
Words that do not: submit, learn more, click here. These are passive or vague, and they are easier to skip.
Design matters too. Your buttons need to visually stand out from the rest of the page — high contrast, large enough to tap, consistent styling across the site. On mobile especially, the primary call to action needs to be obvious the moment the page loads. No scrolling required.
On longer pages, repeat your call to action at the top, middle, and bottom. Not everyone reads in order. Make it easy to take action no matter where someone stops reading.
Where to Start
You do not need to do everything at once.
This week: Pull up your homepage on your phone. Is the text readable without zooming? Does the primary button load before you have to scroll? Does it load quickly? Those three things are fast to check and often fast to fix.
This month: Look at your hero section. Is there a real photo of your kids? Is there a headline that says what you do and who you serve? Is there a clear call to action above the fold? Those are the highest-leverage improvements on the page.
This quarter: Plan a photography day. Real photos of your kids, your building, and your campus make an enormous difference and no amount of design work fully substitutes for them. Start collecting short video testimonials. They do not need to be produced — a phone is enough.
Every improvement you make is working for the families who are going to visit your homepage. And it is also, increasingly, working for the AI tools that are recommending schools to those same families. The same things that help a family navigate your page clearly are the same things that help AI read it and recommend it.
That is a good reason to do this work carefully.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I update my school website?
Regular updates are key — aim for at least monthly news and key information changes to keep parents engaged and informed.
What platform is best for building a school website?
It depends on your need for control and ease of editing. WordPress offers flexibility, while Wix and Squarespace are simpler for non-tech users.
How do I measure if my website efforts are working?
Track conversions: inquiries, tour bookings, and applications originating from your website; those are the true indicators of success.
Niki Blaker is a Brand and UX Design Consultant who partners with Grow Schools. She has been helping charter schools build websites and visual identities that serve their communities for eight years.
On May 13, Grow Schools hosted Enrollment Edge: Marketing Strategies for Fall 2026 — a live workshop covering two of the highest-leverage areas in enrollment marketing: social media that actually reaches families, and a homepage that turns visitors into applicants. Content Strategist Jesse Foss and Brand and UX Design Consultant Niki Blaker led the homepage portion, with practical frameworks and live audits that school leaders could apply the same day.
Here is what we covered.
The Truth About Social Media in 2026
We opened with a poll asking which platform schools are using most for marketing. The answers were spread across Facebook, Instagram, email, and websites — and that spread tells its own story.
The honest truth about social media right now: no single platform is driving qualified leads on its own. Families are not making enrollment decisions because of one post on one channel. What actually works is a combination of consistent organic content that builds awareness and trust, paired with paid advertising that puts your school in front of families who do not already know you.
Where to put your time:
Facebook and Instagram are still your foundation — but for awareness, not conversion. These platforms help families recognize your school and feel familiar with it before they ever visit your website. Paid advertising on both platforms works, and it does not have to be expensive. Boosting a post for $5 to $10 a day can meaningfully extend your reach.
TikTok is worth exploring if your team has the capacity. It is especially effective for showing the personality of your school — what a typical day looks like, what your kids are excited about, what makes your community different.
The bottom line: go where your families actually are, not where the headlines tell you to be.
Content That Connects
The most effective enrollment content does two things in roughly a 60/40 balance. Sixty percent of what you post should be brand and community content — showing who you are, what your culture feels like, what families can expect. Forty percent should be enrollment-focused content that invites families to take action.
Both types work together. Trust built through community content is what makes families respond to enrollment-focused content when it appears.
Content that tends to perform:
Student testimonials in video form
Day-in-the-life content that shows your school, not a polished version of it
Virtual tours that feel authentic rather than produced
Parent voices talking about their experience
Community partnerships are one of the most underused tools in school marketing. Mission-aligned organizations in your area — youth programs, libraries, local businesses, neighborhood groups — already have audiences that overlap with yours. Tag them in relevant posts, ask them to share your content, and look for opportunities to collaborate on events. Their networks become your networks.
Platform Quick Wins
A few specific things schools can do immediately:
On Facebook: Post at 7–9 AM or 5–7 PM when families are most active. Video content performs significantly better than static images — up to three times better. Boosting posts for five to ten dollars a day is one of the highest-return investments available.
