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Student
Admission and Recruitment
One of the most important factors in developing a viable
charter school is the ability to recruit and retain students. Most of
your financial support will come from the state and federal governments,
based on a per-pupil allotment. When planning your program, it is critical
that you understand how many students you need to support it, and are
realistic about the level of interest in your program and your ability
to recruit students. That being said, while dollars are essential, your
educational vision should drive your decision-making.
This section looks at:
Steps in the Admissions/Recruitment/Enrollment Process:
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Conduct market analysis
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Develop admissions/enrollment policies
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Recruit students
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Receive applications
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Determine admission, by lottery, if necessary
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Collect completed enrollment forms
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Create/maintain waiting list, if necessary
I. Student Admission State Law:
Minnesota Statutes 124D.10, subdivisions 8 and 9 govern charter school
admission policies. In general, Minnesota charter schools must admit
any applying student for whom there is room in the appropriate grade
or class. As public schools, charter schools must admit all eligible
students, regardless of race, national origin, ethnicity, gender, language
proficiency, physical or mental disability or academic or other achievement.
Minnesota law specifically states, "a charter school may not limit admission
to pupils on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement
or aptitude, or athletic ability." Charter schools must be non-sectarian
in their admissions policies, and may not charge tuition.
In certain cases, charter schools may limit admission. Charter schools
may limit admission to:
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Pupils within an age group or grade level;
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People who are eligible to participate in the graduation
incentives program under Minnesota Statutes 124D.68; or
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Residents of a specific geographic area where the
percentage of the population of non-Caucasian people of that area
is greater than the percentage of the non-Caucasian population in
the congressional district in which the geographic area is located,
and as long as the school reflects the racial and ethnic diversity
of the specific area.
What happens if the number of applications exceeds the capacity
of the program?
Except as stated above, charter schools must enroll any eligible pupil
who submits a timely application, unless the number of applications
exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building.
If the school receives applications from more students than can be accommodated,
students must be selected based on a lottery. Applicants who do not
receive places in the lottery should be placed on a waiting list, in
the order they were selected in the lottery.
Note, the law requires charter schools to give certain students priority,
before accepting others by lot. These include:
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Pupils who are residents of the town in which the school is located,
if the charter school is the only school located in a town serving
pupils within a particular grade level;
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Pupils who live within two miles of the charter school and the
next closest public school is more than five miles away; and
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Siblings of an enrolled pupil and foster children of that pupil's
parents.
Each charter school may set its own application deadline and lottery
date. When setting deadlines and planning recruitment activities, schools
may want to keep in mind deadlines set by surrounding school districts.
This is especially important in districts like St. Paul, where there
are many options from which to choose.
These open admissions policies apply to conversion schools as
well. Those considering converting a district public school to charter
status should know that students who attended the district school would
not necessarily be admitted to the charter school if the number of students
who apply exceeds the school's capacity.
Federal Law:
With respect to admission policies, charter schools must also comply
with federal civil rights laws and federal laws relating to students
with disabilities. These laws include:
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Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination
on the basis of race, color, or national origin;
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Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs;
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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of disability;
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Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which
prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability; and
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Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
which calls for a free and appropriate public education for all
students, and special education and related services to eligible
students with disabilities.
For more information about how a charter school can be developed and
operated consistent with Federal nondiscrimination laws, see:
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Helping Families Choose:
Because of the open admissions policy, charter schools must be prepared
to serve a wide variety of students, including, for example, those with
special needs, limited English language proficiency or who are performing
below grade level. Charter schools must be flexible, and understand
that their actual student population may differ from the population
they thought they would serve. In reality, many families choose schools
for reasons unrelated to the specific program offered, such as proximity
to home or work, or the attendance of their children's friends.
A special note is warranted regarding special education. A student
may not be denied admission because of special education needs. Currently,
approximately 12% of students enrolled in Minnesota charter schools
require special education services. As a local education agency, each
charter school is responsible for providing these services, although
they may bill the local school district for the cost of these services.
Special education is discussed further in another section of the handbook.
As part of the application process, charter schools should make sure
that families understand the school's program, so they can choose the
school that best serves their children's needs. While any student may
enroll in any school, not every school is a good fit for every student.
For example, a student who needs direct instruction may not thrive in
an independent learning environment and a student with little interest
in the arts may not be engaged in an arts-focused program.
Schools employ a variety of strategies to make sure families clearly
understand their programs and can assess whether it is a good fit for
their child. These might include community presentations, interviews,
school visits and written materials. Some schools offer prospective
students the opportunity to spend one or more days at the school. This
strategy may be particularly valuable for schools implementing less
traditional or less well-known strategies, like project-based learning
or the Montessori method.
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Admission Process and Enrollment Policies:
You should begin working on admissions and enrollment policies and materials
as soon as you have decided what grade levels will be served and approximately
how many students will be enrolled in each grade. It is important that
these policies are in place before you begin to recruit students, especially
if you expect to receive applications from more students than you can
accommodate. If you expect to serve families with limited English language
proficiency, you should consider preparing forms in multiple languages,
and/or developing a system for helping parents who do not speak or read
English complete these forms.
