As America enters an era of parent-driven school choice unseen before in America, competition among schools for students is about to ramp up significantly. School leaders: it’s time to ready your school for this marketplace, or you risk losing your students, parents and school to more vocal, prepared options. Choice and its correlate, competition, have always been the American way. So, it was inevitable that parental school choice would become a major focus of how we approach providing education. Educating children has always been the primary responsibility of parents and guardians, who would cobble together options such as tutors, home schooling, summer programs. Now, the role of parents in choosing educational paths for their children is accelerating rapidly.
All schools in America need to pay attention to this trend; moving toward “Universal School Choice” puts additional outside pressures on every school. For example, even if private or charter schools aren’t nearby, everyone with internet access can potentially enroll in cyber schools. Universal School Choice for parents in K-12 education will soon be available for every American school, if it isn’t already. Schools can prepare for this by asking three sets of questions that I believe are critical to their long-term survival. These questions emphasize how well a school stands out among its competitors.
- What particular, unique value does your school bring to the educational marketplace (Mission)?
- What do you want your students to be able to do in the long term (Vision)?
- What evidence do you have that your students are fulfilling that mission and vision (Contribution)?
Even if you’ve asked these questions before, consider revisiting them to focus on differentiating your school in this marketplace. In my experience working with over 100 schools, very few school communities hold a shared vision. Even fewer still can state how their students have done after leaving. Now it’s time to get your school together about the value you provide, and what makes you uniquely capable of providing it. Here are a few things to think about when addressing these key questions as school competition increases:
Mission
Your school’s mission should be a rallying cry to focus your community on what you aim to achieve right now. It is the school’s central purpose—what it is trying to accomplish every day, every week, every year. Your school’s mission should be specific and clear, outlining actionable goals. The mission is what your school is actively doing presently to prepare students for success now and in the future.
To connect your school to your mission, ask these questions of your community members: What do we do? What is our role in the education landscape? What would be missing if we were not here? Why are we urgently needed by our community? Example answer: “Our school’s mission is to foster a love of learning in students by providing critical thinking skills and preparation for careers in specific industries, empowering them to succeed in an ever-evolving world.”
Vision
Your school’s vision provides an ideal view of how you are improving the world for the future. It helps your community know where it’s going, thus ensuring every piece is there to work towards a better world. The vision is the big picture, the long-term hope of what a school aims to achieve. It is the dream of where a school and its students will be in the future, where its impact and reach extend beyond present reality.
To prepare your community members, ask the following questions: How do we want our students to contribute to the world? What will this school need to look like in the future to achieve our mission? What kind of world do we want our students to live in? Example answer: “We envision a world where every child has the opportunity to learn, and is empowered by their education to build bridges between people from all backgrounds.”
Contribution
A school’s contributions are shown in the value that it is providing to its students. It is the evidence that you are making the world better on a daily, weekly, yearly basis. Your school’s material contributions can be demonstrated through student performance during and after their time at school, and directly influence school choice.
Ask your community these questions: How are our students’ lives getting better academically, socially, emotionally, spiritually? What evidence do we have that demonstrates our students’ growth and achievements? What can we celebrate? How is our school different from or better than other schools in our area? Example answer: “Over 95% of our students participate in arts or music activities every day.”
As the school landscape grows increasingly competitive, school administrators need to help their community members develop a habit of asking and answering essential questions like these. To put your school in the strongest position, you should keep these core ideas front and center of what your school’s day-to-day, and collect data and information that assures staying on track. School leaders can celebrate and promote their success by collecting and synthesizing a variety of measures, such as surveys of student and parent satisfaction, students’ test scores and graduation rates, and awards and achievements earned through interscholastic competitions.
While your school should be constantly pursuing its mission, that mission can change over time as a community’s goals and needs shift, and as the world and population it serves change. Your school’s vision can also develop differently as your community evolves its view of its place in the world. As your school changes with a changing world, remember to stay focused on your core values, and keep your community in touch with your achievements. In a very real sense, your school’s existence depends on it, perhaps now more than ever.
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