Strategic Student Recruitment for Diverse Schools

STRATEGIC STUDENT RECRUITMENT

The Challenge: Compass is an intentionally diverse, inclusive Pre-K through 5th grade elementary school in Fort Greene, Brooklyn that has been educating students for 10 years. As an intentionally diverse charter school, Compass reserves a portion of its seats for students from socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) backgrounds and those who are English language learners (ELL). As the demographics of Fort Greene shifted over the last decade due to gentrification and population movement, this essential facet of their model was getting harder and harder to achieve. Compass tapped us to design a student recruitment outreach strategy that would ensure they could continue to reach these families year after year.

Our Approach: Using our expertise in outreach and strategic family messaging, we developed a plan to reach SED and ELL families in the school’s immediate vicinity. We knocked on doors and canvassed in key buildings and high traffic areas and built relationships with feeder preschools nearby Compass. We employed digital advertising, strategic message testing, and audience segmentation to reach the families Compass was seeking.

The Results: Since we began working with Compass in 2021, we have meaningfully increased enrollment among their special populations categories and brought thousands of high-quality leads into the enrollment funnel. This has enabled Compass to continue delivering its mission to honor the individuality of each learner and support an intentionally diverse student body.