Embedded Files
RATIONALE
The steep decline in Pre-K/K enrollment during the pandemic necessitates the need to now find students who have been absent or missing and re-enroll them into school. Additionally, given the importance of Pre-K and high-quality early learning experiences described throughout this toolkit, districts should take this opportunity to find and enroll eligible students who have previously not been enrolled in order to better support their social emotional skills and academic readiness for later success.
Source: Families Empowered (2021), n=214
CONCRETE STRATEGIES
CONCRETE STRATEGIES
DISTRICT-LEVEL
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Consider Family Diversity
Acknowledge that students may be in the care of extended family such as grandparents, aunts, uncles.
2. Gather Family Input
Survey families in the community to understand why they did not or have not yet enrolled in Pre-K. Understand the localized, neighborhood concerns and create messaging to address within a local context.
Even after COVID-19, districts should continue to survey parents of eligible students and incoming Kindergarten students to understand why parents did/did not enroll in Pre-K.
3. Identify Where Eligible Students Are to Inform Outreach
Use data to identify neighborhoods with the highest number of eligible students who have not yet enrolled in Pre-K and target enrollment outreach there. Focus on the potential eligible population, not necessarily which neighborhood campuses have open seats.
CAMPUS-LEVEL
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Conduct Targeted Community Outreach Efforts at the Campus Level
Conduct enrollment and re-enrollment outreach at the campus level.
Leverage teachers to help in finding missing students as the families first connection to the campus. . Support teachers engaging in this work so that this is a manageable and not burdensome duty. Teachers should go out in the 2 weeks prior to the start of school to introduce themselves and engage with students/families in the community. This effort will be most impactful if focused on areas where the data shows there are high numbers of PreK eligible students. The Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project has great tools to connect with families.
Utilize parent coordinators and the PTA to create a cohort of ambassadors to conduct outreach and connect with prospective families.
RESOURCES
RESOURCES
Watch the video and review the PowerPoint presentation from the Pre-K 4 SA & Early Matters webinar: Recovering Pre-K Enrollment After COVID
Get inspiration from Central Texas’ PreK Prescription Pads distributed to families by pediatricians and doctors in their communities. TEA also offers instructions for how to use this tool:
Use the information to create a prescription for your area
Reproduce as a notepad to distribute to local primary care providers
Meet with the primary care providers to provide some context and background about your programs and why they should prescribe it
Follow these instructions to find eligible student population and determine how to best use that data (for example to create a heatmap showing at the campus level hotspots for not just open seats, but eligible students)
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