On Instagram: Use Stories for daily moments and Reels for reach. Reels between 30 and 60 seconds tend to perform best. Organize your Highlights so new visitors can immediately find what they need: Tour, Programs, Events, Testimonials.
One event, five posts: Any event your school hosts can generate content before, during, and after. A single tour day, open house, or student showcase can become an announcement post, a behind-the-scenes story, a video highlight, a parent quote, and a follow-up recap. You do not need more events — you need to get more out of the ones you already have.
The easiest win of all: Set up an instant auto-response for every inquiry form submission. When a family reaches out, they are in a moment of active interest. An immediate response — even an automated one that confirms receipt and sets expectations — keeps that interest alive. A delayed response loses it.
Measuring What Matters
Before moving into the homepage section, we paused on a point worth sitting with:
Followers are not enrollments. Likes are not applications. Shares are not inquiries.
Vanity metrics feel good and measure almost nothing. The numbers that matter are inquiry form submissions, tour sign-ups, open house attendance, and ultimately applications. When you are evaluating whether your social media is working, those are the questions to ask.
Your Homepage is Where it all Lands
Every piece of social media content, every paid ad, every community partnership eventually points somewhere. For most families, that somewhere is your homepage.
Jesse and Niki walked through what makes a homepage work — and what gets in the way.
The numbers: Between 40 and 60 percent of all website traffic lands on a school’s homepage. Once a visitor arrives, you have about eight seconds before they decide to stay or go. That is not a long window, but it is enough — if your homepage is doing its job.
The Three Jobs Your Homepage Has To Do
Trust. Families need to see that your school is real, active, and worth their time. Real photos of your kids and your building. Recent news or events. Parent testimonials. Credentials that are easy to find.
Differentiation. Why your school, and not the one down the street? Your homepage needs to answer that clearly — not in a tagline, but in specific language about what families and kids will actually experience.
Conversion. Families who are ready to act should not have to work to find out how to apply or schedule a tour. The path forward needs to be visible from the moment they land on your page.
The 5-second Test
Attendees pulled up their own homepages during the session and tested whether a first-time visitor could answer four questions in five seconds:
What grades do you serve?
Where are you located?
How do I schedule a tour?
What makes you different?
For a lot of schools in the room, the honest answer was: not quite. Location buried in the footer. Differentiators on an About page two clicks away. A call-to-action that requires scrolling to find.
These are fixable. And most of them do not require a full redesign.
What a Great Homepage Includes
Niki walked through the seven sections that belong on every effective charter school homepage:
A hero section with a clear call to action
Social proof — testimonials, stats, or awards
What makes your school different, with three or four specific differentiators
Programs or curriculum highlights
Latest news or events showing your school is active
A second call to action
A footer with all key links
The hero section is where most schools have the most room to improve. The components: a headline that says what you do and who you serve, a subheadline that speaks to something a family actually cares about, a visual that shows real kids rather than stock photography, a primary call to action above the fold, and a secondary call to action for families who want to keep reading before committing.
Headlines That Do the Work
Jesse spent time on one of the highest-leverage pieces of copy on any homepage: the headline.
Most school headlines fall into a familiar trap. They are either too generic — “Welcome to Our School” — or aspirational in a way that does not give families any real information.
The strongest headlines do two things at once. They say what you do and who you serve. Something like “K-8 STEM Education Preparing Tomorrow’s Innovators in [City]” gives a family everything they need in one sentence.
Attendees wrote three headline variations for their own school and shared favorites in the chat. The exercise made clear how much specificity matters — the headlines that landed were the ones that named a grade range, a community, or a concrete outcome.
Jesse also shared a word bank framework to help schools find the right language: an action verb that describes what you do for kids, a phrase that captures who your kids become, and a distinct ingredient — the thing only your school can claim.
How Families Make Decisions
Niki and Jesse shared a framework for understanding the four ways families process information when they visit a school’s homepage.
The Scanner is fast and data-driven. They want numbers up front, bullet points, and a page they can move through quickly.
The Gut-Feeler decides fast based on feeling. They need strong imagery, bold copy, and photos of real people.
