Use this helpful guide during the selection process of the vendor & solution that supports your district best!
Finding the enrollment and lottery management solution that best meets the needs of your unique school system is not an easy task, and it's even harder when you don't exactly know what to be looking for in a vendor! If you're ready to make the switch to an online solution to manage enrollment or specialty programs, utilize this checklist so that your school or district can prepare for ideal vendor selection and implementation processes.
Enrollment and Specialty Program Checklist
Programs
- What programs are we making available?
- What are the entrance requirements for each program?
- Are there income qualifications?
- Is an audition or interview required?
- Where/how will these requirements be communicated to students and families?
Tuition or fees
- Is there tuition associated with your program?
- Are there fees associated with your program?
Lottery process
- Will you be running a lottery?
- Will your lottery be live?
- How many lotteries will run?
- What are the key dates (including when applications will open and close, and when lottery decisions will be announced)?
- Will you adhere to strict deadlines?
- What exceptions will be made? (For example, for those new to the area or coming from homeschool/private/charter school?)
Application process
- Can families select a certain number of schools/choices to apply to?
- Will they select them based on preference?
- Will your applications be weighted on any of the following? If so, what is the weight?
- Location
- Siblings
- Twins
- Employees
- Military
- Other
- Is there a program pipeline? (For example, those already in the STEM program remain in the STEM program through the transitional years from elementary to middle and middle to high.)
- What demographic information do you need to gather?
- What is the process for exceptions?
Waitlist
- What is your process for wait-listing students?
- How long will the waitlist be utilized?
- Will you add late applicants to the waitlist?
Notifications
- How would you like families to be notified? Through a family dashboard? Emails? Text messaging? Phone calls?
- How long will the acceptance window be?
Technology
- A configurable solution focused on the unique needs of PreK-12
- Secure and supportive of security best practices and compliance regulations
- Is the solution FERPA compliant?
- What encryption methods does the solution employ with data transfer?
- Does the provider have end-to-end encryption? If so, what type?
- Is the data encrypted at rest?
- Where is the data housed and what security measures are in place at the housing location for data security?
- What is the provider’s incident response plan?
- Does the provider have a SOC 2 report? Will they send it to you?
- Who is the vendor’s data security officer?
- Will your data be commingled with other clients?
- Who owns your data? The district? The provider? Both?
- Is there a fee to get district and student data back and what is the process?
- Partnerships and integrations with existing district platforms and systems
- Access-expanding features
- How many language translations are available through the solution? Are the languages prevalent in your community included?
- Does the solution include automated email, text, or IVR updates?
- Is the solution mobile-friendly?
- Do you have an income qualification process, and can the vendor configure your solution to support that?
Don't let your school or district settle for a vendor or solution that doesn't provide everything that you need (and more!). Information is power during this time, and we want your team to have as much of it as possible!
If you're ready to make the switch to digital choice and enrollment management, download our entire technology guide for more helpful information on vendor selection and secure software criteria.
Download The Technology Guide for PreK-12 Enrollment, Choice, and Lottery Management
