Category: Projects Spring 2017

Your Name: Clay High School  Date Updated: 2/5/2017
Project Description

Parents have many choices when choosing a high school for their kids. They are faced with many trade-offs in the process; public vs. private, arts vs. academics, large vs. small, and many others. We will be working with Clay High School to investigate why their enrollment numbers have dropped, and how they can attract more students.  

Our goal is to get more information about the process that parents go through when selecting a high school for their kids, and hopefully discover why fewer parents are selecting to send their kids to Clay. We will also explore the student experience, to see whether the students are content with their high school.  

• What are the main criteria parents use when selecting a high school for their kids
  • What are some of the most attractive/unattractive elements of Clay?
  • What is the public perception of Clay High School?
  • How does Clay market itself to prospective students/parents? Pamphlets, websites, etc?
• What do other high schools have that Clay does not? Programs, specific classes, or arts?
• Why do enrollment numbers matter for Clay?

Current Clay students and their parents

Middle School students that will be making their high school choice

Meet with the Principal and teachers to learn more about the high school, and all the programs/classes/activities that are offered

Meet with students from different groups to get a pulse on the best and worst parts of Clay

Potentially sit-in on some classes or student meetings to better understand the student experience

Meet with parents of Clay students, as well as parents of students from other high schools in the area, to see why they chose their specific high school for their student

Research the different marketing methods that Clay uses to attract students to their school.

We expect to find certain elements of Clay High School that could use some innovation or revamping, and we will hopefully work with the administration to improve these elements. We also expect to learn more about the process that parents go through to select a high school for their parents, and we will share this with the administrators to help them better market their school.

Increased enrollment numbers for the 2017-2018 school year

Increased satisfaction numbers from current students

Valuable feedback from students and parents about necessary improvements and additions

We hope to contact the principal this week, and set up a meeting with him and some of the teachers. After this, we will get some feedback from him about his thoughts on the status of the school, and then we will set out to gather our own data and research on the perception of Clay. After this, we will gather the data, and brainstorm among our team where we believe the school excels, and where it falls short, and then present ways that we believe the school can innovate to remain competitive among other public schools.