What is Your Return Rate?

"Financiers measure the success of their investments by their return rates — the percent of profit an investment returns.  Centers can measure their success by another form of return rate — the rate at which families return to the center."  This is advice from the article, "Out of the Box Ideas for Director Evaluation — Part 2," in the new Exchange Essential:  Measuring Program Quality and Staff Performance.

"For directors who have been in charge for less than ten years, there is only one return rate that applies — the frequency with which families return to the center to enroll their subsequent children.  If families routinely enroll additional children in a center, this is a probable sign that the center is doing something right....  For directors who have been on the job for 12 or more years, a second return rate comes into play — people who graduated from a center returning to work as teachers.  If a teenager who spent a significant portion of his early years at your center applies for a job, this is a strong indication that your center provided a positive experience for that child.

"Now, for the veterans in our profession, directors who have been on the job for more than 20 years, there is a third return rate — people who graduated from a center returning to enroll their own children.  Once again, this return rate is a solid indicator that the children in your center are having a memorable and positive experience.  What more perfect testimonial could there be than to have attendees of your program wanting to share this experience with their own children? "

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