Group items tagged

"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.

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.

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."