The Researcher is thorough. They want FAQs, detailed program pages, and credentials they can verify.
The Storyteller needs to feel connected before they can decide. They respond to testimonials, video, and language that explains why your school exists.
A well-built homepage can work for all four types. The key is making sure each visitor can find what they need without having to dig.
Good Homepages Get Found by AI Too
One section that prompted strong engagement in the chat: the sections you build for families — your differentiators, your FAQs, your stats, your location — are exactly what AI tools pull when recommending schools.
Families are increasingly asking tools like ChatGPT to help them find schools. If your homepage answers those questions clearly, you are ahead of schools that bury that information. If it does not, you may not show up at all.
Mobile is Not Optional
Between 60 and 70 percent of school website traffic is mobile. That means the majority of families visiting your homepage are doing it on their phones, often in a quick moment between other things.
What that requires in practice: buttons large enough to tap easily, text that is readable without zooming, and pages that load in under three seconds. A homepage that works beautifully on a desktop but is difficult to navigate on a phone is losing families before they read a word.
Your Action Plan
The session closed with a roadmap organized by time horizon.
This week: Optimize your social profiles and bio. Set up an auto-response for inquiry forms. Schedule two posts. Update your homepage headline and subheadline. Replace any stock photos with real images of your kids and building. Make your primary call to action more visible.
This month: Tag three community partners in relevant content. Boost your best-performing post. Organize your Instagram Highlights. Reorganize your homepage sections. Add or update testimonials. Simplify your navigation.
This quarter: Plan a professional photography day. Collect video testimonials. Complete a full mobile optimization review.
If you want a fresh set of eyes on your school’s homepage or enrollment marketing, reach out at hello@growschools.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best social media platform for charter school enrollment marketing?
There is no single platform that works for every school. Facebook and Instagram are the most reliable starting points — they are where most families already spend time, and paid advertising on both platforms is effective and affordable. TikTok is worth exploring if your team has the capacity to create short video content consistently. The most important thing is to show up where your families actually are, not where the headlines say you should be.
How much should a school spend on social media advertising?
You do not need a large budget to see results. Boosting posts on Facebook or Instagram for five to ten dollars a day can meaningfully extend your reach to families who do not already know your school. Start small, see what performs, and increase from there.
What is the difference between organic content and paid advertising?
Organic content — posts, stories, reels — builds trust and familiarity with families over time. Paid advertising gets your school in front of families who have never heard of you. Both matter. Organic content alone rarely drives enough new inquiries, and paid advertising without a strong organic presence gives families nothing to explore once they find you.
How do I know if my social media is actually working?
Focus on the numbers that connect to enrollment: inquiry form submissions, tour sign-ups, open house attendance, and applications. Follower counts and likes are not reliable indicators of whether your marketing is reaching the right families or moving them toward action.
What should be on a charter school homepage?
An effective charter school homepage includes a hero section with a clear call to action, social proof such as testimonials and achievement data, a section explaining what makes your school different, program or curriculum highlights, recent news or events, a second call to action, and a footer with key links. Every section should be easy to find and read on a mobile device.
What is the 5-second test?
The 5-second test is a quick way to evaluate whether your homepage is doing its job. Pull up your homepage and ask: can a first-time visitor answer these four questions within five seconds — what grades you serve, where you are located, how to schedule a tour, and what makes your school different? If the answer to any of those is no, that is your starting point.
How do I write a better headline for my school’s homepage?
The strongest homepage headlines do two things: they say what you do and who you serve. Avoid generic phrases like “Welcome to Our School” or aspirational language that does not give families real information. A headline like “K-8 STEM Education Preparing Tomorrow’s Innovators in [City]” tells a family exactly what to expect. Lead with your grade range, your community, or a concrete outcome — something specific to your school that another school could not claim.
Why does mobile optimization matter for enrollment?
Between 60 and 70 percent of school website traffic comes from mobile devices. Most families are finding your school on their phones, often in a quick moment between other things. If your homepage is hard to navigate on a small screen, slow to load, or requires zooming to read, families will leave before they learn anything about your school.
How does a good homepage affect AI search results?
