This document has been formatted for printing from your browser from the Web site of the Illinois Association of School Boards.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE -- This document is © copyrighted by the Illinois Association of School Boards. IASB hereby grants to school districts and other Internet users the right to download, print and reproduce this document provided that (a) the Illinois Association of School Boards is noted as publisher and copyright holder of the document and (b) any reproductions of this document are disseminated without charge and not used for any commercial purpose.
Illinois School Board Journal
July August 1999
You’d better watch out!
Silver Bullet Academy is coming to town
by William J. Banach
Suppose I decided to open a new school in your community. Rest assured that I’d use some aggressive marketing techniques. In fact, if I targeted your community for the next "Silver Bullet Academy," you could "bet the farm" that I’d be a fearsome competitor.
But you’d also discover that you could — and should — be doing many of the things that I’d do. The highlights of my strategic marketing plan follow. As you read these highlights, ask yourself what you’d do if you learned that Silver Bullet Academy was coming to your community in September. Then ask yourself why you aren’t doing some of those things now.
To begin, I’d conduct some market research in your community to develop a demographic, socioeconomic, and psychographic profile of the citizenry. The result would be a binder filled with nifty graphs and pie charts telling me things like this about the people in your community:
Next, I’d do some research on one of your primary audiences — parents of school age children. I’d determine what they like and don’t like about your schools, and what programs and services they want, but can’t get from you. My intent is to determine if I can develop some elements of a marketing strategy based on your strengths and weaknesses.
Armed with this analytical information, I’d prepare an advertising campaign announcing my arrival.
I could take "the high ground" and announce that my new Silver Bullet Academy would be a safe and secure place where a competent and experienced teaching staff delivered a comprehensive curriculum. Or — to take the lower ground — I could say the same thing and follow it with an attack on the quality of public education. Regardless of my approach, I’d try to position Silver Bullet Academy as an educational option that has advantages over the status quo. To do this I would make some promissory statements such as:
My market analysis would identify the attention-getting promises to use in your community.
My advertising campaign would feature print ads in local newspapers, radio and TV commercials, and direct mail. Within the context of a mass marketing program, I’d target specific mailings to audiences ranging from community influentials to parent opinion leaders. The coordinated advertising campaign would culminate in a series of "See For Yourself" meetings that would be conducted in convenient locations across your community. People would be greeted at the door and given a brochure describing Silver Bullet Academy and its vision. The presentation would focus on the safe environment, the competent staff, the comprehensiveness of the curriculum, and the integration of technology. It would be a slick, well rehearsed, colorful presentation featuring . . . children!
I’d tell those attending that people usually have a few questions after hearing about Silver Bullet Academy. I’d tell people what the three or four most frequently asked questions are, and then I’d give some well-rehearsed answers to each of them. Then I’d ask if there were other questions. As people leave the meeting, I’d give them a postage-paid question card, and invite them to call or mail any questions that occur to them after the meeting.
Hot prospects
But I wouldn’t wait for people to call me. I’d make some calls myself, starting with those who signed the registration card at the informational meetings. (Business people call these folks "hot prospects.") Actually, I’d employ teachers to make these calls. And, so, if you attended the informational meeting and had a fourth-grade youngster, you would receive a call from an elementary-level teacher asking if you wanted any more information about Silver Bullet Academy.
Then I’d move to those parents in the community who did not attend the informational meetings. Before making those calls, however, I’d do a media blitz pointing out the high level of interest in Silver Bullet Academy and the standing room only crowds drawn to the informational meetings.
As I prepared to open my school, I’d engage parents in a review of the Silver Bullet Academy’s vision, and talk with them about the staff’s hopes and aspirations for the students.
Next I’d provide an overview of the curriculum and ask parents to identify the hopes, fears, and priorities they have for their children. And, finally, I’d have parents meet with their child’s teachers for a discussion of the learning objectives for the various grade levels. (At these grade-level meetings every teacher would provide parents with a vita, a summary of the classroom curriculum for the year, and an invitation to be a partner in the educational process. Parents also would be provided with the teacher’s school and personal telephone numbers, and a sincere invitation to call at any reasonable hour.)
To keep communication flowing, Silver Bullet Academy would have a well-written newsletter, a web page, and periodic "open letters" from the principal. These items would be designed to reinforce the vision of the school, the competence of the staff, the success of the students, and to provide parents with information about a variety of educational topics and issues.
The staff would be the front line troops in my marketing campaign. Each member of the staff would understand how to be an ambassador for the school, and each member of the staff would have customer relations as an important part of his job description.
