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Why It’s Time to Survey Your Parents (and What Most Schools Get Wrong)
If you’re like most school leaders, you’ve just come through one of the most important seasons of the year: re-enrollment.
Most schools move on from re-enrollment without fully understanding what just happened.
Seats are filled, or you are still working to finalize a few decisions. Numbers are coming together. Plans for next year are already in motion.
And now comes an important question:
Do you really understand what just happened?
Re-Enrollment Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
Many schools look at their re-enrollment numbers and draw conclusions.
“We had a strong year.”
“We lost a few families, but nothing unusual.”
But here’s the reality:
Re-enrollment tells you what happened. It doesn’t tell you why it happened or what will happen next.
The decisions families made were not formed in the last few weeks.
They were shaped over time through their experiences, interactions, and ultimately, their confidence in your school.
The Metric That Matters Most: Parent Confidence
In my work with schools across the country, one truth continues to surface:
Retention is simply the result of parent confidence.
When parents are confident, they stay, engage, and tell others.
When confidence begins to slip, the signs are usually subtle. Questions increase. Engagement declines. Families quietly begin to explore other options.
And most of the time, schools don’t see it coming until it’s too late.
Because they’re not measuring the right thing.
Why Most Schools Struggle to See It
This is where many schools get stuck.
They rely on:
- Anecdotal feedback
- A handful of conversations
- Assumptions based on past experience
But confidence doesn’t always announce itself.
In fact, many families who leave never clearly express their concerns beforehand.
So leaders are left asking:
“What did we miss?”
Where Surveys Fit (and Where They Don’t)
This is where surveys can play an important role, but only if they’re used correctly.
A survey is not the strategy.
It is a tool.
And on its own, it will not improve retention, strengthen your culture, or increase enrollment.
What matters is how you use the insight.
A well-designed parent survey can help you:
- See patterns you would not otherwise notice
- Identify where confidence is strong and where it may be slipping
- Surface concerns before they turn into attrition
But the real value comes next.
How you interpret the data.
How you respond as a leadership team.
And how you improve the experience moving forward.
What Most Schools Get Wrong
Over the years, I have seen schools limit the impact of surveys, not because they do not care, but because of how they approach them.
They treat surveys as an event instead of a process.
They collect data but do not translate it into action.
They focus on satisfaction scores without asking what those scores actually mean for the future.
And in many cases, they overlook a critical connection:
The experience of your faculty and staff directly shapes the experience of your families.
If you do not understand both, you do not have the full picture.
A Better Approach: Leading with Clarity
The schools that are leading in enrollment and retention are not guessing.
They are intentional about understanding their community.
They combine:
- Direct feedback from parents
- Insight into the employee experience
- Ongoing conversations and observations
This creates something incredibly valuable:
Clarity.
Not just a snapshot, but an understanding of patterns, trends, and underlying issues.
And that clarity allows leaders to act early, respond thoughtfully, and strengthen the experience before small concerns become bigger problems.
Don’t Move Forward Without Understanding
As you look ahead to next year, resist the temptation to simply move forward based on assumptions.
Instead, pause and ask:
- Where is parent confidence strongest right now?
- Where might it be slipping?
- What are your families actually experiencing day to day?
Because the schools that grow are not the ones that collect the most data.
They are the ones who understand it and lead differently because of it.
Final Thought
Surveying your parents is not the goal.
Understanding your families is.
And when you have that clarity, you make better decisions, lead more effectively, and build a stronger, more sustainable enrollment.
Take the Next Step
If you want a clearer understanding of parent confidence at your school, and what to do about it, I’d be glad to help.
👉 Schedule a conversation by emailing me directly: Rick.Newberry@EnrollmentCatalyst.com
👉 Learn more about my School Survey Solutions