When families use AI tools to search for schools, those tools pull from publicly available information on your website. Clear, well-organized content — your differentiators, location, grade levels, FAQs, and stats — is exactly what AI uses to recommend schools. If that information is easy to find on your homepage, you are more likely to appear in AI-generated recommendations.
Where can I get help with my school’s enrollment marketing?
Grow Schools works with charter schools on enrollment marketing, facilities financing, and working capital. If you want a fresh set of eyes on your homepage or enrollment strategy, reach out at hello@growschools.com or visit growschools.com to explore available resources.
As spring approaches, school leaders are gearing up for potential summer renovation projects. But what should schools be doing right now to ensure these projects are successful? In this post, we’ll provide essential insights into planning and executing summer facility work, based on expert advice from Michael Soh, a specialist in school facilities and growth planning. Here’s what you need to know to make your summer renovation a success.
Understanding the Timeline for Summer Renovations
To start off, it’s crucial to recognize that the timeline for summer renovations is shorter than it seems. Schools typically aim to begin construction once students are out in late May. Therefore, decisions need to be made early in the spring. Here’s a breakdown of what to consider:
Commit Early: You need to decide on the scope of your project and commit to moving forward. This decision-making should ideally happen by January or February.
Engage Contractors: Identify and engage with contractors early. Having a contractor lined up will help ensure that your project stays on track.
Budget Planning: Confirm your budget early on, and make sure the renovations fit within that budget. This will prevent any financial surprises later.
Permits: If your project requires permits, be aware that the process can take time. For extensive renovations, it may already be too late to secure necessary approvals this year, pushing your plans to the next summer.
Selecting Feasible Renovation Projects
When considering what types of projects are realistic for the summer, it’s essential to distinguish between manageable renovations and those that may be too ambitious given the timeline. Here are some suitable projects:
Maintenance and Repairs: Projects like flooring replacements, interior painting, and bathroom renovations can typically be completed within the summer timeframe.
Upgrades: Things like HVAC upgrades, lighting improvements, and roof repairs are also feasible and can be handled by one contractor within the summer window.
Avoid Major Projects: Larger construction projects or significant overhauls require much more planning and should be scheduled at least 18 months in advance. These include full building additions or major renovations.
Planning for Next Year
If you’re already thinking about next summer’s renovations, it’s not too early to start planning. Here’s a recommended timeline:
Start Early: For minor repairs, begin planning in January. Define the project scope and budget, and reach out to contractors.
Permitting Process: If permits are needed, apply for as soon as possible. Permits can take a few weeks to several months depending on the scope and municipality. This will help you mobilize by May, ensuring work is completed by the end of July.
Larger Projects: For extensive renovations, it’s vital to start now. Engage an architect to begin the design process as early as possible.
Managing the Unknowns in Renovation Projects
One of the biggest challenges in renovation projects is the unexpected issues that can arise. Here are some tips for anticipating and managing these surprises:
Financial Preparation: Always include a contingency fund in your budget. For straightforward cosmetic work, a 10% contingency is usually sufficient. However, if you’re working with older buildings, consider a 15-20% contingency to cover potential surprises like hidden damage.
Hire the Right Contractors: Choosing contractors who have experience with school renovations can help mitigate risks and manage unknowns effectively.
Communicate Clearly: Establish clear decision-making processes and ensure all stakeholders are on the same page. This will help you react quickly to any issues that arise during the renovation.
Conclusion
Planning successful summer renovations in schools requires foresight, careful planning, and the ability to adapt to challenges. By starting early, selecting the right projects, and preparing for the unexpected, you can set your school up for a successful renovation season. For more resources on facilities planning and strategic growth, visit our website.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of renovations are best for summer?
Summer is ideal for maintenance projects like flooring replacements, painting, and HVAC upgrades. Avoid major constructions that require extensive planning.
When should we start planning for next year’s renovations?
Start planning in January for minor repairs, and consider beginning now for larger projects that require more time to organize.
How can we prepare for unexpected challenges during renovations?
Include a contingency in your budget, hire experienced contractors, and establish clear communication among decision-makers to anticipate potential issues.
