Staffing Your Tax School

July 2008

Prepared by the Learning Group of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service.® To offer feedback or suggestions, please email taxschool@jtax.com.

© 2008 by Jackson Hewitt Inc. All rights reserved.

Microsoft® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

No part of this manual may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or storage retrieval system, without permission in writing.

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Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................... 4 Keep Your Eye on the Big Picture........................................................................... 5 Start with Your Goals ............................................................................................... 7 Determine Your Tax School Staff.......................................................................... 10 Tax School Coordinator ......................................................................................... 11 Coordinator Responsibilities ................................................................................... 11 Skills and Knowledge .............................................................................................. 12

Tax School Recruiter .............................................................................................. 13 Recruiter Responsibilities........................................................................................ 13 Recruiter Skills and Knowledge .............................................................................. 13

Tax School Instructors........................................................................................... 14 Instructor Responsibilities ....................................................................................... 14 Instructor Skills and Knowledge .............................................................................. 14

Tax School Support Staff ....................................................................................... 16 Support Staff Responsibilities ................................................................................. 16 Support Staff Skills and Knowledge ........................................................................ 16

Hire and Train Your Tax School Staff ................................................................... 17 Coordinator Candidates .......................................................................................... 17 Recruiter Candidates............................................................................................... 17 Instructor Candidates .............................................................................................. 18 Support Staff Candidates ........................................................................................ 20 Compensate Your Tax School Staff........................................................................ 20

Observe and Evaluate Your Tax School............................................................... 22

Introduction

This document is for Operators and General Managers, and is designed to help you make sound decisions about hiring and training your Tax School staff. You should also refer to the Building a Winning Team manual (available on the Learning Center) for more information on interviewing and hiring practices.

Staffing your Tax School with well-qualified and well-trained people will ensure optimum effectiveness and efficiency. Making a commitment and investing in your staff can help you see improvements in many aspects of your Tax School and your business, including:

• More inquiries

• More student registrations

• Better student retention

• More graduates

• More potential tax preparers

• Increased brand exposure

• Higher revenue during Tax Season

Delegating many of the tasks associated with Tax School will allow you to focus on the big picture of running your business. Depending on the size of your organization and your personal style of fiscal management, you may choose to have one or two key staff members handle all of the tasks related to operating your Tax School, or you may choose to assign one or more people to each of the four roles covered in this manual. Those roles are Tax School Coordinator, Recruiter, Instructor, and Support Staff.

This manual will help you determine which tasks should fall under each role.

Even if you plan to handle many of these tasks yourself, it is important to clearly designate who will perform each task.

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Keep Your Eye on the Big Picture

As Operators and General Managers, you have some very important tasks to accomplish before the start of the Tax School season. You are responsible for planning the goals and direction of your Tax School. Your decisions in the planning phase will determine the courses you will offer, how you will staff your Tax School, and how you will market your Tax School.

Take the following steps at the beginning of your Tax School season, well before you start delivering Tax School courses:

• Identify your Tax Season goals – the number of tax returns you want to prepare next season and the number of Tax Preparers you will need to prepare these tax returns.

• Identify your Tax School goals – the number of Tax School students you need to graduate, the number of Tax School students you will need to register, and the number of Tax School inquiries you will need to generate.

• Determine your Tax School curriculum and schedule – plan which courses and course formats you will offer, determine a general schedule, and secure your location.

• Review the state regulations governing the operation of proprietary schools in your state(s), and make sure you understand what you must do to be in compliance with them.

• Determine your Tax School budget for labor, advertising, materials and supplies, etc.

• Determine what fees, if any, you will charge. For example, will you charge for the books only or will you charge tuition?

• Decide who will act as your Tax School Coordinator and train them.

• Develop your Marketing Strategy.

• Establish training requirements for your Tax School staff.

• Hire and train your Tax School staff.

• Order your materials and supplies.

The Operate Your Tax School Business Center on www.JHnet.com has detailed guides and tools to help you with these tasks.

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Once the Tax School season begins, you will need to do the following:

• Monitor Tax School progress (for example, student registrations) using the Tax School Dashboard on www.JHnet.com and review the progress with your Tax School Staff, as appropriate.

• Attend course sessions at least twice (once at the start of a session, and once at the end) to meet students and provide details about your organization and any employment opportunities you may have.

• Monitor Instructors, student feedback, drop-out and graduation rates.

• Identify the course sessions that produce the greatest pool of qualified candidates.

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Start with Your Goals

Let’s look now at using your Tax Season goals to develop your Tax School goals. First, determine your Tax Season goal. This is the number of tax returns you want to prepare in the upcoming Tax Season. Then, gather the following information about your operation:

• The number of Tax Preparers that you expect to return for the next tax season

• The number of graduates that became Tax Preparers last year

• The number of students that graduated from your Tax School last year

• The number of students that were registered in your Tax School last year

• The number of inquiries that your Tax School received from prospective students last year (callers and walk-ins)

• The number of Instructors that you expect to return.

Finally, use all this information to calculate your Tax School goals. (A goal calculator is available on the Operate Your Tax School Business Center on www.JHnet.com.)

Note that the percentages used in these calculations are based on historical national averages, and results are rounded up. You should use your own historical data instead, if available.

To Determine This Do This Example

Your Tax Preparer Staffing Goal – the number of Tax Preparers you will need for the upcoming Tax Season

Divide your projected tax return goal by the average number of returns completed per Tax Preparer last season.

The historical national average is 125 tax returns per Tax Preparer. Assuming 125 tax returns per Tax Preparer and a goal of preparing 5,000 tax returns, you will need 40 Tax Preparers to reach your goal.

5,000/125 = 40

Your Tax Preparer New Hire Goal – the number of Tax Preparers you will need to hire for the upcoming Tax Season

Subtract the number of Tax Preparers that you expect to return from the number that you will need.

If you expect 15 Tax Preparers to return, you will need to hire 25 Tax Preparers.

40 – 15 = 25

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Your Student Graduation goal – the number of Tax School graduates you will need to create an appropriately sized pool of candidates from which to recruit Tax Preparers

First, determine your student hiring rate by dividing the number of Tax School graduates you hired last year by the total number of Tax School graduates.

Then, divide the number of Tax Preparers you need to hire by your student hiring rate.

If you graduated 30 students from your Tax School last year, and you hired 27, you had a student hiring rate of .9 or 90%.

27 ÷ 30 = .9 or 90%

Using this rate, you will need about 28 graduates from which to recruit the Tax Preparers you need to hire.

25 ÷ .9 = 27.7, rounded up to 28

Your Student Registration Goal – the number of Tax School students you need to register

First, determine your student retention rate by dividing last year’s number of graduates by last year’s number of registered students.

Then, divide the number of graduates you need by your student retention rate to calculate the number of students you need to register.

If 30 students graduated last year and 60 students were registered, you retained .5 or 50% of the students.

30 ÷ 60 = .5 or 50%

Using this rate, you need to register 56 students to recruit 28 Tax Preparers.

28 ÷ .5 = 56

Your Inquiry Goal – the number of inquiries you need to generate to meet your Student Registration Goal

First, determine your inquiry conversion rate by dividing last year’s number of registrations by last year’s number of inquiries.

Then, divide your Student Registration Goal by your inquiry conversion rate.

The historical national inquiry conversion rate is 10%. If you had 60 registered students last year and 600 inquiries, you converted 10% of the inquiries.

60 ÷ 600 = .1 or 10%

Using this rate, you will need to generate 560 inquiries to register 56 students.

56 ÷ .1 = 560

Your Basic Income Tax Course session goal – the number of Basic tax course you need to offer

The optimum student to instructor ration is 20 students to 1 instructor. (We recommend that you do not exceed 25 students per class.) Divide the number of registered students by 20.

If you have 56 students, you will need to offer 3 courses.

56 ÷ 20 = 2.8, rounded to 3

If a large number of your registered students choose to take the course online, you may need fewer classes.

