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"A brand that stands for what all brands stand for stands for nothing much." At the first RF conference Peter McConville and Tom Sabo ran a really interesting activity where we looked at schools' mission statements from across Vermont. As a part of this activity they asked if individuals could recall their own. Not many (if any) could. It is too bad really. Coming from a corporate background myself, I understand the power of an organization having a common and driving statement of intent. To me what was striking, and unfortunate, was that it wouldn't be at all challenging to get fairly close if you just said something about students who strive to become life-long learners who are global citizens that give back to their community. Maybe it is just me, but I think that a mission statement should be as unique as the schools, communities, and individuals that are striving to fulfill that mission. It should be a mantra, a way to identify what is truly important to your school, a means of sharing your school's common sense of purpose, to communicate your school's common sense of direction to fulfill that purpose. My sense is that a mission statement should be the keystone for the very unique work that we do in our schools, it should be more akin to Dan Pink's My Sentence. But, read though most and you'll find that they seem interchangeable and ambiguous. I think that it may be better to not have one at all if it doesn't really share the message of what your individual school is about and what it specifically strives to be. Does your school's mission statement really share your school's mission?

Jason Thanks for posting this. Question - how do I copy this post over to another Diigo group I am working with? Jim

Mission statements are pretty generic... NEASC is moving away from asking schools for mission statements but instead for statements of core values and beliefs about learning in the hope of getting more school specific statements.

"There is a difference between personalization and differentiation and individualization. One is learner-centered; the others are teacher-centered."

Completely agree Adam! The chart is a little perplexing at times in its definitions/examples. How the first is Competency-based and the others must be Carnegie Unit based comparison…I just don't get. What I do like about the chart is that it makes me reflect on how I do what I do. And also on, "Do I do what I say that I do?" Sometimes I feel like I might begin implementing a strategy one semester only to have my application of that strategy drift as time goes by. Every now and then I think that it is necessary to take a step back and question each piece of my own professional practice. This approach comes from my belief that we need to question and challenge everything...especially those things we most believe in.

Excellent point! Beliefs are like clothes. If we don't regularly take them off to wash them, we often mistake our own stench for what we perceive as someone else's.

As school choice evolves in Vermont having a PR strategy and "brand" recognition will be a necessity. If a school doesn't define its brand...it will be defined for it. What is yours?

"While that sounds like a lot to manage, a good PR program can help you gain support for your district initiatives in some key ways: *Taxpayer support: ... *Demonstrate economic impact: ... *Ensure public engagement: ..."

Districts must manage their own PR and push out information through channels it can control, such as websites, direct mail, social media and email." "Social media has enabled anyone to become a 'citizen journalist' with the ability to sway public opinion - regardless of accuracy or intent," said Nichols. "Not only do we need to embrace these new technologies and opportunities, but we must master them to ensure that we can successfully operate our PR programs in all situations." Kleinz adds that today's mobile technology means that school districts must be prepared to respond immediately in a crisis to help manage the situation and ensure that the community receives accurate and timely information."

It appears that we are not the only group having this conversation. Here is an article that parallels our own. (It is actually eerily similar in its stream of thought.)

"...it's easy to see why students are disengaged from the learning tasks that we give them. The big question is whether we care. So far, most of our school systems don't seem too bothered by their environmental deficiencies when it comes to fostering internal motivation. Our actions put the lie to our school mission statements that state that we're about creating 'self-motivated, life-long learners.'" "As school leaders and classroom teachers, how long can we continue to ignore core principles of intrinsic motivation?"

I could not agree more and this is a critical topic for the independent schools with which I work.

Important to know. What is your school doing to define its brand? Can you articulate in a sentence or two what your school is all about and has to offer students?As this progresses things may get even more competitive. How many students does your school need to lose to translate to reduction in staff? 10:1? 7:1?Under the progressive possibilities what would losing 35 or 40 students mean to your staffing, programs, and academic offerings?

Under this interpretation, if a school has opted to limit transfers to the fullest extent permitted by law, the 5% or 10 students limit is calculated based on the school's current full 9-12 enrollment, which excludes those who have already transferred, but have not yet graduated. In determining how many transfer slots are available in any given year, the number is the lesser of 5% of the then-enrolled students, or 10. And this standard is cumulative over a four-year period. For example, a high school with 180 presently-enrolled students may limit transfers (during the following year) to 9 students (the lesser of 9 (5% of 180) or 10). In the following year, if enrollment at the school is 171, and if all of the 9 remained in other schools, the transfer limit for students participating for the first time would be 8, for a total of 17.

The 5 Attributes of Content Curation are … Seeking, Sorting, Synthesizing, Socializing, and Sharing. *Seeking is when students Identify, Investigate, Explore, and Inquire into an idea or question. *Sorting is when students Collect, Organize, and Contextualize those pieces that they discover. *Synthesizing is when those students then make Connections between information and ideas, when they Make Sense of these things and go on to Innovate and Create NEW information and ideas. *Socializing is when students Communicate, Collaborate, Revise, and Peer Assess as part of the LEARNING process. *Sharing is when students Propose ideas, solutions, and brand NEW questions. It is when they Publish and Present these things that show again as Dr. Wagner says…"What they can do with what they know."