The Inside Scoop on Managing a High-Demand Enrichment Programs

For Private & Independent Schools: Be Mindful & Consistent

If you’re wondering how to better handle high-demand afterschool programs as an auxiliary director or manager, then take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Your focus should be on consistency and mindfulness.

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Tip #1: Understand the Needs of Students and Families

It's essential for afterschool program directors to understand the interests and needs of their students and their families. Many do this by conducting surveys, focus groups, and collecting feedback from previous programs can help you determine what enrichment programs will be popular and what activities should be included in a schedule.

But building out a quality schedule of classes is only part of the equation. Students and families also want to be able to shop around for afterschool enrichment programs that suit their interests and needs. In other words, they don’t just want a schedule of courses to join, but the autonomy to choose which auxiliary programs to attend.

This is often a challenge for directors when registration opens. The higher the demand for a class, the faster rosters fill up. But this can be frustrating for students and families—especially if they targeted a school in part for its auxiliary programs. To simplify this busy period, consider adopting afterschool enrichment software.

One key feature of enrichment software is the simplification of registration. Leading software can handle a large number of people signing up for classes at the same time—without slowing down or crashing. Enrichment software can also automate waitlists, then manages that waitlist as the start date approaches. This allows parents to shop around for which courses they want to enroll their children in. And if there’s a waitlist, it also lets them finish registering online later.

Tip #2: Develop a Clear Schedule

Along with simplifying the registration period, it’s important for auxiliary program directors to stick to a clear itinerary. Developing a fixed schedule with specific timelines and deadlines for activities, events, and registration can help you effectively manage and organize high-demand enrichment programs.

This is especially important given the registration period for summer, fall, and spring courses open throughout the year. By sticking to a firm and consistent schedule, parents and students can better manage their own enrollment in afterschool enrichment programs.

Maintaining a set schedule also goes a long way in helping meet demands for afterschool care, too. One reason some private schools opt to use Homeroom’s afterschool software is that it allows parents to see their child’s extended day care and afterschool enrichment schedules in a single place. This is useful for schools that offer multiple tiers of afterschool care and enrichment.

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For Providers: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

Auxiliary program directors need to step into the shoes of the students and families they serve. However, the challenges that activity providers face are quite different when it comes to high-demand enrichment programs. Given how varied a provider’s scope can be, approaches to each high-demand class will differ. However, there are a few tips that providers can use to make things easier in a highly complex job.

Tip #1: Maximize Resources

Though resource management is important in any position, activity providers must maximize all their resources, including staff, funding, and facilities. If you’re able to expand a class’s size by hiring more staff, it will help you reach more students. This is the most straightforward way to handle more students when there’s increased demand—but enrichment programs can’t just expand infinitely to include more students.

After all, providers don’t have access to unlimited supplies and instructors, nor do they want to take on more students than they can handle. So, aside from staffing appropriately, activity providers must know how to work with what they have.

For example, maximizing resources with independent schools versus PTA volunteer groups and non-profits involves different approaches. If you’re feeling the pressure of organizing programs with different types of schools and organizations, consider adopting enrichment software to simplify operations.

Just like with auxiliary program directors, enrichment software can make an immediate impact in streamlining the management and organization of afterschool programs, from registration to payment to student tracking. Additionally, software can help providers meet compliance when necessary.

Tip #2: Focus on What You Do Best

Some providers run enrichment programs with different types of schools and organizations. For example, an afterschool music academy might now be part of public, private, and non-profit afterschool enrichment schedules—but that provider may have had several years of experience before launching their own music academy.

Providers who are becoming bogged down by high-demand classes might consider refocusing their scope. If a class or program is becoming incredibly high demand, it might make more sense to focus for a provider to focus their efforts on expanding, improving, and diversifying the program that’s driving more interest in their services.

Alternatively, a provider might focus on serving one type of institution to scale back demands. For example, if a non-profit organization can pay consistently and wants a fixed schedule, it may make sense to work exclusively with that organization—at least until a provider can scale up to meet growing demands.