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Your Instructor Staffing Goal – the number of Instructors you need for the Tax School season

The typical Basic Income Tax course is delivered in two 3-hour sessions per week. This equals 6 hours of instruction per week. An effective Instructor should not exceed 18 hours of classroom instruction delivery per week.* This means each Instructor can deliver 3 courses in the same time frame if they are scheduled for different hours of the day or different days of the week.

Divide the number of courses by 3 courses per session per Instructor.

If you plan to offer 3 courses, you will need 1 instructor.

3 ÷ 3 = 1

Your Instructor New Hire Goal – the number of Instructors you need to hire

Subtract the number of Instructors that you expect to return from the number that you need for the Tax Season.

Consider having a back-up Instructor in case your Instructor has to miss a class. Your Tax School Coordinator may be able to serve as the back-up. If not, you may need to hire an additional Instructor.

If you need to employ 1 Instructor, and you expect 1 Instructor to return, you do not need to hire an Instructor, unless you have no one that can serve as a back-up for your Instructor.

1 – 1 = 0

* Instructors should plan equal amounts of preparation and delivery time for the first 6 hours of instructional time each week. For a Basic Income Tax course, this would amount to 12 hours per week of preparation and delivery time. If the Instructor delivers the same course multiple times in the same week (for example, a morning session, an evening session, and a Saturday session), they should plan 1 hour of preparation time for each additional course. Therefore, an Instructor who is delivering 3 Basic Income Tax course per week (for example, a morning session, an evening session, and a Saturday session) would have 26 hours of preparation and delivery time per week.

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Determine Your Tax School Staff

The quality of the Tax School team you assemble will have a direct impact on the success of your Tax School. Look at your current staff and identify those who would fill the Tax School positions best. If necessary, hire individuals that have the skills, knowledge, and experience you need for the positions. We recommend that you fill the following positions:

• Tax School Coordinator – The Coordinator will execute and monitor your marketing plan, manage leads and registrations, train and provide input into hiring your Instructors, schedule courses, welcome students to the Tax School, monitor course sessions, and monitor student progress.

• Tax School Recruiter – The Recruiter will handle incoming phone calls, drop-ins, and Internet leads, as well as outbound call and mail campaigns. They will invite leads to attend Free Information Seminars and handle the registration process.

• Tax School Instructors – Instructors are responsible for delivering the course content and facilitating online courses and labs. They will monitor students’ progress, explain the employment opportunities at Jackson Hewitt, and provide input into the hiring of Tax Preparers.

• Support Staff – Additional staff in your office should be trained to take messages if the Recruiter is unavailable, process student registrations, mail Registration Packets to registered students, and enter student information into e-Services.

The following chapters provide more information on each role. To perform effectively and efficiently, your staff members need job descriptions, training, guidance, and performance feedback. Additional information about each role is available on www.JHnet.com. Sample job descriptions are available in the Building a Winning Team manual on the Learning Center.

In addition, you should make sure your staff members are compensated in a way that incents them to perform effectively. Once you have your staff in place and trained, you will be able to rely on them to take care of the day-to-day responsibilities of Tax School.

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Tax School Coordinator

The Tax School Coordinator’s role varies depending on the size of the operation and the experience of the Coordinator. A well-trained and experienced Coordinator should be able to handle the operational aspects of Tax School.

Coordinator Responsibilities

The Tax School Coordinator responsibilities are wide-ranging and typically include the following tasks:

• Working with the Operator to ensure your Tax School operates in compliance with all applicable state and local laws and regulations

• Implementing the Tax School marketing plan, which may include placing advertising, following up with marketing efforts, and monitoring the effectiveness of your Tax School marketing

• Managing leads and registrations

• Refining your Tax School offerings, including class schedules, dates, and locations

• Entering classes in e-Services

• Ensuring that the Recruiter, Instructors, and support staff are adequately trained

• Coordinating and scheduling Free Information Seminars

• Managing Instructor scheduling

• Communicating with students about the course for which they are registered

• Setting up classrooms

• Welcoming students to the Tax School

• Making the kick-off presentation at the start of the tax course sessions

• Observing tax classes occasionally to assist with Instructor evaluation and monitor student retention

• Monitoring fees and expenditures

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Skills and Knowledge

Ideally, the Tax School Coordinator should have the following skills and knowledge:

• Supervisory experience

• Organizational skills

• Interpersonal skills

• Communication skills – telephone, in-person, and presentation/public speaking

• Sales skills – the ability to engage a caller or drop-in and persuade them to register for a course

• Training skills – to train support staff to handle inquiries and enter information into e-Services

• Computer skills

• Budget-tracking skills

• Multi-tasking skills

Coordinators should complete the appropriate training on the Learning Center before the start of Tax School season. Before Tax School starts, they will need to have general knowledge of Jackson Hewitt, the Jackson Hewitt tax preparation process, e-Services, and the tax courses you are offering.

