As many of you know by now, I love acronyms. Not only are acronyms short and catchy, but they help me to quickly hone in on what's important and to set priorities. In a field that seems to bask in process, over-analysis, and repeated discussion, the acronym 'cuts to the chase' and keeps everyone on the same page.

The last Management Maxim column (Exchange, March/April 2010) centered around S.C.O.P.E. (Safe, Clean, Organized, Professional, and Educational), which are five quality priorities for any center and are consistent with a parent's priorities. SCOPE helps the entire staff to focus on what's important, regardless of the current crisis. SCOPE can be used as an operational foundation for the center's success, especially if the director uses it as a daily reminder.

Another acronym that is most useful for attaining and, more importantly, retaining enrollment is: CARE (Customer Attention Retains Enrollment). CARE, like most acronyms, was created because of a significant need within our operation. Weekly operations numbers, when viewed in a long-term perspective, tell a story. The story behind the numbers offers you, the leader, a great opportunity to figure out the plot and change the storyline accordingly. In our story, enrollment was coming in the front door and disenrollment, regardless of SCOPE quality, was going out the back door.

Upon examining the numbers, the story became obvious: the children were fine, but the parents were not. Through further research, I came to realize that 50% of disenrollment was taking place in the first 90 days. Additionally, those families who remained after the first 90 days stayed enrolled on average over the next 24 months.

The conclusion was obvious: the parent, especially new parents, need attention as well as reminders that they made a good decision for their child by enrolling in our program. Overcoming the new parent's guilt or the reluctant parent's parting with their child for his or her first early care and education experience can be daunting, but a challenge that can be mitigated through CARE.

CARE, for my operation, is a systematic way to make sure that the director, teacher, and staff are in daily contact with the new parent. The key to starting a CARE program is to make sure you have planned a daily/weekly device for reaching the parent and that your system is simple, easily executed, and performed by a designated person(s) within the organization. Remember, the goal is to reduce parent anxiety within the first 90 days of enrollment so they begin to enjoy and celebrate the quality of the program that their child is experiencing on a daily basis.

Here is a sample of what might be used over the first two weeks of enrollment. Many ideas will work, and should be expanded on a daily basis for 90 days. The key is to make sure you are reaching out to new parents daily.

Sample Week 1

Monday: Email parents a picture of their child having fun, along with a short
positive note from the director.
Tuesday: Take a picture ('old school' Polaroid® instamatic works great) of the child with a buddy and mail it to mom or dad's place of work. An inexpensive fold-over card with your center name and logo on the outside, with the picture on the inside with the caption "My buddy and me having fun at the _______ school" will stay on a parent's desk for every co-worker to see.
Wednesday: Make a quick phone call to mom or dad from the director to just 'check in.'
Thursday: Send a piece of artwork home with the child.
Friday: An email from the teacher to
parents to share the child's progress is effective, especially with a cute
anecdote.

Sample Week 2

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