More than half of families (54.1%) don't enroll in their zoned public school — school choice is no longer a fringe behavior, it's the majority experience. In this session, we unpack new SchoolCEO research surveying 1,016 parents across three transition points (Pre-K→K, Elementary→Middle, Middle→High) to reveal what actually drives enrollment decisions — and the four words (safe, welcoming, responsive, trusted) that top the list at every stage, while "rigorous" barely registers.

Then we turn the data into a plan. Districts aren't running one enrollment campaign — they're running three: adults choose kindergarten, families negotiate middle school, and students drive the decision to attend high school. Materials built for one persona are background noise to the other two. Walk away with both the research and a practical action plan for building three distinct marketing ecosystems, auditing your current materials for gaps, and fixing the leaks costing you families at both enrollment and retention.