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Tax School Recruiter

The recruiter handles incoming phone calls, drop-ins, and internet leads, as well as outbound mail and call campaigns in the effort to sell your courses. They will persuade leads to register for courses, which will ensure you meet your Tax School goals.

Recruiter Responsibilities

The Tax School Recruiter responsibilities generally include the following tasks:

• Answering telephone, internet, and drop-in inquiries promptly and courteously

• Forming relationships with those who inquire about Tax School and its courses

• Providing details and benefits about Tax School courses

• Tracking and managing leads

• Following up with leads who hesitate to register for a course

• Inviting inquiries to attend a Free Information Seminar

• Using the Call Campaign software on www.JHnet.com to effectively follow-up with all leads

• Training support staff to engage callers and take messages

• Processing student registrations and entering student information into eServices

• Assembling and mailing Registration Packets to registrants

• Providing input into the hiring of Tax Preparers

Recruiter Skills and Knowledge

Tax School Recruiter should have the following skills and knowledge:

• Sales skills – the ability to engage a caller or drop-in and persuade them to register for a course

• General knowledge of Jackson Hewitt, the tax courses, Tax School benefits, policies, scheduling, and pricing

• Communication skills

• Interpersonal skills

• Telephone skills

• Organizational skills

• Multi-tasking skills

Recruiters should complete the appropriate training on the Learning Center before the start of Tax School season.

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Tax School Instructors

Your Tax School Instructors are literally the face of your Tax School to students. Not only are they responsible for teaching the Tax School content in a knowledgeable and engaging manner, they guide students through their introduction to the complex subject of taxes, help them through the course if they need additional assistance with any topics, and encourage them to complete the course.

Instructor Responsibilities

An Instructor has several distinct responsibilities, including:

• Welcoming students to the Tax School, in general, and to the courses in which they are enrolled

• Managing course sessions, including schedules, materials, rosters, and locations

• Delivering course content, including explaining tax theory, administering exercises and assessments, reviewing assessments with students, and monitoring students’ progress

• Following up with absent students

• Explaining potential employment opportunities at Jackson Hewitt

• Communicating regularly with the Tax School Coordinator

Instructors are required to maintain the standards of the Jackson Hewitt classroom image and adhere to a specified class schedule to keep classes at a pace consistent with all other Jackson Hewitt tax classes. Because Instructors are expected to be knowledgeable about tax laws, they will need to spend time each week preparing to deliver classes. They should also complete the Instructor Training on the Learning Center before they start to deliver courses. In addition, to assist students who may need clarification of tax laws, the Instructor will need to be available 30 minutes before and after classes to answer questions that could not be covered during the class session, and they will need to answer email questions from online students in a timely manner.

Specifically in the area of student retention, the Instructor should diligently reach out to students who are late for or absent from course sessions, and work with them to improve their commitment and attendance. Instructors should explore make-up opportunities with students. This may help reduce the drop-out rate of the Instructor’s course sessions.

Instructor Skills and Knowledge

When choosing your Instructors, look for individuals who have at least two years of experience working in the U.S. tax industry, a high degree

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of enthusiasm and energy, a demonstrated ability to teach, and good communication skills. Candidates should have the ability to create a positive environment and interactive learning experience for all students.

