Strategic Communications

This KnowledgeBase archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.

The Strategic Communications KnowledgeBase is an online resource to aid those leading or supporting communications in education in understanding the history, value, framework, planning, and execution of effective Strategic Communications to nurture and build strong relationships in education. Strategic Communications is essential to engage stakeholders and achieve goals at the state level. The elements, activities, and tasks in this KnowledgeBase are designed to better prepare communications professionals within state education agencies (SEAs) to plan for and respond to communication challenges and support implementation of education policy.

Task 3: Review examples of effective communication strategies and activities

Guideline: This task is designed to provide examples of successful strategies and tactics of Strategic Communications that can be adopted or adapted to meet the needs of an SEA. It is important to match the selected strategies with the skillsets of those assigned to execute the plan or to build their capacity as needed.

Resources

REFERENCES

State Education Agency Communications Process: Benchmark and Best Practices Project

This 2014 Building State Capacity and Productivity Center Benchmarking project report explains the major processes associated with strategic communication and details the communication approaches employed by five SEAs to support the adoption of new state standards, a major education policy change in those states.

EXAMPLES

Arkansas ESSA Stakeholder Communication Page

This Arkansas Department of Education webpage offers an explanation of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), as well as a summary of community input and feedback. This site also provides advice for stakeholders to stay involved. Arkansas selected webpage development as an appropriate tactic for engaging stakeholders in a conversation about ESSA.

Arkansas Reignite: Teach Again! Campaign

To alleviate some of the pressure caused by educator shortages, Arkansas launched the Teach Again! Campaign, which encourages retired or no-longer-teaching educators to reignite their passion for education and return to the classroom. In conjunction with a social media strategy, this website uses video, statistics, and step-by-step instructions to reengage educators in the pipeline.

Colorado Stories of Promising Practice

The Colorado Department of Education highlights the great work being done in Colorado at schools and districts, Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), and other education-related organizations through video clips, stories, blogs, and newspaper articles.

Kansans Can Postcards

This is one example of the Kansans Can Postcards associated with the Kansans Can Vision for Education. Additional postcard examples can be found at Kansas Can Brochures.

Kansans Can Vision Website

Following development of the Kansans Can Vision for Education, the Kansas State Department of Education collected all resources related to the vision into one web portal. Resources on this website include the vision, outcomes to be measured, video, presentations, printables, fact sheets, graphics, and stakeholder engagement tools.

Louisiana Believes Introduction Video

The Louisiana Department of Education developed a video to introduce all stakeholders to the state’s strategic plan, Louisiana Believes. The video explains the key strategies and goals of the plan.

Missouri Top 10 by 20 Public Service Announcements Playlist

Missouri’s Top 10 by 20 is a major improvement effort that aims for student achievement in Missouri to rank among the top 10 states by 2020. More than a ranking, the initiative is about the entire state coming together for a common purpose of improved student achievement. This video playlist pulls together some of the public service announcements created for the initiative.

New Mexico Common Core State Standards Website

The New Mexico Common Core State Standards website provides critical information about the state’s academic expectations with differentiated messages for each audience: students, parents, teachers, and administrators.

Oklahoma Fast Facts Brochure 2016-17

The Oklahoma Department of Education selected education statistics that relate to the state’s strategic goals to report in an easy-to-understand format for the general public, educators, and policymakers.

Smithville School District Science Curriculum (12 Step Process)

This 2014 Power Point by Sarah Potter, from the Missouri Department of Education, is a case study about the Smithville School District (Chicago school district of 5,000) Science Curriculum. This presentation is from an APR online study course given on July 1, 2014.

The contents of this website were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and are intended for general reference purposes only. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education or the Center, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Some resources on this site require Adobe Acrobat Reader. This website archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.