National School Choice Week Newsletter: What Principals Should Communicate

National School Choice Week runs every January and gives principals a natural opportunity to do something most of us should be doing more consistently anyway: telling the story of our school clearly and specifically. The newsletter you send during School Choice Week reaches families who chose your school and families who are still deciding. What you say in it shapes both.

Start with what makes your school distinctive

Every school celebrates School Choice Week. The ones that use it well describe something specific about themselves that families cannot find elsewhere. Before writing the newsletter, answer this question honestly: what does our school offer that a family would not get at the school two miles away?

That answer should be the first paragraph of the newsletter. Not a tagline. A real description: a bilingual program, an arts integration model, a project-based learning structure, a decades-long community partnership, or a student-led advisory program. Something concrete that a prospective family can evaluate.

Tell a story from this year

National School Choice Week newsletters that only list programs feel like marketing brochures. The ones that include a story from the current year feel like real schools. Describe one thing that happened this year that captures what your school is trying to build:

'In October, our eighth graders presented their capstone research projects to a community panel that included parents, district staff, and local business leaders. Three students received invitations to present at the district showcase. This is what a school that takes student work seriously looks like.'

Give current families something to share

Word-of-mouth enrollment starts with current families. The newsletter should give them something specific to say when neighbors ask about your school. Include the enrollment window dates, a brief description of the school visit process, and a direct ask:

'If you know a family who is looking for a school for next year, our open enrollment runs from February 1 through March 15. Send them our way. We do school tours every Thursday morning at 9 a.m. No appointment needed.'

Show families what choosing your school produced

Data builds confidence in a choice already made and credibility with families evaluating options. Relevant data points for a School Choice Week newsletter include:

• Attendance rate compared to district average
• Percentage of students who met grade-level benchmarks
• Number of students enrolled in advanced courses
• Any state or regional recognition the school received this year

Acknowledge the families who chose you

National School Choice Week is also a genuine opportunity to thank families who enrolled and stayed. Not in the abstract, but specifically: 'This school exists as it is because of the families who have chosen it year after year, who show up to events, who respond to our surveys, and who send us their children every morning.' That acknowledgment costs nothing and builds the kind of loyalty that shows up in re-enrollment rates.

Daystage makes it easy to send a School Choice Week newsletter with photos, program highlights, and enrollment information in a polished format that works for both current and prospective families.