The tactical elements of your afterschool program management process directly impact both the quality of these programs and the value that they deliver for families. Hundreds of thousands of families take advantage of before and after care programs. Students learn and grow in a secure environment while parents rest assured that their child is cared for. However, balancing your regular management tasks, delivering educational and engaging activities, and keeping children safe can be challenging. That’s where afterschool program management software comes in.
With the right management solution, you can automate those day-to-day tasks and keep track of your students all in one centralized platform, giving you more time to focus on the children in your care. Let’s break down the following seven areas where you can use software to simplify management, and then highlight our favorite solution:
With structured, safe, and educational activities to participate in before and after the school day, children are more likely to score higher on standardized tests, as well as benefit in other developmental areas such as socialization and education.
When you use software to manage a before and after care program, you can worry less about the business side of your program and more about providing an exceptional experience for students and parents. If you’re ready to learn more about what software can do for the management of your afterschool program, let’s dive in!
Your students’ parents are busy people, so signing up for an afterschool program should be a simple and easy process. You don’t want to run the risk of “shopping cart abandonment,” especially within your own online registration process.
With afterschool registration software, parents can easily browse programs online and register whenever is most convenient for them. You and your staff can then immediately use that registrant data to build an attendance sheet and send communications. The right software solution will ensure that the registration experience is seamless and intuitive from start to finish for both parents and staff.
Online afterschool program registration brings the following benefits:
However, simply offering a standalone online registration process isn’t enough. To really capitalize on this convenient and streamlined process, it should be part of a more comprehensive afterschool software system.
What are the specific registration features to look for in afterschool software? Your software should have the following:
When all of these completed forms are online, they are easily searchable and can be electronically sorted by each student, so you’ll never have to dig through file cabinets for a permission slip or emergency contact number.
In addition to digitizing your registration process, afterschool management software can also facilitate your scheduling, providing you and your staff with a comprehensive look at all of your programs and attendees.
Instead of trying to keep track of all of the schedules on a paper calendar, your management solution puts the power back in the parents’ hands, offering flexible scheduling to fit their schedules. You can offer full-year enrollment, specific sessions, and a drop-in schedule so parents can pick what works best for their families.
Here are some of the top benefits of using afterschool scheduling software:
Software with these scheduling capabilities is a great way to add value to parents’ experiences while giving you the tools to manage it all from one comprehensive place.
To tap into the benefits listed above, ensure your afterschool software has the following features:
Along with these top features, ensure that your management solution also offers integrations with your existing Student Information System (SIS). This makes scheduling much easier, as you can sync existing students into your management software and ensure that your student database is always up to date.
Now that parents have registered and scheduled their child, your job is to collect payments on time and make sure that the online process is secure. With afterschool program management software, you can spend less time chasing parents for checks and more time focusing on the children.
Consider these top benefits of taking the payment process entirely online:
Online payment processing can make managing your afterschool program easier, reducing stress for both your staff and your attendees’ parents.
Payment processing is an important part of running a successful afterschool program. With the afterschool management software you use, make sure you’re leveraging the following features:
Your solution should also be PCI compliant and accept all types of payments. Checks, e-checks, credit, debit, and even cash payment options should all be offered and processed securely.
When it comes to taking attendance at your afterschool program, there are two essentials that your staff must focus on: efficiency and safety.
When equipped with the right tools, attendance tracking at your after care program is not only much smoother but also provides a better chance of keeping students safe. The right afterschool program management solution can bring the following benefits:
Attendance tracking at your after care program is a breeze when your onsite staff members are equipped with tools that allow them to take attendance quickly and easily.
When choosing afterschool software for your program, make sure that your solution includes digital attendance features that emphasize efficiency and safety without sacrificing either. Equip your staff with a tablet or laptop so they can:
When all of this information is at your responsible leader’s fingertips, you can keep track of exactly when, where, and which students are expected on any given day.
For various reasons, the ability to quickly communicate with parents is crucial. From emergency closures to updates on the students to new programs you’re offering, ensure that you can actively and effectively communicate with parents.
Make this process easier for your staff by using afterschool program management software that makes communicating with parents an intuitive and streamlined experience. Don’t just rely on simple tools like Gmail! With your afterschool management solution, you can do the following:
Along with emailing parents, some software solutions also offer the ability to send text message communications! This is great for time-sensitive announcements that need to reach parents or students, like an early dismissal because of weather.
When your communications tool is a part of your afterschool program software, you’ll never have to worry that you’ve forgotten to reach out to someone. The integration between your messaging features and your student database will make emailing and texting parents, either individually or as a group, easier than ever. Make sure your afterschool program management software has the following features:
In addition to using these features for routine communication, afterschool program management software can even make your marketing tactics more effective. Quickly let families know about upcoming program offerings or expansions, and encourage them to tell their friends or colleagues.
No matter the industry or business, data should be the center of your decision-making processes. This exact rule of thought should be also applied to your afterschool program management and the tools you use.
Keeping your programs running smoothly and efficiently is one of the highest priorities for your aftercare staff. Using data to improve your processes is the best way to expand your programs in the coming seasons. Software solutions can then leverage this data to compile reports and provide key insights.
Here are some of the top benefits you can expect when you use software to track and manage your data:
The great thing about investing in a comprehensive management solution is that you can collect your data in one place. Instead of making gut decisions, use the data collected by your software to analyze what’s happening at your aftercare program to make better, data-driven decisions for the future.
When looking at various before and after care management software, you should note the reporting capabilities. You should be able to create the following:
Ensure that you not only have report templates but also report design tools so that you can analyze the data that you need, the way you want. This way, you can visualize and understand every aspect of your afterschool program in a quantifiable way.
We’re living in a time where many in-person engagements and programs are on pause or modified. There might even be strictly limited capacity and gathering restriction orders directed by your state. Because of this, your before and after care programs might be running at a lower capacity (or perhaps not running at all).
However, as mentioned earlier, your programs are essential for communities. Having the tools and capabilities to run your before and after care program while still ensuring a safe and comfortable experience for all is imperative.
If a contactless and touch-minimal program is something that you want to promote, you can use your afterschool management solution for the following:
No matter the reason, your afterschool registration software should help support contactless before and after care programs.
Your students deserve the best care and your full attention, both of which are made possible with a full-featured and comprehensive software solution.
This is where CommunityPass comes in.
CommunityPass is a leading software provider for before and after care program management. We offer everything from online registration and simplified payment collection, to digital attendance and comprehensive reporting capabilities, all from a single platform. And, this can be an entirely contactless solution to ensure that your before and after programs are safe for all.
With CommunityPass, you have the following advantages:
Even during a major disruptive event like a global pandemic, the CommunityPass solution can support an entirely contactless experience. Take advantage of our contactless arrival and dismissal procedures, digital attendance, online registration and payment, and communication tools. Better yet, we can set specific class limits and provide attendance reports to comply with contact tracing.
CommunityPass knows that with before and after care management, students and parents are a top priority. With the tools and capabilities we offer, parents can go along their day peacefully without worrying about the safety of their children, and whether they’re being actively enriched. Manage all of these processes online and from one comprehensive platform, benefiting both your staff and your community.
For more information about afterschool program software as well as day camp and sports league software, check out a few of our favorite additional resources: