How Paul Mitchell The School – Modesto Lifted Retention Rates by 5-7%
When Paul Mitchell The School – Modesto faced student attendance tracking and management challenges, it turned to CourseKey to improve data visibility, reduce fraud, and boost student success.
Since implementing CourseKey, the beauty and wellness school saw a 5-7% lift in student retention rates and now averages a 93% attendance rate.
Read on to learn how.
The problem: Buddy punching, data delays, and a lack of visibility
PMTS – Modesto faced challenges around attendance tracking that ultimately impacted Future Professional (student) success. Its existing QR code system was prone to fraud, where Future Professionals could clock in from anywhere as long as they had a picture of the QR code, whether they were actually in class or not.
Once they had the correct data, pushing it back to the SIS was challenging and time-consuming, so the transfer didn’t happen daily. When attendance data made it into the SIS (often several days behind), it was only available to the staff member who handled financial aid.
“It was 100% impacting SAP. Time affects their money,” said Lauren Castillo, Education Leader at Paul Mitchell The School – Modesto. “Future Professionals were failing SAP, and no one’s attendance percentage was accurate. A lot fell below the 80% mark, which requires a write-up and documentation. But it was hard to trust that process when we didn’t know if that percentage was accurate on the administrative side.”
In addition to SAP challenges, delayed attendance data and data silos lead to retention challenges. Because Learning Leaders (instructors) did not have access to the attendance data, they would not realize a Future Professional had been gone for multiple consecutive days.
“Since there were so many opportunities for error, people would slip through the cracks and get overlooked,” said Lauren. “We had a lot of 14-day consecutive drops where we would get to day 14 and wouldn’t realize they’d been absent that long, or we would be scrambling on day 12.”
The solution: Real-time attendance data for all
PMTS – Modesto implemented CourseKey’s attendance solution to reduce fraud, boost data visibility, and improve experience for all.
With CourseKey, the PMTS – Modesto team can geofence their building, that way, Future Professionals can only check in and out if they’re physically in the building. Once a Future Professional checks in, that data is automatically transferred to the entire team.
Financial aid can quickly transfer the attendance data to the SIS for SAP reporting, ensuring that Future Professionals receive the aid they earn on time.
“CourseKey helped us hone in on attendance and keep the Future Professionals in the building and on track to graduate,” said Lauren. “Now, Learning Leaders can see who is clocked in and out in real time. They have the resources they need to be accountable for the Future Professionals in their class, and if someone is out a couple of days in a row, we’re on it.”
The results: A 93% attendance rate and a 5-7% lift in retention
By securing attendance with CourseKey’s geofence, Future Professionals became more accountable for classroom attendance, boosting the average attendance rate to 93%. Lauren also estimates that the increased attendance rate and fast intervention lead to a 5-7% retention lift.
“Now, Future Professionals know exactly where they stand from start to finish. There’s no question on what still needs to be completed or when they’ll graduate,” said Lauren. “When you give them the tools they need to be responsible for their journey, they rise to the occasion and flourish.”
Software that powers Future Professional success
CourseKey supports Paul Mitchell Schools nationwide with our suite of Future Professional success tools. Request a demo to learn more about how beauty and wellness schools use CourseKey to improve data tracking and automate student intervention.
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