developing a coherent message about school health: communicating with policymakers, local officials...
TRANSCRIPT
Developing a Coherent Message About School Health:
Communicating with Policymakers, Local Officials and the Public
Nora L. Howley, MA, CHES
Council of Chief State School Officers
Session Objectives:
• Gain an understanding of the process of message development in support of coordinated school health programs.
• Identify the tools available to help in message development and delivery
What is the message?
• Need to communicate what people need to know.
• Not what we believe/think/feel.
• Message development is about “selling” school health.
• Appeal to what matters
Who is the audience
• Who do you need to influence?– State policymakers
• Governor• Legislators• State Board• Agency Heads
– Local policymakers• Local Boards• Mayors• Council members• Local agency heads
Who is the Audience
• School Personnel– Teachers– Principals– Other school staff
• Families and community members
What do we want?
• Widespread adoption of coordinated school health at the state, district and school level
• Integration into school and community networks
• Sustained implementation
Principals of Marketing
• Know exactly who your audience is and look at everything from their point of view
• Your bottom line: the audience’s action is what counts
• Marketing is about an exchange: to succeed in getting people to do something you want, you must offer something they value.
Principals of Marketing
• There will always be competition for your “product.” Be aware and plan with the competition in mind.
• The marketplace is constantly changing: base decisions on evidence and keep checking in.
Marketing is an Exchange
• Both parties must receive something they want– “What’s in it for me?”– Must offer benefits that matter to the audience– Must minimize barriers
What we have learned
• What matters to schools?– Academic achievement– Improved academic outcomes– ??
How to Work with Schools: Key Issues Confronted by Schools
• Education Reform Focus– High Stakes Standards– High Stakes Accountability
• Individual Student / Teacher Level
• School Systems Level
– School Finance / Funding– State vs. Local Control
How to Work with Schools: Key Issues Confronted by Schools
• Ready to Learn Issues– ‘Non-Academic Barriers to Learning’
• Changing Demands, Expectations, Perceptions About Public Education
• Sustaining Support for Public Education
What Matters to….
• Governors?
• Legislators?
• Health Departments?
What do we know about messages?
• Messages must be clear and concise
• Messages must be relevant to the specific state or local system
• Need to be relevant
• Need to be realistic-don’t promise the moon
• Must address the audience
A Framework for Message Development
• BEHAVE– Target audience– Actions you want them to take– Benefits and barriers– Activities to reach them
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
• The School Health Starter Kit– Developed by CCSSO and ASTHO in response to the
needs of our members
– Target Audience• People who work in schools
• Administrators
• Teachers
• Other school staff (e.g. nurses)
• Parents who are already active in school issues
– Messages to resonate across fields
Healthy Kids Make Better Students, Better Students Make Health
Communities.
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
• Building Business Support for School Health– Developed by the National Association of State
Boards of Education (NASBE)– Target Audience
• Public particularly business leaders, employers and employee groups
• Business as a driving force in education reform
Healthy Children, Ready Learners
Coordinated School Health
Programs (CSHPs)
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
• American Cancer Society– Community based mass market/awareness campaigns
• American School Health Association– Making change at the school level
• www.ashaweb.org/
• Education Development Center– Health is Academic and Making Health Academic
• www.edc.org/HIA
Contact Information
• Nora Howley– [email protected] 202.336.7033
• Amy Greene– [email protected] 202.715.1617
• Carlos Vega-Matos– [email protected] 703.684.4000
THANK YOU !!!!