Monthly Enrollment Comparison

I began a new project on Thursday. I have to compile the enrollment data sent by the schools, contrasting the numbers from each month with numbers of the previous school year (e.g. April ’12 vs. April ’13, May ’12 vs. May ’13, etc.). The main objective is to give schools a more visual picture of what enrollment looks like in their school. This is because the data gathered is then put into a graph, which demonstrates to each school exactly what grade levels need more improvement in terms of enrollment. For example, a school might have sixty students in seventh grade, but only thirty in the third grade, and fifty in first grade. One would hope that with this information, each school’s marketing department or staff members that deal with enrollment, would ask why it is that such a drop occurs. Is it perhaps that a specific teacher in a certain grade level is not liked? Or is there possibly bad education in the lower levels that would lead parents to remove their children from the school? Or might it also be perhaps that financial problems have surfaced, causing parents to be unable to pay tuition, even with archdiocesan loans? Though these questions might appear rather simplistic, they are certainly the first questions that must be asked when looking for solutions to enrollment problems.

A record of past enrollment failings would hint at the fact that marketing was not heavily emphasized when compared the historical enrollment record of the school. Sure each school still spent money on marketing, but it appears that many times, they were asking the wrong questions and employing the wrong techniques. Here, thus, is were being a lover of history comes in to help, since at its core, history (at least any history that is worth paying attention to), always begins with proper understanding of what questions must be asked in order to get the most satisfying answers. A historian, for example, does not simply look at figures and states “enrollment went up/down.” Rather, he first asks why enrollment went down. What factors (social, financial, etc.) impacted the numbers? Are numbers going down across the board, or only in a specific region? What were the social situations in that specific time period that might better let us understand why figures came out the way they did? These, then, are the questions, which I, as a novice historian, try to pose to the different marketing directors that I speak with to help them analyze the situation.

Hence, a project which will take a couple of days. As a heads-up, I have not forgotten that I promised to give a brief history of Catholic schooling in Chicago. I shall, it’s just been a busy time in the archdiocese, but the history will come, so that you might the great and beneficial impact of Catholicism in education.

Peace,

Alvaro