Look for these skills, traits, and work experiences:

• Excellent teaching skills – particularly experience with teaching adults

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Tax knowledge and tax preparation experience

• Strong computer skills – working knowledge of Microsoft® Office Suite

• Strong interpersonal skills

• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills

• Able to work independently and be self-directed

• Ability to learn new techniques and teaching practices

• Outgoing and enthusiastic personality

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Tax School Support Staff

The Support Staff ensures that all paperwork and data entry related to inquiries and registration is promptly attended to, and assists the other Tax School staff members as needed. The Coordinator and Recruiter provide the information or requests that drive the work of the Support Staff.

Support Staff Responsibilities

The Tax School Support Staff responsibilities generally include the following tasks:

• Entering inquiry and registrant information into e-Services

• Processing registrations (paperwork and fees) and sending Registration Packet to registrants

• Answering the telephone and taking messages when the Recruiter is either busy or unavailable

• Assigning students to classes in e-Services based on information received from the Tax School Coordinator or Recruiter

• Generating reports for the Tax School Coordinator.

Support Staff Skills and Knowledge

Tax School Support Staff should have the following skills and knowledge:

• Data entry skills

• Basic telephone skills

• Ability to follow instruction

• Ability to enter student data and assign students to classes in eServices

• Ability to generate reports for the Tax School Coordinator

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Hire and Train Your Tax School Staff

Before you decide to hire staff for your Tax School, revisit your Tax Season goals to recall how many individuals you need for each position. Then, consider your office staff to determine if any existing employees can perform effectively in Tax School positions. Remember that they must be available and able to focus full time during the timeframe that you are planning, setting up, and operating your Tax School.

Your Tax School staff needs to be trained to be prepared to handle their responsibilities effectively and efficiently. The Learning Center includes training curriculums for Tax School Coordinators, Recruiters, and Instructors.

Each position’s Development Plan is made up of multiple training resources including online modules, facilitated classroom or one-on-one sessions, assessments, and resource documents. Each Development Plan includes a Core Curriculum and Supplemental Resources. At a minimum, your staff should complete the Core Curriculum for their training program. In addition, depending on their experience and knowledge, they should also review and complete the Supplemental Resources.

Some components of the Development Plan can be completed independently, while others will require a few of hours with you, an Office Manager, or your Tax School Coordinator. For more details on the Tax School training programs, see the Training Rollout tab on the Tax School page of the Jackson Hewitt® Learning Center.

Coordinator Candidates

Consider a high-performing Office Manager or Administrative Manager, or one of your year-round Tax Preparers for this position. Fill this position early in the Tax School season.

Make sure that the Coordinator you choose clearly understands the Tax School goals and is committed to meeting these goals and encouraging others to do so as well. Look for an organized, can-do type of person who knows your operation well.

Have your Coordinator complete the Coordinator Training on the Tax School page of the Learning Center.

Recruiter Candidates

When hiring a Recruiter, consider experienced sales professionals. You may get a greater return on this investment when a sales approach is used to form relationships with callers and sell them on course registration.

Recruiters should be available to handle inquiries as soon as your Tax School marketing is in place. When your office signage and other

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advertising are displayed, your Recruiter should be ready to start recruiting students.

If you hire a sales professional into this position, make sure that you train them on your Tax School curriculum, schedule, policies, and procedures. Show the Recruiter how you keep records of leads and registered students, and who processes student registrations. Review the Recruiter responsibilities and the Tax School goals with your Recruiter. Ensure the Recruiter completes Recruiter Training on the Tax School page of the Learning Center.

Instructor Candidates

The best and easiest place to look for potential tax course Instructors is within your own organization. Look at your senior-level Tax Preparers and high-performing Office Managers, and evaluate their abilities. Office Managers and Tax Preparers who actively coach or mentor newer employees may be excellent candidates for teaching your Tax School courses.

To identify candidates for the Instructor position from your existing staff, send an announcement to your Tax Preparers letting them know that you have openings for Instructors. Provide applications to staff members who are interested. Consider all applicants and look for both Instructors and those who could be developed into Instructors over the next few seasons.

Develop future Instructors by having potential candidates begin as Assistant Instructors. Assistant Instructors provide support for the Instructor and may even deliver selected sessions. Assistant Instructors will become acclimated to the teaching process without feeling the pressure of having to deliver an entire course their first time out.