In the course of operating your school, you will be asking parents
for a lot of information. You may be more successful in obtaining this
information if you can limit the number of requests. Try to be creative
in developing forms that serve a variety of purposes.
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II. Student Recruitment
The school choice movement has taken hold in Minnesota, and families
have a number of K-12 options. While offering options is clearly positive
for students and families, the competition created by these options
makes it especially important that each charter school have a strong
student recruitment program.
Before getting too far down the road with your program, you should
know whether there is a market for your program. You might think you
have a great idea that meets a need, but are there actual parents who
share your perspective and would be willing to send their children to
your school? At the high school level, students are actively involved
in the decision-making process. If you are developing a high school
program, are there students who are interested? Charter developers are
strongly encouraged to conduct a market analysis for their program.
You should begin recruiting students as soon as possible. Recruiting
students for the first year of operation is often difficult, as there
is little for families to see. At the same time you are recruiting,
you are developing your curriculum, building your staff and leadership
team, securing a facility, etc. Although a handful of schools open with
a waiting list of students, far too many schools find themselves recruiting
students in late August. This has serious repercussions on your planning.
A variety of recruitment strategies are listed below. You will most
likely want to use some combination of strategies. Here are some tips
that might be useful with whichever recruitment strategies you choose:
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Make sure you have a clear vision and mission and can communicate
it to the intended audience.
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Focus on your program's strengths, but don't "over promise." Be
honest and realistic. Nothing hurts a school more than being unable
to deliver on significant elements of the program. Focus on what
is good about your school, not what is bad about the district schools.
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Where appropriate, use hands-on activities to help families understand
your program.
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Develop a clear, succinct brochure that describes your program.
It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive, but make sure it is well
written and appealing. You don't want the public to have a negative
impression of your school because your brochure is full of spelling
errors or is badly copied. You might want to develop a web page
where families could request materials, or even register, on line.
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Whatever kinds of marketing materials you develop, make sure prospective
parents know how to follow-up and get in touch with a live person
at the school. Make sure your contact information is accurate.
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Make sure you understand your target population. Make sure materials
and presentations are in the language and at a level your population
can understand.
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Often a more targeted recruitment effort is more successful than
a wider effort. For example, running ads in a neighborhood newspaper
may generate more interest than those in a major paper.
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Use parents and students. They will be your best recruiters.
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Recruiting Strategies to Consider
Here are some of the strategies that various Minnesota charter schools
have used in recruiting students. They are listed in no particular order.
Depending on the type of program at your school, and the audience of
prospective students you want to attract, you'll probably use some combination
of tactics.
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Seek attention in the local media. This can include calling and
sending information on your program to newspapers and radio and
TV stations serving your target area. A new school starting up is
likely to be considered noteworthy enough to merit some attention.
When interviewed by the local press, it's best to avoid negative
comments, i.e., don't bash the existing school system. Clearly state
your purposes in starting the new school and how your program will
help children learn.
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Contact the Center for School Change to enter your school in the
Profiles of Minnesota Charter Schools, a searchable, online directory
of charter schools in the state.
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Take out paid advertising in the local media. You're likely to
have a limited budget for marketing, but local newspapers can be
relatively inexpensive, and this is another way to put your name
and message before the public.
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Announce school events through public service listings. Local newspapers
may have events calendars where a school grand opening or open house
for prospective students and parents can be listed.
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Contact social workers, probation officers, welfare officials
and people in similar occupations and give them information that
they in turn can give to families with whom they work.
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Go door-to-door passing out material on your program. This can
be particularly effective if you're targeting specific neighborhoods.
The door-to-door strategy is clearly very labor-intensive. You may
want to recruit volunteers - parents, older students, other community
members to help.
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Ask yourself where your targeted audience is likely to spend time,
and drop off school materials in those places, e.g., daycare centers,
community recreation centers, barber and beauty shops, libraries,
stores and other local businesses.
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Post flyers/posters advertising your school around the neighborhoods
you are targeting.
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Attend meetings of community groups to talk about your program.
This could include block clubs, community councils, tenants' organizations,
and cultural organizations, or places of worship.
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Join your local chamber of commerce, and/or attend meetings of
a local business association in order to build ties to the business
community.
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Contact real estate agents so they will have information on your
school to give to potential homebuyers who are often interested
in area schools.
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Participate in local street fairs or festivals. Community groups
or local chambers of commerce will be able to tell you about these
events, which may allow you to have a table or booth to hand out
information about the school.
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Do mass mailings to targeted areas. Mailing lists are available
from a variety of list brokers (look under Mailing Services in the
Yellow Pages) and can easily be targeted to specific groups by geographic
area and family characteristics, e.g., parents with children in
a specific age range. You'll be able to reduce mailing costs a great
deal if you have a non-profit bulk-mailing permit.
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Encourage current parents and current or former students to spread
the word about your school. A good word from a neighbor or friend
will mean more to a parent than any message coming directly from
the school.
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