As a part of their holistic effort to improve school climate and culture district-wide, a Hanover Research partner is looking to increase family and community engagement. The partner hopes that increasing community engagement will inspire trusting, collaborative relationships with current families, as well as increase new student enrollment. In the past two years, 1.2 million students have left public schools.
Decreasing public school enrollment is partially due to declining birth rates. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated student mobility and motivated some parents to homeschool their children. Charter schools have also negatively impacted public school enrollment as charter school enrollment has increased over the past six years. Research shows that enhancing family engagement and community awareness improves school climate and student enrollment.
To support these efforts, Hanover created this Best Practices report outlining how districts can assess and raise community awareness and perceptions of their neighborhood schools. This report also illustrates how districts can support individual school branding and communication strategies and effectively measure increases in community awareness and perceptions.
This report contains the following sections:
- Section I: Assess Community Awareness outlines how districts can survey parent communication preferences, as well as plan and assess district outreach.
- Section II: Improve School Perception describes how districts can create a brand for their school, participate in digital communication, and implement creative community engagement strategies.