Enrollment is the engine. It drives your revenue, which determines what you can afford from a facilities standpoint, which shapes how many students you can serve, which feeds back into enrollment. Everything connects. And when enrollment is healthy, the whole system has momentum. When it struggles, everything feels it.
Here’s what to consider when approaching enrollment strategically.
Start With Your True Enrollment Ceiling
Before you spend a dollar on marketing or recruitment, you need to know your actual capacity. Not your aspirational capacity—your real one.
That means mapping out every seat by grade and by program. It means accounting for your physical space — yes, including whether there’s an unused closet under a staircase somewhere — and your staffing limitations. You can’t recruit to a number you haven’t defined, and you can’t define it honestly without doing this work first.
I see schools skip this step regularly, and it costs them. They start spending on advertising without knowing what they’re actually recruiting toward. That’s not a marketing problem. That’s a strategy problem.
Your Biggest Enrollment Lever Is Already in Your Building
Retention can be undervalued in enrollment conversations. The families you already have are your single biggest enrollment lever. Keeping them is almost always less expensive than replacing them.
Think about it this way: if a family leaves your school unhappy, you’ve potentially lost not just one student but siblings, cousins, neighbors, and those they would have told about your school. Word of mouth works both directions. And every student you lose means you have to recruit a replacement before you can even start counting toward growth.
So before you focus on filling the bucket, fix the leak. Where are you losing students year over year? Is there a specific grade transition where families consistently don’t return? A particular program gap that’s driving middle schoolers away? These patterns are telling you something, and if you ignore them, no amount of recruitment will get you to your growth goals sustainably.
Dr. Dozier Brown shared something in our webinar that stuck with me — Sacramento Valley Charter is losing seventh- and eighth-graders specifically because of facility limitations. No athletic field. No real basketball court. That’s a retention problem with a facilities root cause. You can’t market your way out of that. You have to fix the underlying issue.
Project Forward, Not Just This Year
Enrollment isn’t a one-year problem, and it shouldn’t be treated like one. I’d encourage every charter leader to look at their enrollment data not just for this coming school year, but two and three years out.
Here’s why this matters practically. Say you had an unusually large kindergarten class a few years ago — maybe during a COVID enrollment surge. That cohort is now moving through your grades. When they graduate or age out of your grade span, you’ll have a much larger replacement need than a typical year. If you haven’t planned for that, it can look like a sudden enrollment crisis when it was actually completely predictable.
I’ve seen this surprise schools that had been otherwise well-managed. They weren’t thinking about the shape of their enrollment over time — just the number they needed to hit each fall.
Look at your wait list trends. Look at your retention rates by grade. Look at population shifts in your community — new housing developments, schools closing nearby, demographic changes. These are the signals that tell you where your enrollment is actually headed, and they give you the lead time to respond thoughtfully instead of reactively.
Plan Your Recruitment to Match Your Reality
Once you know your capacity, your retention rate, your trajectory, and your realistic goals, your recruitment strategy becomes much more focused. You’re not just trying to get families in the door — you’re trying to get the right number of the right families at the right time.
A school of 250 students that wants to grow to 300 isn’t just recruiting 50 students. If they’re losing 55 students annually to normal attrition and graduation, they need to recruit 105 just to hit their net growth target. If they don’t know that number, they’re not setting a marketing budget. They’re guessing.
That planning step — understanding what you actually need to recruit — is what allows you to set a meaningful budget, target the right families, and measure whether your efforts are working. Without it, you’re spending on hope.
The Three Phases of Growth
As you think about where your school is right now, I’d encourage you to place yourself in one of three phases.
In the foundation building phase, you’re establishing financial stability, building enrollment from the ground up, and optimizing what you already have. Growth is the goal but stability is the immediate priority.
In the strategic positioning phase, your enrollment is solid, your finances are strong, and you’re starting to evaluate what’s next — whether that’s a new facility, a program expansion, or a second site.
In the growth execution phase, you’re actively expanding — enrollment, facilities, or both — with the financial and operational foundation to support it.
Knowing which phase you’re in shapes every decision. It tells you where to put your energy, where to put your budget, and what success looks like right now versus two years from now.