Each week every teacher would send home a parent letter, a brief student progress report, and all student work. The parent letter would explain what happened during the week, the learning objectives that were addressed, and how the student work related to those objectives. The parent letter would also outline the learning objectives to be addressed during the next week. (I’d send these items home on Monday. Parents are pooped on Friday.)
My principal and teachers each would make a "courtesy" phone call to one parent every day. The purpose of the call would be to say something positive.
The principal would have "communication debriefing" as a standing item on each monthly staff meeting agenda to celebrate communication successes and anticipate communication opportunities. Staff members would hear the vehicles employed during the month and, at mid-year, the results of the annual "customer satisfaction" survey. The debriefings would reinforce Silver Bullet Academy’s "no surprises" approach to communication.
No surprises
Parents and other citizens would be welcome to visit Silver Bullet Academy at any time, and the hallways and display cases would feature student work.
The sign on the front door of the school would welcome people and direct them to the office. The office would have a pleasant waiting room, and a combination secretarial "reception station" would replace the check-in counter so that students and visitors could state their business with some degree of privacy.
Parent conferences would be eliminated because they have become obsolete. There is no need for parents to come to school twice a year to hear about their child’s progress. At Silver Bullet Academy, each student’s progress is now reported weekly, teachers telephone parents regularly, and parents can use the Internet at any time to access information related to their child’s learning objectives and classroom activities.
Parent conferences would be replaced by quarterly, school-wide "Learning Celebrations." These late afternoon and early evening celebrations would feature student work and provide opportunities for staff, parents and students to converse. The celebrations would feature music, the arts, and an ongoing infomercial about the school curriculum and student achievement. Parents and students who attend the celebrations would receive gold star pins, certificates and bumper stickers proclaiming, "Education is Golden at Silver Bullet Academy!"
The staff training schedule would be published in a Silver Bullet Academy calendar at the beginning of the school year. Parents would receive reminders two weeks before each training session that affected their child’s schedule. These reminders also would describe type of training, why teachers would receive it, and the potential payoff of the training for students. When students returned to class after time off for teacher training, the teacher would explain the nature of the training and how it might be used in the classroom.
To address its vision (Developing successful students who will be able to effectively assume a variety of adult roles and responsibilities), Silver Bullet Academy will create and maintain a variety of educational partnerships with businesses and governmental agencies, both locally and electronically, around the world.
Partnerships
Silver Bullet Academy will seek out the best educational practices — from all sources, public and private — and adapt them for use by Silver Bullet Academy students. Technology will be integrated into the curriculum. Time will be provided so teachers can talk with their colleagues and think about better ways of doing things.
The traditional school year will close with an annual report informing parents and community members of progress toward goals and objectives set at the beginning of the school year.
The closing of the traditional year would also serve as the kickoff of a self-supporting summer enrichment session for all that choose to attend. This session would feature a series of week-long "camps" to reinforce and expand upon what children have learned. Multi-age groupings would be established in specialty areas to help students demonstrate and develop their leadership skills. And, as is the case during the school year, all school district learning resources would be available. Students, for example, would be able to check out laptop computers to access the school district’s library and a variety of educational resource banks.
If all this seems like a lot of work, please understand that this strategic marketing plan outlines just some of the things that I’d do to develop successful students and build a constituency for Silver Bullet Academy. (We haven’t even discussed incentives, rewards, alumni groups, volunteers, adult tutors, on-site day care services, future student associations, grandparent programs, the graphic presence of Silver Bullet Academy, and a host of other constituency-building activities.)
No doubt, some school staffs are already implementing a plan similar to the one outlined above. As a result, they should have little difficulty developing and maintaining a vibrant educational program in today’s competitive, market-driven environment.
Conversely, many schools do not have a vision, do not expect their staffs to be involved in marketing activities, and do not address the needs and wants of their constituents. As a result, they are destined to see reductions in their customer and financial base. Eventually the level of community support and the quality of their program will deteriorate, and, ultimately, they may find themselves . . . out of business.
What’s interesting here is that there is nothing new about Silver Bullet Academy. It’s a school with a decent staff, a good curriculum, and people who are continually trying to do better. In many ways, Silver Bullet Academy is just like your school. (After all, there are no silver bullets!)
What is different is that Silver Bullet Academy is using planning and marketing to systematically build a constituency — a constituency that will become a foundation for effective teaching and learning, and better educational opportunities for all students. You should think about this before Silver Bullet Academy comes to your town.
William J. Bannock is CEO of Bannock, Bannock & Cassidy, Inc. (21969 Cimarron Lane, Ray Township, MI 48096-1412) and executive director of The Institute for Future Studies.