If you are unable to cultivate Instructors from among your current Tax Preparers, consider using external sources such as:

• Networking with your local community college teachers and senior-level students

• Classified advertisements in local newspapers

• Internet job postings

Consider recruiting bilingual Instructors to meet the demographics of your market area. With bilingual Instructors and bilingual Tax Preparers, you will be in a better position to penetrate further into your market.

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Internal and external candidates should go through your usual interview process. The following are sample interview questions you should consider asking Instructor candidates:

• How do you stay on top of new tax information? This is a strong indicator of whether or not the person continually seeks to enhance his or her tax knowledge. A candidate with a passion for, or even a strong interest in, taxes will be able to provide realistic examples of tax situations and explain them to students.

• What teaching experience do you have? Experience teaching adults is important in this role. You may be lucky enough to find someone who has actually taught adults in a formal setting, but also consider the candidate who teaches adults at their place of employment, in hobby groups, at church, etc. Former schoolteachers certainly make wonderful candidates as long as they understand that adults learn differently from children and are willing to familiarize themselves with adult learning theory. For candidates who do not have experience teaching, ask them theoretical questions; for example: “What are the traits of a good Instructor of adults,” “Describe how you would teach adults,” or “What would you do with a student who is struggling with the material?” In addition, you can ask them to present a small lesson to you.

• How would you describe a successful class? Ideally, the candidate will convey that a good class means that the students are grasping the concepts and learning in an interactive way. If someone mentions that it should be fun, consider hiring him or her – and quickly!

• How would you prepare for teaching a session? Ideally, the candidate will describe some method of preparation that involves reviewing the material, determining time, creating a lesson plan, developing anticipated questions and answers, and perhaps developing group learning activities.

• How would you get your students to participate in class? Ideally, the candidate will list/detail techniques that allow students to interact with the material.

• What are some of the techniques that you would use to encourage participation? Ideally, the candidate will have some knowledge of active learning exercises or other forms of group exercises that involve students in the learning process.

• How would you encourage participation when you are not getting responses from your students? Ideally, the

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candidate will offer a few common techniques he or she has used to encourage participation.

The Instructors you hire should prepare for their role by taking the Tax Course Instructor Training program. To view the Instructor Development Plan, go to the Tax School page of the Learning Center.

Plan to start training your Instructors in early August. This will give them time before the start of the Tax School season to complete the training and review the materials for the courses that they will be delivering.

If you have multiple Instructors, use the facilitated portion of the training to bring them together to share ideas and methods as a group. This provides consistency among your Instructors, and gives you the opportunity to communicate your expectations and evaluate the skills of your Instructors. You want to identify shortcomings in their presentation and preparation skills and address them now, not while they are in the midst of delivering your Tax School courses.

Having properly trained Instructors increases the potential for students to retain the tax information presented and adds a level of professionalism to your courses that may encourage students to join your Jackson Hewitt team.

Support Staff Candidates

Consider your Tax Season Receptionist, Tax Preparer Assistants, or other support staff for this role. If you use a current employee, you may simply need to review the responsibilities with them and provide coaching on preparing Registration Packets and entering information into e-Services.

Have these individuals in place as soon as your marketing is in place. They should be keeping current with the Recruiter, entering data into e-Services, processing registrations, and sending Registration Packets daily.

Compensate Your Tax School Staff

The compensation plan you put in place should be consistent, written to each staff position, and competitive. It must also take skills into consideration. If you have an excellent Instructor, for example one who has great facilitation as well as preparation skills, you may choose to pay them more because the potential value to your organization for educating and retaining more students is greater.

To minimize your costs, consider incentive plans to motivate and reward your staff. However, remember that investing wisely in your staff may have more returns than you imagine.

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Finally, make sure that you follow the provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) concerning wage rates and overtime payments. .

Consider the following guidelines as you develop your pay structure.

Staff Pay Scale Incentive

Tax School Coordinator This person probably works in your office already. Continue to compensate accordingly.

Offer a bonus for meeting the student registration goal, student graduation goal, or tax preparer new hire goal.

Tax School Recruiter Offer sales-type compensation: base salary plus a commission for every student registered.