One More Thing
I’ll close with this: the schools I’ve seen struggle most are the ones that treat enrollment as a seasonal campaign. They turn it on in January when the lottery opens and turn it off when seats are filled. The schools that thrive treat it as an always-on strategic function — building awareness year-round, nurturing wait lists, staying connected to families even before they’re ready to enroll.
About the Author
Ashley MacQuarrie is VP of Marketing at Grow Schools, where she leads the enrollment marketing team helping charter schools achieve sustainable growth.
As spring approaches, many schools find themselves under pressure to meet enrollment targets. If you’re feeling a bit behind, don’t panic! In this post, we’ll explore five actionable strategies to help school leaders enhance their enrollment efforts during this critical period. Whether you’re facing a top-of-funnel issue or struggling with conversion, these tips will guide you in making a positive impact before the school year ends.
Understanding Your Enrollment Challenges
Before diving into strategies, it’s crucial to identify the specific challenges your school is facing. Are you struggling with attracting new families, or is it a matter of converting inquiries into enrollments? For instance, do families visit your school but fail to complete their applications? Understanding the root of your enrollment issues is the first step toward taking effective action.
Assessing Your Enrollment Landscape
Identify the Problem: Determine if your challenges stem from attracting new families or retaining current ones.
Engage Your Community: Survey existing families to gauge their intent to return. This insight is invaluable for planning your next steps.
1. Revamp Your Open House Strategy
Open houses are a great opportunity to showcase your school, but timing and approach matter. In spring, families are closer to making decisions, so tailor your open house to address their specific concerns rather than delivering a broad sales pitch.
Key Tips for Spring Open Houses
Focus on Specific Questions: Provide answers to concerns like classroom dynamics, teacher interactions, and cultural fit.
Involve Current Families: Leverage testimonials from existing families and staff to create a welcoming atmosphere.
Interactive Tours: Allow potential students and parents to see the campus and meet teachers in a more personal setting.
2. Prioritize Communication with Prospective Families
With limited time before the school year wraps up, ensuring continuous communication with prospective families is key to keeping them engaged.
Effective Communication Strategies
Summer Communication Plan: Start early by planning a communication sequence for families who have already applied. This helps maintain their interest and reduces the risk of no-shows on the first day of school.
Personal Follow-ups: Instead of generic emails, have administrators or staff reach out personally to families who have shown interest. This can foster a stronger connection and encourage commitment.
3. Enhance Referral Programs
Word-of-mouth referrals are one of the most effective ways to attract new students. Encourage your current families to share their experiences and recommend your school to others.
Implementing a Referral Strategy
Create Shareable Content: Provide families with easy-to-share posts or flyers about your school.
Incentives for Referrals: Consider offering incentives for families who refer new students, creating a win-win situation for both parties.
4. Engage on Social Media During the Summer
Many schools mistakenly view summer as a downtime. However, this is a crucial period to keep your school in the minds of prospective families.
Summer Engagement Tactics
Show Behind-the-Scenes Content: Share updates on school preparations, introducing new teachers and showcasing classroom setups.
Create Anticipation: Use social media to build excitement for the upcoming school year, highlighting special events and initiatives.
5. Plan Ahead for Fall Marketing
Don’t wait until the school year starts to plan your fall marketing efforts. Use the summer to lay the groundwork for a successful enrollment push in the fall.
Fall Planning Essentials
Identify Marketing Opportunities: Research local school fairs and community events where you can engage with prospective families.
Prepare Your Outreach: Develop promotional materials in advance to ensure you’re ready to go when the school year starts.
Conclusion
Spring is a critical time for schools to boost enrollment numbers. By understanding your challenges, revamping your open house strategy, prioritizing communication, enhancing referral programs, engaging with families over the summer, and planning for fall marketing, you can set your school up for success. Remember, urgency doesn’t equate to desperation; be strategic in your approach.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should schools do if they are behind on enrollment targets?
To address enrollment challenges, schools should first identify their specific issues, whether it’s attracting new families or converting interested ones. Engaging with existing families for feedback and improving communication can significantly help.
How can open houses be more effective during spring?
Spring open houses should focus on addressing specific concerns families might have, providing more detailed information about teachers, culture, and campus life. Involving current families in the process can enhance authenticity and trust.
