KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools is part of the growing network of KIPP Public Schools. KIPP Public Schools is a national network of free, open enrollment, college-preparatory public schools dedicated to supporting all students to reach their highest aspirations. There are 270 KIPP schools across the nation serving more than 120,000students. Nationally, KIPP students have a 4X higher graduation rate than that of their peers.

KIPP Metro Atlanta currently operates eleven KIPP schools including four primary schools, five middle schools, one K-7 school, and one high school, as well as the KIPP Forward program which supports students through college, career, and beyond. 

The Director of Enrollment is responsible for managing comprehensive, action-oriented student recruitment, enrollment, and retention program that will position KIPP Metro Atlanta School as the schools of choice for Atlanta families and ensure we hit 100% enrollment across all grades and schools, and that over 97% of our students return year over year for reasons within our control. This will be achieved by directing student recruitment strategies, promoting KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools city-wide, working with schools and families to retain students each year K-12, and engaging with community partners to mitigate barriers to attending KIPP schools. The Director will be instrumental in crafting, developing, implementing, and monitoring the org-wide enrollment strategy. The Director of Enrollment will manage a Central Enrollment Specialist and support a school-level Registrar Cohort, coordinating support across other regional team members.

The ideal candidate has experience setting a vision, building strategy, and driving execution, often simultaneously, and is passionate about taking on the challenges and opportunities inherent in the current school enrollment atmosphere.  We are seeking a leader who has a deep understanding of the strategies and tactics necessary to achieve our student enrollment goals, and who is excited to analyze data and create actionable recommendations based on findings. You must be comfortable with ambiguity and able to creatively problem solve to accomplish our shared goals.

As a Director of Enrollment your core responsibilities include;

Enrollment Strategy

• Design, develop, refine, and execute enrollment and relationship development strategy across the recruitment and enrollment season including pre-launch, application launch, lottery, orientation, registration, and the first day of school as well as ongoing during the school year
• Establish, manage and implement the organization’s student recruitment strategies and operational plans that support the recruitment of qualified students in line with set targets at each school.  Accountable for annual application and budgeted enrollment goals.
• Collect, evaluate and share data concerning the performance of individual recruitment initiatives and the overall student recruitment strategy.  
• Partner with school-based teams to ensure all resources needed for central enrollment and school operations teams are established for each phase of the recruitment and enrollment cycle.
• Ensure school teams are planning and executing student recruitment events, including recruitment fairs, school visits, community-organized events, presentations at community partners, etc. 
• Lead team to identify key target markets and program development opportunities based on business intelligence, industry trends, and research to ensure relevant recruitment strategies and plans.
• Create and execute a plan to engage schools, families, and scholars in strategic efforts to retain students and ensure the continuation of enrollment each year from Kindergarten to 12th grade, with special attention to matriculating grade levels of 4th to 5th and 8th to 9th
• Understand enrollment management as a research-based process; initiate research studies/projects, which aid in understanding the effects and outcomes of KIPP’s student experience, academic culture, and learning environment impact on overall enrollment.
• Develop processes and systems to aggressively monitor student withdrawals and gather as much information as possible for why each student and family chooses to leave; provide recommendations on how to mitigate student attrition and coordinate efforts to address these challenges through policy changes, resource allocation, community partners, etc.
• Connect with other leaders, school teams, community partners, and businesses to recommend intervention strategies for common withdrawal reasons within our control, to retain as many students and families as possible.
• Remain knowledgeable and provide market insight to drive strategic decisions and monitors local, state-wide, national, and international enrollment trends.

Data and Systems Management

• Provide accurate and timely enrollment and matriculation data to school-based and regional leaders including progress towards goals (e.g., applications received, families, completing re-enrollment, seats offered, seats accepted, etc.)
• Develop a full picture of enrollment trends using historical data trends, analysis of local competition, and context of national trends (within KIPP, charter schools, and in general)
• Serve as primary liaison with student enrollment platform and lead overall implementation; partner with direct reports to ensure configuration aligns with the expectations for school zoning and the user experience.
• Ensure a smooth and compliant lottery process that aligns with our Board policies and equitably offers seats to newly applied families in a timely and efficient way.
• Responsible for the data quality of student profile information in the student information system, entered during the enrollment process; leads school teams to execute gathering the necessary documentation and accurately and completely entering all necessary student profile information (e.g., demographics, household information, contact information, etc.) in a uniform and systemized way
• Develop a strategy and system for ensuring student profile information remains up-to-date in the student information system and that it remains the one, true source of truth for this information schoolwide, across all stakeholders
• Develop and maintain tools for collecting withdrawal reasons from families with enough detail to understand the reason for the withdrawal and address barriers as needed
• Work with school operations teams to ensure permanent student records are maintained and secure at each school; implement best practices and district, state, and legal compliance around student permanent records files; make recommendations around hard copy vs. digitized methods for storing records.
• Oversee school process for organizing, auditing, and ensuring complete records (including requests from others schools) at the beginning of the year and throughout the year.

 Team Management and Cross-functional Leadership

• Lead cross-functional team for shared focus and action around enrollment and the financial and organizational implications of enrollment trends on operations (e.g., funding, impact of rolling enrollment, staffing needs, etc.)
• Collaborate with Marketing & Communications team to create and implement a marketing strategy that increases enrollment; works to provide ROI analysis for enrollment efforts and associated marketing initiatives.
• Collaborate with the MD of Operations to support DOO leadership development, training, progress monitoring, and accountability of our enrollment and matriculation process 
• Collaborate with the Finance team to review data and support setting appropriate enrollment targets in our financial model and monitor annually
• Lead, coach, and develop the Central Enrollment Specialist
• Support direct report(s) by leading meetings with school-based leaders, sharing and building strategies that inform and drive progress.
• Contribute to a learning cohort of Registrars including training, establishing and sharing best practices, supporting process improvement, and thought-partnering on data entry or quality issues.

School Support and Training

• Develop detailed, well-structured, and differentiated training and consultation (e.g., office hours) for school leadership teams and parent engagement teams (e.g., parent liaisons, parent quarterbacks, family engagement teams) to cover the essentials of managing recruitment, enrollment, matriculation, and withdrawal prevention/intervention. 
• Work closely with regional and school leaders to ensure successful change management and implementation of the full enrollment program.
• Travel to school sites to check in with school teams on enrollment progress, data integrity in records and student information entry, identify pain points, and coach and develop leaders in the recruitment, enrollment, and retention plays.
• Develop reference tools and other resources (e.g., guides, handbooks, training videos) to support ongoing training and professional development for school staff.

• Bachelor’s degree - required
  • Master’s degree preferred
• 7+ years of professional work experience with a background in urban education preferred
• Knowledge of student information systems (e.g., Infinite Campus), student recruitment platforms (e.g., SchoolMint) and district/state policies and procedures
• Outstanding project management and organizational skills with extraordinary attention to detail
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders, partners and audiences
• Strong analytic, strategic and problem-solving skills
• A passion for being a part of a team-oriented, mission-driven school culture
• Values input and feedback

Compensation:

We offer a competitive salary that depends on prior experience, as well as a benefits package including

• Healthcare (medical, vision, and dental) 
• Life and Long-term Disability
• Additional Voluntary Supplemental Insurance 
• Enrollment in the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia (mandatory for all employees)