Summer Enrollment Trends at One Schoolhouse

Liz Katz

Just like Academic Leaders at your school, we at One Schoolhouse keep a close eye on course selection. Since we began to offer our summer program, we’ve watched enrollment climb steadily year over year, and we watch out for trends. Here’s what the numbers tell us:

Families are becoming savvy shoppers about online courses. Before 2020, we didn’t get a lot of questions about the structure of our courses. Now, parents and guardians want to know about how our courses are built and facilitated–asynchronous cadence, assessment, and teacher connection, among other topics.​

Students are eager to use their summer strategically. As we’ve seen in past summers, enrollment is growing year to year. The students who enroll are typically highly motivated and ready for a challenge. They see an online course as a way to help meet their academic goals that doesn’t compromise their ability to have a summer with space to unwind.

Math. Math. Math. Summer math courses have always been the highest enrolled courses in our program. This year, however, we have noticed a surge in demand for math courses like never before. Families and students are increasingly interested in accelerating their math sequence, with enrollment equally high in Algebra II, Geometry, and Pre-Calculus. Students want to move forward in math for two key reasons. First, selective colleges still see calculus as essential for admissions, so students use summer study to ensure they’re ready for calculus by senior year. (We have thoughts about this!) Second, students want to ensure they have the prerequisites for higher-level courses like advanced physics or computer science.  

More people are waiting until the last moment to enroll–which has its risks. Based on earlier years, we expect half of our summer enrollment to come in between May 12 and June 12. That’s not the way it was a few years ago. The pattern is similar in our school year courses. That’s a bit of a risky choice, because as schools draw closer to the start of the academic program, their ability to be flexible decreases. In May, a bump in enrollment drives us to open another section; in June, we don’t always have that option. Online enrollment has limits just as in-person school does.