Earlier this year, Avela surveyed over 500 families about their school enrollment experience. We asked about 20 questions covering how families research schools, where they get frustrated, and what parts of the process they wish were different. The goal was to understand the parent perspective so we could build a better platform — and give schools the insight to build better experiences.
What came back was illuminating. And a little surprising.
The Gap Between “Easy” and “Stress-Free”
More than 80% of the families surveyed said their enrollment experience was easy. On the surface, that sounded like good news. But when we dug deeper, those same families had plenty to say about where things could be better: technology that wasn’t mobile-friendly, unclear communication, having to submit the same paperwork multiple times, and more.
The lesson isn’t that everything is fine. It’s that “easy” and “stress-free” are not the same thing. Families will push through friction without labeling the experience a failure—but that friction is still costing schools applicants.
Charter Enrollment Is Increasingly Won or Lost Digitally
One of the clearest findings in the data: charter families are more research-driven than network-driven. While district school families largely rely on word of mouth, charter families are doing their homework online—comparing schools, reading websites, evaluating fit before they ever speak to anyone at a school directly.
What that means practically: your website isn’t just a marketing asset. It’s part of the enrollment experience itself. If a prospective family lands on your homepage and can’t quickly find what makes your school different, or can’t locate the apply button without hunting, they may move on before ever submitting an application.
Try this: put yourself in the shoes of a brand-new parent visiting your site for the first time. Where’s the apply button? What’s the first thing you see? Is it a wall of text, or does it clearly communicate who you are and what you offer? That exercise alone can reveal a lot.
Show Your Academic Outcomes—Don’t Just Claim Them
Academic performance was the number one driver for charter families in our survey, cited by over 70% of respondents. Families choosing a charter school are making an active decision, and they want evidence it’s worth it.
That means showing, not telling. Instead of a tagline about academic excellence, put your actual outcomes somewhere prominent and easy to find—test scores, graduation rates, college placement data. Make it concrete and make it visible.
A fun example: One school I came across had built an interactive map on their website called “Where Are They Now?”, showing where graduates had gone after leaving the school, including colleges and opportunities abroad. It was a simple, compelling way to let outcomes speak for themselves. Families got it immediately.
There’s also a practical AI benefit here. As more families use AI tools to research and compare schools, those tools are pulling specific metrics from websites to surface in answers. Concrete outcome data on your site helps families understand you and helps AI represent you accurately.
Make the Whole Process Mobile-Friendly
Families are starting applications on their phones—and abandoning them when the process forces a switch to desktop to finish. If your enrollment process isn’t fully functional on a mobile device from start to finish, you’re losing applicants at a preventable point.
Walk through your entire application flow on your phone. Where does it break down? Where would a busy parent on the bus give up and put their phone away? The schools that close that gap will see it reflected in their application completion rates.
Where to Start
The families we surveyed are telling schools exactly what they need. They’re doing research—make sure your website meets them there. They care about academics—show the proof. They want a clear, low-friction process—audit it and simplify it.
None of this requires a massive overhaul. Start with one thing. The schools that do will be better positioned for every enrollment season that follows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do charter school families research schools online more than district families?
Charter families are actively choosing a school rather than defaulting to a neighborhood assignment. That active decision-making drives more independent online research—comparing options and evaluating fit before ever contacting a school directly. Avela’s survey found that online research slightly outpaced friends and family recommendations as the top information source for charter families, while word of mouth remained dominant for district school families.
What is the most important thing on a charter school’s website for prospective families?
Clarity and ease of navigation. Charter families are researching your school before they ever reach out, and if they can’t quickly find what makes your school different or locate the apply button, they may move on without applying. Your website is part of the enrollment experience itself—not just a marketing tool.
How should charter schools communicate academic outcomes online?
With specifics, not slogans. Put concrete metrics—test scores, graduation rates, college placement data—somewhere prominent and easy to find. Interactive elements like graduate outcome maps can make the data more engaging. Specific metrics also benefit schools in AI-assisted searches, where tools pull data points to answer families’ questions about school quality.
Why does mobile-friendliness matter for charter school enrollment?
Families are starting and often trying to complete applications on their phones. When the process requires switching to a desktop to finish, application abandonment increases significantly. A fully mobile-friendly enrollment process—from the website through to application submission—reduces that drop-off at a preventable point.
Alex Weitzel is the Marketing Manager for Avela. Avela’s end-to-end enrollment management system is used by K-12 districts and charter schools nationwide, covering everything from school discovery and applications to lotteries, waitlists, and registration.
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