New student enrollment is one of the most paper-intensive processes still in existence. Enrolling new students involves several steps, some of which are easy to forget.
Often the people responsible for new student enrollment are administrative staff who are constantly interrupted by phone calls and people showing up. A school may process a dozen forms for each new student, and when this is done on paper, it can take an inordinate amount of time. If a family moves into a district, they may be faced with repeating the enrollment process at an elementary, middle, and high school if their children span these ages. There's a much better way: putting new student enrollment online using custom workflow software. Here are 6 ways school districts can improve the enrollment process by putting it online. 1. Make Registration Electronic and Easy Anyone who has had to register a student partway through the school year knows that it can be fraught. Not only do countless forms have to be filled out by hand, but you also don't always know upfront what type of identification is required, whether transcripts from old schools are needed, and what to do if a child is eligible for special services. When the process is put online, parents can step through it methodically so no steps are skipped and there's no driving back and forth to gather information. 2. Issue Alerts to the District When Children Are Eligible for Special Services In the new student enrollment process, parents can fill out information indicating that a child may be eligible for special education services or for free or reduced-price meals at school, for example. When these forms are filled in by parents, the district can be notified automatically for their record-keeping needs, and students can receive these services much faster than if the process is done on paper. 3. Allow Parents to Update Student Medical Information Securely Online When students have asthma, severe allergies, or other medical conditions, the school nurse needs that information on file to know what to do in an emergency. With a secure new student enrollment portal, parents can fill in information about their children's medical conditions quickly and be certain that it reaches the school nurse immediately. If medications must be given at school, provision can be made for this online at the same time. 4. Automatically Capture Student Demographic Data When school systems collect information about student demographics and manually add it to databases, the risk of error is great. But when new student enrollment takes place online, demographic information can be collected as part of the enrollment process, and with the right workflow software, it can be automatically entered into the appropriate demographic database, saving countless hours of time and associated expenses.
