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Vista College Preparatory is a high performing public and free charter school network in Phoenix, Arizona. They operate five elementary and middle schools. They serve a mostly low-income population.
THE CHALLENGE
Vista College Prep scaled quickly since their founding in 2013, growing from one school site to five school sites throughout Phoenix, Arizona. Historically, Vista’s recruitment cycle has always grounded itself in budgeted targets and has seen peak application season happening throughout late June and July. The challenge with grounding in budgeted targets is that those targets don’t account for summer attrition and fall no-shows. Vista saw a need to improve their data tracking, goal setting and forecasting to ensure budgeted targets were achieved on the first day of school and maintained throughout the school year. They needed more sophisticated data tracking systems to combat the changing education landscape and their growing model.
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Limited resources
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Enrollment targets that don’t match the enrollment cycle
- Applications coming in late
THE SOLUTION
To start, Vista developed realistic, data-informed enrollment targets. The team analyzed three year’s worth of data to assess summer attrition, start-of school no-show rates, in-year attrition, and top lead- and application- generating pipelines. The team used this data to ground their enrollment targets. They built more sophisticated forecast models by grade and campus which identified micro-level sensitives and strengths to better inform the macro-level strategy and target setting process. They leveraged HubSpot Data Dashboards to strengthen the level of data transparency across the organization. The dashboards included monthly breakdowns of progress toward goals, insight into lead-generating tactics, app converting tactics, and team management insights. The increased level of data transparency, maniacal focus on data and the revitalization of field strategy, supported Vista College Prep’s most successful recruitment cycle yet.
THE RESULTS
50%
Increase in lead generation year over year
10%
Increase in enrollment
$145
Decrease in cost per enrollment
Historical Data & Informed Forecasting
HubSpot allowed Vista to conduct a historical data analysis on various metrics like leads per week, applications per week, and success of various pipelines. Using the findings from this historical analysis, the student recruitment team was able to build out a forecast model for realistic and data grounded targets. These targets would account for Summer Attrition and August No Shows. The deep level of data analysis allowed for illuminating findings at the grade level by campus as well as overall campus level. Targets were able to be adjusted due to these findings and the team had the foresight to anticipate which campuses would be more difficult to recruit for and plan accordingly.
Data Transparency Driving to Action
HubSpot Data Dashboards allowed the Vista team a heightened level of data transparency on which they could take immediate action. For example, while bringing on external vendors to support their field strategy, they were able to track specific conversion rates, lead quality rates, monitor where in the funnel those contacts were affiliated with each vendor.
Historically, Vista has always seen their peak application season land in July, however, with the first day of school falling July 30 or August 1, this late-season boost presents obvious challenges. it is after the estimated counts submission date, schools are already hosting back to school and family orientation events, and it is harder to recruit a family who has already committed to another school. Therefore, based on HubSpot data, Vista had a goal to collect a higher volume of applications earlier in the cycle, rather than just wait for the normal peak season to hit.
Vista increased its field strategy and launched it earlier than ever before. They were more aligned with their digital campaign strategies and had stronger events with longer promotional runways.
We continue to be so impressed with the work HIVE does in support of our student and teacher recruitment.
Julia Meyerson
Executive Director
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