When it comes to driving enrollment, tuition and impact at your day school, the answer is unequivocally-Yes.
Making data driven decisions definitely can make a difference, and Sacha Litman, Managing Director of Measuring Success offers the tools and quantitative analytics to help us improve excellence and managementat at our schools.
His session at the NAJDS conference Sunday entititled Driving Enrollment, Tuition and Impact by Improving Your Perceived Quality made the case that Word of Mouth (WOM) can work for or against a school-depending upon what is being said. What are people saying? Ask the right questions in a Parent Survey-and you'll find out. Not the word on the street-but the real story. Here's how it can help.
STATS tell us that 60% of our day school inquiries come from WOM referrals and perceived quality is a main driver to WOM. By collecting solid facts, we can see in black and white what people are really thinking about our schools and systematically understand our strengths and areas for improvement. By identifying factors in our schools that attract and retain families, we can focus on key areas that matter most and improve areas where parents aren't satisfied.
As Sacha expressed, "listening to your data is about alignment and driving to a goal. We cannot swim in different directions". I'm sold. By setting goals and putting action steps in place towards those goals, we will improve the bottom line. Data can help us make smarter decisions.
So what are you going to do to impact data collection at your school when you return to the office from the NAJDS conference?
The North American Jewish Day School Conference is the premier opportunity to learn, network, and engage with day school leaders from across the spectrum.
This subject is dear to me, Elaine. I am PEJE’s Business Analyst and have worked with Measuring Success on selecting 19 metrics from the 50 or so out there in the day school field as the key drivers to a school achieving financial sustainability. PEJE’s newest partnership with JData has been the focus of much work in the last five months. Together, we have been promoting uniform data reporting in JData by all Jewish day schools.
ReplyDeleteSo, I hope the answer to your question “So what are you going to do to impact data collection at your school when you return to the office from the NAJDS conference?” is this: “Our school is committed to reporting its data at JData.com.”
And here’s an incentive. Those schools that fill out the entire JData day school profile form will be ready to use PEJE’s free “Dashboard Metrics Tool and Guide,” designed by PEJE and Measuring Success (available in early Spring 2012). With this tool and guide, a school will be able to calculate the metrics and self-assess its progress toward achieving financial sustainability.
How does the self-assessment work? The 2010-2011 JData numbers serve as a baseline on which to calculate the metrics. A school will compare metrics using 2011-2012 data against metrics using the baseline data, and see clearly the change and progress it has made toward achieving financial sustainability.
Why is self-assessment important? Because ignorance is NOT bliss. Should a school be unaware of faltering on the road to achieving financial sustainability, a self-assessment is a valuable wake-up call. Once a school becomes aware of where it stands, it is in a prime position to articulate just where help is needed. And knowing sooner rather than later can mean reversing perilous financial situations.
One final note. The more schools reporting data in JData, the more the results in those JData aggregate reports accurately depict the broader Jewish day school landscape.
Debbi Miller, PEJE