Registration &
Data Tracking 

In a ministry with so many moving parts, it is important to have an organized system for registering students and keeping track of key data points for students and volunteers. This is important both for your own reflection on the success of the ministry, and we ask that you share certain data points with Refuge, which we use for our own reports and grant applications. 

Registration

The first organization system you will need is registration to document students interested in your class. At minimum, you will need to have paper registration forms available for the first night students arrive and weekly when new students come to your class.  

Online Registration Form (Requires registration with Refuge first): Refuge has created an online registration and data tracking system for you to use with your site. It can register students and also be used to track attendance. Reach out to Refuge (info@refugeintl.org) if you would like to customize a registration form for your site. 

Paper Registration Form:  You can use this simple registration form from Refuge, or save a copy and modify it to suit your purposes.

If you do adapt it, we recommend keeping it as simple as possible. It can be difficult for students to fill out this form, and we suggest having several volunteers available on the first night to assist students in filling out the form. You can have students fill out a paper form and then have a volunteer enter these into your data tracking system, or you can make a QR code for students to register on their phones the night of. If you do the QR codes for electronic registration, be sure to have paper forms as a back up in case technology fails. 

Some sites prefer to have a website with pre-registration using a simple online form, such as a Google form.  Students who receive your flyer or hear about your class can register, translate the form into their language on their phone, and register before the first night. This benefits you as well by having an estimated number of students who may show up to class and also having them already registered will save time. If you do have an online pre-registration, be sure to  also have paper forms or QR codes with the online form for students who show up without registering. 

Open Enrollment

We recommend opting to use open enrollment for your class, which means that new students can show up at any time of the semester. It is very normal for you to start to lose students as the semester goes on, so having new students will help keep classes a good size.  Register and assess new students when they arrive, and when in doubt, place them one level below their abilities. Don't worry about catching them up with past material; have teachers help them jump in wherever the class is that week.  

Data Tracking

To help with understanding your ministry, there are key data points you should track throughout a semester. At minimum, you should keep track of: 

• Students who register for the class 

• Weekly student attendance 

• Weekly volunteer attendance 

• Student performance-- do they move up levels or repeat the same level when you change semesters

You can also consider other metrics, like student evaluations, volunteer evaluations, and more. 

Refuge has a data tracking system that you can use to register students and track attendance.  If you choose to use a different tracking system, we ask that you please send us your data at the end of each term (student and volunteer attendance, student performance).