Offer a bonus for meeting the student registration goal.

Tax School Instructor Offer a flat rate for the first 12-week course (Income Tax Course or Computerized Income Tax Course), which equates to about 6 hours of instruction time and 6 hours of preparation time per week, or offer an hourly rate plan that takes Instructor experience into account and includes preparation and delivery time. Consider paying more for Intermediate and Advanced courses.

Offer a bonus for every graduate that you hire to fill a Tax Preparer position, or offer a bonus for achieving a predetermined and agreed-upon student retention rate, low dropout rate, or graduating a full class, or pay part of their salary up front, and pay the remainder at the conclusion of the course with the possibility of increasing the pay for meeting a goal, such as the student retention rate. Make sure the pay structure you choose is compliant with the FLSA.

Tax School Support Staff

These people probably work in administrative or data entry positions in your office already. Continue to compensate accordingly.

Offer a bonus for the number of days that records are processed within the same day, or for a target volume of records processed.

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Observe and Evaluate Your Tax School

Once your Tax School begins to deliver course sessions, don’t assume that your role in Tax School is finished. You need to take proactive measures to gauge the effectiveness of your classes, your Instructors, and your office’s relationships with your students.

Attend classes, meet your students, observe your Instructors, determine whether the classes are progressing according to your expectations, and assess whether you are on track to meet your Tax School and Tax Season goals. Use the Tax School Business Center Dashboard to help monitor student retention and progress.

Review with your Tax School Coordinator whether the Tax School and its staff are meeting your Tax School goals. Look at the student enrollment rate and student retention rates. Examine the student feedback for in-progress sessions and completed sessions to see if any issues went unaddressed. Also, check on whether the Tax School is meeting your budget.

With your Recruiter, review the student enrollment rate to see if this goal is being met and what you can do to incent the Recruiter to perform at a higher level, if needed. Don’t forget to consider how your marketing strategy is affecting the number of inquiries your Tax School is receiving.

With your Support Staff, review whether all follow-up activities – registration processing, data entry into e-Services, and preparing Registration Packets – are kept current on a daily basis.

Dynamic and prepared Instructors generally will be more effective and have a higher student retention rate than those Instructors who are not. But how do you know if your Instructors are effective? The best way to determine this is to observe each Instructor while he or she is teaching. Visit a course session of each Instructor at least two times during the course session, once early in the session and again towards the end of the session. This will allow you to observe first-hand each Instructor’s level of preparation, teaching skills, and ability to keep students engaged.

Another way you can gauge the effectiveness of the Instructor and the course is by talking with your students. Randomly call students and ask what they think of the course. Also, call each student who has dropped out to determine the reason why. These conversations will give you great insight into how effectively your Instructors are performing.

Before your classes start, make sure you explain your expectations to your Instructors. As you observe classes, speak to students, and review student retention numbers, you will be able to objectively measure whether your Instructors are meeting the expectations that you set.

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Use the following as a guide for measuring the performance of your Instructors:

• Retention – Did the Instructor meet your predetermined retention rate? How many of the students that started on the first day of the class successfully completed the class?

• Recruitment – Did you draw competent Tax Preparation applicants from the Instructor’s courses?

• Referrals – Did students use the Refer-a-Student and Refer-a-Friend certificates to refer other to Jackson Hewitt?

• Comments/Student Evaluations – What did the students say about the Instructor and/or the course? All course materials in the Jackson Hewitt Tax Education curriculum contain evaluation forms that the students should be asked to complete and turn in to the Instructor. Ensure that your Instructor(s) review the completed evaluations, and that they forward them to you for review as well.

When the Tax School season ends, determine which Instructors met your expectations, and whether you want to invite them to return for the next Tax School season. Consider the following.

• How many of the initial students successfully completed the class? Did the Instructor meet your predetermined student retention rate?

• Were you able to draw competent Tax Preparers from the Instructor’s courses?

• Review the course evaluations from each Instructor’s classes. What did the students say about the Instructor and/or the course? Were the students’ experiences and comments positive?

• Was the learning experience such a positive one for the students that they began recommending the course and Jackson Hewitt to others?