Building Trust Through Communication: How To Effectively Engage Families In Enrollment
The landscape of American education is evolving, shaped by the rich diversity of modern family life. Today, over 5.1 million students come from households where English is not the primary language¹, while nearly a quarter of American children live in single-parent homes². These demographics fundamentally reshape how we must approach school enrollment—transforming it from a standardized process into an opportunity for meaningful family engagement.
Traditional one-size-fits-all enrollment systems no longer serve our multi-faceted communities effectively. Success lies not in increasing the volume of communications, but in delivering the right message, through the right channel, at the right moment. Let's explore how to build an enrollment communication strategy that truly serves every family in our diverse educational community.
Understanding Family Communication Needs
Modern families navigate complex schedules and varied communication preferences that extend far beyond traditional office hours. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 60% of parents work non-standard hours³, fundamentally changing how and when they can engage with school communications. At Avela, we address this reality through our comprehensive messaging system—a platform where interactions from automated notices to personalized communications, live in a single, chronological thread accessible 24/7. This approach ensures staff can quickly understand a family's enrollment journey without having to call or meet in-person, giving families the flexibility to engage when it works best for them.
Avela’s data on usage patterns based on device and day of the week.
The complexity of family structures adds another layer to communication needs. The Census Bureau reports that 2.4 million grandparents serve as primary guardians⁴, many preferring traditional communication methods like phone calls. Meanwhile, Pew Research indicates that 15% of Americans rely exclusively on smartphones for internet access⁵, highlighting the critical need for mobile-optimized enrollment processes.
Recognizing these diverse needs, Avela has pioneered a mobile-first approach that meets families where they are. Over 70% of families accessing the Avela platform through mobile devices, with peak usage occurring during evening hours on Fridays. Whether it's a grandparent checking a form's status on a desktop computer or a parent completing enrollment documents during their commute, our mobile-optimized interface ensures a seamless experience across all devices.
Avela’s interface for messaging families.
The evolution of America's linguistic landscape demands a more sophisticated approach to language support. The U.S. Department of Education documents over 400 languages spoken in American homes⁶, with Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Somali being the most prevalent after English. Census data reveals that 22% of U.S. households speak a language other than English at home⁷, making multilingual support not just a convenience but a necessity for meaningful educational participation.
Avela has integrated language preferences directly into our communication workflow. When staff interact with families, preferred languages are prominently displayed, minimizing miscommunication risks and ensuring crucial enrollment information reaches families in their primary language.
Best Practices For Communication Channels
Effective communication isn't just about what you say – it's about when and how you say it. Leading communication providers have established clear guidelines based on extensive data about what works best.
SMS Best Practices⁸:
Clear consent and compliance are foundational. Twilio's research shows that properly opted-in recipients are 2.5x more likely to engage with messages. Every communication you send out must:
Obtain explicit consent before sending messages.
Include clear opt-out instructions in the first message
Keep messages concise and actionable —under 160 characters. This maximizes your delivery rate and throughput (the amount of messages your organization can send to multiple recipients at once).
Avoid sending links in your first message. It can be perceived (and flagged by carriers) as spam.
Email Best Practices⁹:
Sendgrid's data reveals that educational institutions see the highest engagement when they:
Use subject lines under 50 characters
Personalize subject lines (increasing open rates by 26%)
Include a clear call to action in subject lines. For example, “Complete Juan’s application — 2 steps left”
Maintain consistent sending patterns — avoid sending 20 emails to the same recipient within a week, only to ignore them the next. Steady wins the race.
Leverage a Personal Touch
It’s imperative that communication is relevant to our families and that it feels actionable and personable. You can easily do this in Avela with message variables (shown below), both for automated and ad-hoc communications.
Effective Strategies to Navigate Seasonality
At Avela, we've developed a nuanced understanding of how communication needs shift throughout the academic year. Success lies in adapting your approach to match these natural rhythms.
Year-Round Best Practices¹⁰:
Try to limit communications to twice or thrice a week per recipient. This metric can increase or decrease depending on the season, but avoid drastic changes in your communication patterns with families. More isn’t always better.
Tuesday through Thursday show the highest engagement on average. Consider how this impacts your form windows and how you communicate them.
Best times to send messages, on average: 10am-2pm for email, 10am-8pm for SMS
Avoid: Early morning, late evening, and weekends unless specifically requested.
If you don’t already have it, add multilingual support.
Engagement rates throughout the day.
Peak Season¹¹
Increase support hours to 7am-8pm. This is the period with the highest volume of family communication.
Prioritize quality automated confirmation messages.
Reduce response time targets to <4 hours.
Focus on mobile-friendly communications, as 67% of actions happen on mobile devices during this period.
Extended Enrollment Windows¹²,¹³:
May be more focused on transfers
Modified communication needs:
More emphasis on one-on-one support
Early evening hours support for working families
Off-Peak Season (September-November, February-March):
Focus on:
Early outreach for next enrollment cycle
Document collection and verification ahead of time
Family information updates, to keep data up to date
Building Lasting Relationships
The landscape of school enrollment communication continues to evolve alongside the changing needs of American families. Success lies not in adopting every available channel or technology, but in building thoughtful, responsive systems that acknowledge the real lives of families. Whether it's accommodating non-traditional work schedules, bridging language barriers, or adapting to regional enrollment patterns, the goal remains the same: making enrollment accessible to every family.
By implementing research-backed communication strategies and remaining flexible to community needs, schools and centers can transform enrollment from a potential barrier into an opportunity for meaningful family engagement. The most successful enrollment processes aren't just about completing forms – they're about beginning lasting partnerships between centers and families.
About Avela
Avela was founded to solve one of the most persistent challenges in education: making enrollment easier, fairer, and more accessible for families and schools alike. Avela offers a complete student application and enrollment solution for education providers, built by a Nobel Prize winning team of practitioners, researchers, and designers. Avela leverages proven research to help families make informed decisions and help schools attract and enroll students seamlessly. Get in touch with us to learn how to boost enrollment, streamline operations, and empower families today.
Written by Cele Saad, Avela Product Designer
Citations
National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). English Language Learners in Public Schools. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgf
U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). Living Arrangements of Children Under 18 Years Old. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2022/demo/families/cps-2022.html
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2023). Work schedules in 2022-2023: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/nonstandard-work-schedules-in-2017-2018.htm
U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). Grandparents and Grandchildren: https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2022.S1002
Pew Research Center. (2023). Mobile Technology and Home Broadband: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for English Language Acquisition. (2023). Languages Spoken by English Learners. https://ncela.ed.gov/files/fast_facts/DEL4.4_BiennialReportFactSheet_2021_508.pdf
U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). Language Spoken at Home, American Community Survey. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2022/demo/language-use/acs-1yr.html
Twilio's Messaging Best Practices & Guidelines. https://www.twilio.com/docs/messaging/best-practices
Sendgrid’s email deliverability Guide. https://docs.sendgrid.com/ui/sending-email/deliverability
Carrier guidelines (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) https://www.twilio.com/docs/messaging/a2p-10dlc
National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Public School Enrollment Patterns. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cga
Education Commission of the States. (2023). State Enrollment Policies https://www.ecs.org/doctype/50-state-comparison/?_issues=standards-curriculum
Council of the Great City Schools. 2023-2024 Annual report https://www.cgcs.org/cms/lib/DC00001581/Centricity/domain/35/publication docs/2023-2024 CGCS Annual Report.pdf