What is the importance of referral programs for schools?
Referral programs leverage the experiences of current families to attract new students. They can be incredibly effective in building trust and community engagement, often leading to higher enrollment rates.
About the Author
Ashley MacQuarrie is VP of Marketing at Grow Schools, where she leads the enrollment marketing team helping charter schools achieve sustainable growth.
Sometimes the financial conversations nobody wants to have are usually the most important ones. Budgets, cash ratios, debt service, reserves — these aren’t glamorous topics. But they are the difference between a school that survives a rough patch and one that doesn’t.
At Grow Schools’ recent School Success Trifecta webinar, I talked about financial health not just as a compliance exercise, but as a genuine leadership tool. Here’s what I want every charter leader to take away.
The Numbers That Actually Matter
When I assess a school’s financial health, I focus on a few key indicators. The most important is your defensive interval — essentially, if no more money came in starting today, how long could you keep the lights on and make payroll? The industry standard is at least 3 months. If you’re below that, you’re operating without a safety net.
I also look at your cash ratio and how your expenses track against revenue throughout the year. In California, it’s common for expenses to outpace revenue for much of the school year. That’s not necessarily alarming — but it means you need to know when your cash crunch months are coming and plan for them. One school we worked with was caught off guard when delayed grants and tax credits collided with winter break. A short-term cash flow solution helped them through it, but the better outcome is never being surprised in the first place.
Multi-Year Budgeting Changes Everything
One of the most impactful shifts a charter leader can make is expanding from an annual budget to a multi-year budget. Most states require you to submit budget projections anyway — but there’s a difference between doing it as a compliance exercise and actually using it as a management tool.
When your board can see the financial picture across two or three years, decisions look different. That staff raises you’re considering? Across a single year, it might look manageable. Across three years, it might raise serious sustainability questions. A one-time stipend might be the smarter move. These are the kinds of conversations multi-year budgeting makes possible.
It also gives you a framework for growth planning. If you’re thinking about expanding your enrollment or your facility footprint, you need to be able to model what that looks like over time — not just in the year you make the investment.
Signs You’re Ready to Grow
Growth readiness isn’t just about enthusiasm or wait lists. It’s about financial position. Here’s what I look for:
You have adequate cash flow to weather the costs that come with growth. Adding students means adding teachers, and depending on your state, you may need to spend before the funding catches up. You need runway for that.
Your facility costs are proportionate. Charter schools generally shouldn’t spend more than 15% of annual revenue on rent or debt service. If you’re above that, expansion will only make it harder.
You’re retaining the students you already have. This one surprises people, but retention is your single biggest enrollment lever. It’s far less expensive to keep a family than to replace one.
Don’t Go It Alone
Trying to lead a facilities project without experienced partners is one of the most common and costly errors in this space. At my own charter school in Colorado, we were fortunate to be included in a bond measure that funded a significant construction project. We partnered with an architect, a contractor, and an owner’s rep — and we even invited someone from our authorizer to sit on our RFP process. They felt ownership. They stayed informed. And the project went smoothly because the right people were at the table from the beginning.
There’s never a perfect time to grow. But there is a right way to do it — and it starts with knowing your numbers, building your reserves, and finding partners who’ve done it before.
About the Author
Kristin Nowak is an experienced consultant and former charter school leader with extensive experience supporting charter schools across California, Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee, and Texas since 2014. As Executive Vice President of Strategic Management at Charter School Management Corporation (CSMC), Kristin leads the organization’s sales, business development, marketing, and expansion efforts, helping to grow CSMC’s impact and reach within the charter school sector. With a strong background as a former charter leader, educator, and administrator, as well as a management consultant, Kristin leverages her financial and strategic expertise to guide schools through complex fiscal challenges and regulatory requirements.
Kristin holds a BS in Business Administration/Finance from the University of Southern California (USC), as well as an MA in Education from USC’s Rossier School of Education. She received her Administrator’s Certification through Johns Hopkins graduate certificate program and has also completed graduate-level work at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.
Kristin’s education, leadership experience, and strategic vision make her uniquely qualified to drive growth and innovation in the charter school finance and operations space.
