A Few Things to Consider as Schools Prepare for the New School Year
Educators, students, and administrators are still recovering from a year filled with uncertainty and rapid transitioning. For many K-12 schools primarily focused on in-person instruction, making the necessary changes to keep teaching, engagement, and progress accelerating required rapid implementation of new systems and procedures. As documented countless times, these changes were complex and harrowing, but schools made it through.
As education administrators and teachers look ahead, the universal goal is to do more than make it through another year; educators are keen on addressing three critical areas of need. For the providers tuning into this article and researching resources to help them better prepare for the coming year, here are three main areas of focus you need to understand to remain relevant and add value to the schools and districts you serve:
Learning Recovery and Acceleration
Educational Inequities
Social-Emotional Learning
Priorities for Education Companies
It's no secret that technological advancements in education have been climbing over the past several decades; the pandemic only accelerated this progress.
Addressing learning loss is undeniably the top priority for schools right now. However, carefully crafted messaging with preferred terminology can help companies stand out. Use terms such as "unfinished learning," "back on track," or "learning acceleration" to convey your message.
Education companies should also focus on being sensitive to a school's needs. Consider the opinions of decision-makers, administrators, teachers, and parents when brainstorming campaigns.
Research to determine what schools and districts need based on their prioritization for state funding and overall goals. Find information regarding funding on official government organization websites such as the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE).
With this information in hand, focus on creating targeted marketing campaigns that speak to your audience. For example, many education companies have created new resource documents or web pages that illustrate how their products or services align with ESSER funding. Making this information easily accessible for prospects to fund from the homepage is a good practice.
Some examples of ESSER funding resources:
Building targeted email campaigns for each state with the priorities listed on the Final ARP ESSER State Plan can help ensure your messaging lands with the decision maker.
Keep in mind that school leaders, teachers, and administrators have seen more significant levels of marketing outreach with the increased need for educational solutions during the pandemic, so making sure your message is relevant to the recipient will be critical.
Education suppliers need to find ways to stand out in the crowd. First, let's focus on the most important considerations.
In-Person, Remote, Hybrid, or a Combination? According to recent articles released by Microsoft News and other local news stations, students are returning to in-person learning, but the rates vary by school. When planning campaigns directed towards specific geographic areas, be sure you understand these timelines and guidelines.
Digital Fatigue: Consider the adjustment period students and teachers face due to digital fatigue. Children spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer screen with limited to no in-person connections. Ensure messaging is sensitive to these circumstances and be ready to explain how your company can help children engage in the classroom, not just on-screen.
Emphasis on Collaboration: Schools are also looking for ways to increase excitement around collaboration and learning while supporting students' and teachers' mental health. Ensure that if you provide products or services that are solely digital, you emphasize students can collaborate while staying engaged.
Mental Health of Children and Teachers: Children's mental health took a hit due to the lack of typical learning structures, alienation from physical interactions with students and teachers, and equity barriers, such as a lack of access to adequate internet connections. WeAreTeachers surveyed 2,500 K-12 educators in April 2021 and found that 52% of them are considering leaving the teaching profession, and 27% plan to leave in the next three years. Therefore, companies that support student and/or educator well-being will be critical this year.
Next, here are some general guidelines to sharpen outreach to schools:
Know Your Audience: As stated above, knowing your audience, and understanding their needs, wants, and motivations are crucial for crafting a compelling message that results in purchasing. Use the resources at your fingertips, including federal and state websites, school and district websites, relevant research, and peer-reviewed articles to find important information about decision-makers and educators.
Competitive Research: You will need to scope out your competitors. What is the focus of their messaging and their value proposition? Your goal here isn't to copy their efforts but rather to go a step above them by addressing needs more straightforwardly and adding additional considerations they may have skipped over.
An Emotional Perspective: Your messaging shouldn't just state the facts—there needs to be a motivating driver embedded within. For example, for an SEL provider, you could provide information about long-term benefits for students, such as reduced juvenile crime and improved physical well-being. Even if school leaders have all the facts about a product or service, what is the feeling that drives action?
Educational Inequities Amplified by the Pandemic
The pandemic brought light to inequities faced by students. Access to the internet, digital devices, and tutoring services were widely disproportionate. Providers should address how their offerings speak to the equity of students, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to access your offering.
Many K-12 schools have received funding from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), enabling them to provide students with digital devices.
As stated above, providers who want to address the ESSER funding in any regard should use the correct terminology to allow schools to easily align the funding requirements with their products or services.
The Importance of Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
For schools, social-emotional learning is a heightened priority.
Education providers are well aware that this terminology is top-of-mind and see this as a window of opportunity to provide value for schools.
But what they may overlook is a proper understanding of what SEL truly is unless they are a specialist in this subject area. For providers that are not, gathering a complete knowledge of the subject matter is essential to understanding whether and/or how they should approach this topic.
Check out CASEL's SEL Framework, which includes five broad areas of competence. Use this to determine whether your company provides SEL benefits indirectly:
Self-Management
Self-Awareness
Responsible Decision Making
Relationship Skills
Social Awareness
Let's briefly cover each component and explain its importance as it relates to navigating the pandemic.
Self-management, according to CASEL, is "the ability to manage one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations."
With the pandemic taking so much attention away from students, the ability to stay focused on academics was likely challenging. Kids need tools that can help them adapt to varying situations and help keep them focused and engaged, despite setbacks.
Companies that provide tools that allow students to set personal and/or collective goals cultivate essential skills in self-management. Include this terminology in communications with schools and districts and explain how your product or services meet students' needs.
Self-awareness is "the ability to understand one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts."
If a student feels that they are not achieving their academic goals as quickly as they would like, this can begin to chip away at their self-esteem.
As an educational provider, you need to identify how your products or services instill a sense of confidence in children. Do students receive badges or special notifications that fast-track them on the path to academic recovery?
Responsible decision-making is "the ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations."
When COVID-19 hit, students transitioned from in-person instruction to online learning. For some students, the amount of effort dwindled, and so did their academic achievements. Their ability to see that hard work pays off, that keeping connected with teachers and students to receive clarification when they feel lost is okay and can lead to greater levels of success.
Does your product or service allow children to keep organized and focused on the task at hand? Design and interface can be emphasized here. If students see what assignments they have for the week all in one place, they learn to prioritize tasks and can make choices to support a healthy academic journey.
Relationship skills are "the abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups."
These skills evolved during the pandemic. A circle of students at a table became a circulation of messages on an online platform or their cell phones.
Dealing with conflict became more challenging, as there wasn't instant gratification in solving dilemmas in person. Students need relationship skills to keep connections with others and handle conflict well, whether in-person or virtual. So if your product or service offers ways to build communication skills or connect students, ensure you emphasize these benefits to schools.
Social Awareness is "the ability to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, & contexts.
What an important skill to have when suddenly, everyone is faced with new learning environments and has to adapt. The ability to empathize with others allows students to see from the lens of others with the hope that they will adjust their interaction with them accordingly.
As you head into the school year, put yourself in the shoes of teachers, students, and administrators. Consider the times we live in, the resources and funding schools possess, the areas of focus for these funds, and how to make the lives of students and teachers easier.
Please do your research, and ensure that your messaging, whether to school leaders, teachers, or administrators, ties in with how your products or services directly impact their goals. To discover these goals be sure to reference the ESSER funding guide mentioned above, paying careful attention to each state's spending focus.
Understanding how the pandemic has influenced schools and shifted priorities is critical to tailor your messaging appropriately. These changes are not temporary and have caused shifts in the educational system that will remain. It's your responsibility to answer these calls and provide the most value for schools.