Signal Vine has been essential to reaching all of our students. It has really changed the way that we do our work and has saved us hundreds of hours!
About KIPP Philadelphia
KIPP Philadelphia is a college-preparatory public charter school that is part of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) network. The school supports 1,625 students across four schools in Philadelphia and boasts a college-going rate of over 70%.
The Challenge
Reaching out to over 500 students each month by calling or texting from a personal cell phone was a time-consuming challenge for KIPP Philadelphia staff. They spent hours trying to connect with students, which meant less time to devote to other projects.
Another challenge for staff in the alumni program is that they don’t work closely with the students until after they graduate. Since they don’t have many opportunities to build relationships face-to-face, it can be tough to build trusting student-staff relationships. Before texting, students were hesitant to reach out to KIPP staff when they needed help.
Taylor is a first-generation college student and scholar-practitioner herself. With a focus on social-emotional skills, career readiness, and tools for success in higher education, she was particularly interested in tapping into the power of positive messaging with Peak Education students. Her vision was to send messages of encouragement and then assess the impact on students’ academic performance as measured by their GPAs.
The Implementation of Modern Campus Signal Vine
Before graduating high school, KIPP students meet with staff in the alumni program to learn about the program and the benefits of opting in. Students have the chance to opt out in the first text message, but few choose to do so. There are three staff members on the team and each one has a designated caseload of students. Staff members are responsible for responding to their own students through Signal Vine’s text messaging platform. They all set time on their calendars every morning as a reminder to check their message inboxes.
The Results
It now takes only five minutes to send a message to 500 students. Instead of spending all of their time sending messages, staff now have time to focus on more closely helping students with specific issues they’re facing. Students and staff also benefit from a more communicative, trusting relationship. Texting has helped jumpstart student-staff relationships, and students are more comfortable coming to KIPP staff with issues they need help solving.
Students are very responsive to text messages and prefer texting to other types of communication. They respond within minutes to text messages about the FAFSA and scholarship payments. Encouragement texts without a question receive student replies. The time KIPP staff has saved with texting has given the team more opportunities to connect with students and work on other student support projects.
About Modern Campus
Modern Campus is obsessed with empowering its 1,200+ higher education customers to thrive when radical transformation is required to respond to lower student enrollments and revenue, rising costs, crushing student debt and even school closures.
Powered by Omni CMS, DIGARC, Presence, Signal Vine and Destiny One, the Modern Campus modern learner engagement platform enables innovative institutions to create a “learner to earner” lifecycle that engages modern learners for life.
Delivering massive personalization, AI-driven recommendations and a modern e-commerce engine, Modern Campus creates a student-first digital experience and removes silos across campus. Presidents and provosts, marketing and IT teams, admissions, registrars, student affairs and CE divisions can partner to attract, enroll, empower, retain, credential and re-engage students with pathways for lifelong learning.
Learn how Modern Campus is leading the modern learner engagement movement at moderncampus.com and follow us on LinkedIn.