Student Attrition-Two Factors that Must Be Addressed by Public Schools

Two of the most important factors that must be addressed are the areas of attitude and action. Public school leaders and their teams must acquire and maintain the right attitude in response to the sea of changes in which they are immersed.

Dr. Hearsill Wilson said, “The things we do that we do not have to do will always determine what we are when it is to late to do anything about it.” In other words the things you and your staff do now will influence where you end up later. The choices and actions taken in the present moment will define where your organization will be in the future. 

Can your efforts totally change the direction of the movement of parents and their children to a school district other than yours? No, they can’t, but what you and your team can do, by thinking the right thoughts and making the necessary changes, is that you can keep many more students in your school district and attract new ones.

Whichever way things go in the future, the school districts who satisfy and even exceed the needs and wants of their parents and their children will be in far better shape than those school districts that do not.


Why is this so important? Because keeping students in your school district means revenue from the state. To understand the full impact this has, let’s look at what the lifetime monetary value of just one of your students really is.

Here is a formula that you can use for determining the lifetime monetary value of a student. In this scenario we will use the amount of $7,000 to represent the amount of state funding per student.

Determining the Lifetime Dollar Value of one Student:

     $7,000 per student per year  X  13 years = $91,000

Ideally you would like to retain that student for the full 13 years they are attending elementary, middle and high school.

When you take into consideration the potential financial contributions as a lifetime alumni, it could far exceed this amount of $91,000.

The loss of just 25 students in one year would equal $175,000. When you multiply that times the 13 years they would have been part of your school system it equals the staggering sum of $2,750,000.

Needless to say, it is imperative that you and your team do everything possible to exceed the expectations of your student and parent base and retain them as lifetime clients.

For more information on how Tom Borg Consulting, LLC can help your school district attract and retain more students, please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or visit our website at:
www.tomborgconsulting.com

 2. Source: The U.S Postal Service Nears Collapse, Bloomberg Business Week, May 26, 2011
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