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Strategic Communications

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. Click here to see a quick introduction to this KnowledgeBase.

Task 3: Explore Strategic Communications as it relates to educational policy


Guideline: In an educational policy sense, Strategic Communications is the process of aligning agency-wide communication processes to SEA strategic goals. SEAs are responsible for influencing implementation of educational policy by assisting large numbers of stakeholders with understanding and supporting those policies. Communication processes, such as generating broad stakeholder awareness of the policy and articulating the expected outcomes of the policy, can influence the degree to which the policy is implemented and supported. This task explores how SEAs and school districts have used communication processes as critical strategies to accomplish agency priorities and major initiatives.

Tools

BSCP Strategic Communications SEA Tools and SEA Map

BSCP, with the support of the Center-Driven Strategic Communication Collaborative, is gathering and reviewing various resources that can be used by Centers and SEAs in their strategic communication efforts.  The resources below are organized around the strategic communication framework (bottom of page), which illustrates SEA vision/mission and unified message, and will continue to grow as we collect and review additional resources.

BSCP Strategic Communications Toolbox

This Toolbox is based on the BSCP Strategic Communications Framework to help SEAs increase their capacity to support statewide education reform through coherent communication processes. The six modules in the toolbox are designed to provide guidance, examples from the field, and tools for SEAs to use no matter where they are in their communication planning process.

Guidelines

SEA Strategic Communications: Making Communications More Proactive, Efficient, and Effective

Over time, the role of state education agencies (SEAs) has shifted from a focus on low-profile compliance activities to more complex and politically charged tasks, requiring more thoughtful communications with all stakeholders. In response to this shift, SEAs have increased their communications capacity by creating communication divisions and executive leadership positions focused on managing agency information (i.e., a Chief Information Officer).  This Solutions piece explains basic strategic communication concepts and illustrates how the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) has been applying these strategies over time.

 

 

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

#CommonCore: How Social Media is Changing the Politics of Education

In this innovative and interactive website, explore the Common Core debate on Twitter. Using a distinctive combination of social network analyses and psychological investigations, authors reveal both the underlying social structure of the conversation and the motivations of the participants. The central question guiding their investigation was: How are social media-enabled social networks changing the discourse in American politics that produces and sustains social policy?

Building Tulsa Schools’ Brand to Attract Effective Teachers

This Battelle for Kids 2015 Case Study reports the challenge of recruiting teachers in one urban school district. Because teacher recruitment, development, and retention was a major initiative for the school district, as well as the state in which it sits, developing a communications campaign around the issue was a strategic decision. The case study reports on specific action the district took to and resolving this issue utilizing Strategic Communications and communicate the results of the activities to stakeholders.

Building the BRIDGE to Educator Effectiveness in Charleston Schools

Charleston County School District (CCSD) has a vision of ensuring that every school is led by an effective principal and every student is taught by a highly effective teacher. This Battelle for Kids 2015 case study shows how CCSD ran the campaign to implement teacher evaluation system funded via Teacher Incentive Fund dollars, exemplifying a Strategic Communications approach to move toward realization of their long-term vision.

How the Vermont Agency of Education has Made Stakeholder Engagement Part of Continuous Improvement

The Vermont Agency of Education (VAOE) has been developing and modifying its statewide accountability system to assist all districts and schools with continuous improvement. VAOE created a Strategic Communication campaign to gather stakeholder input and pilot, implement, communicate, and refine Education Quality Reviews to address state and federal standards through locally determined solutions. (November 2016)

Pittsburgh Schools Focused on Teacher Feedback and Support

This August 28, 2014, case study explores the Pittsburgh Public Schools communications campaign to celebrate effective teaching and implement new educator evaluation and support systems funded with Teacher Incentive Fund dollars and a Gates grant, which were two components of the district’s strategic plan.


Previous

Element 1: What is Strategic Communications?

Purpose: To implement a Strategic Communications process, it is important to understand the key principles of Strategic Communication first. This element explores the definitions, descriptions, history, benefits, and major functions of Strategic Communications, as well as what distinguishes Strategic Communications from daily communication activities. Although the focus is on how to apply this information within a state education agency (SEA), background information often comes from other disciplines as well as other educational organizations.

Activity 1: Understand the Principles, Definition, and History of Strategic Communications

A variety of definitions, descriptions, and frameworks have been given for Strategic Communications by experts in the field. Many of the definitions and descriptions included in this activity come from disciplines other than education, but have transferable value. These include the United States Armed Forces, business, public and governmental relations, and higher education. 

Activity 2: Explore the Benefits of Strategic Communications

Strategic Communications can be viewed as an umbrella term that pulls together many communications and related functions from other disciplines under one process to implement an agency’s strategic goal or priority. Although this can be a time- and resource-intensive process, it can also have significant benefits to connect these various core functions with the agency's strategic direction.

Element 2: What background information is needed to develop a Strategic Communications approach?

Purpose: Before developing a Strategic Communications process, it is important for an SEA to research the organization, including its vision, mission, values, and desired outcomes; its history, leadership, and structures; its various audiences, including both internal and external stakeholders; and its goals for Strategic Communications. The SEA should also explore promising practices of Strategic Communications that are likely to be successful based on the information gleaned about the organization. This element explores each of these components and provides resources for how to conduct research or collect the background information needed before designing or improving upon an existing Strategic Communications process.

Activity 1: Establish background context and current reality of the SEA

This activity explores the context and current situation of SEA through the strategic direction, history, leadership, structures, strengths and weaknesses, and cultural norms of the SEA.

Vision, Mission, Values, and Goals: Some might ask, “What if an SEA does not have a formalized vision, mission, values, and goals? Can Strategic Communications exist without those?” Based on the definitions, descriptions, and principles of Strategic Communications identified in Element 1, it is clear that a Strategic Communications approach is one that connects communications activities to the agency’s larger strategic direction, either holistically or for a particular initiative. If the agency does not have a formalized vision, mission, values, and goals, or if the agency does not follow these as a course of direction, it will be more challenging to implement a Strategic Communications approach. It is possible, however, for an SEA to articulate a strategic direction to which communication processes are tied without that strategic direction being formalized through a vision, mission, values, and goals. In this case, a Strategic Communications approach would be based on the articulated strategic direction.

History, Leadership, and Structures: Organizational culture, which is influenced by history, leadership, and structures of the agency, will drive various aspects of a Strategic Communications plan. It is not possible for any SEA to adopt another organization’s Strategic Communications plan because they are situated within different organizational cultures. The culture of one organization may lend itself to cross-divisional conversations without formalized structures, for example, whereas another organization may rely on formalized structures to ensure that cross-divisional conversations are productive. Similarly, leadership of one SEA may include a large number of people whereas another may defer to only a few people as decision-makers. These pieces of background information will shape the overall Strategic Communications plan because they shape the overall strategic direction as well as the specific components or activities included in a Strategic Communications plan.

Activity 2: Determine your audiences and understand their perspectives

Understanding the various perspectives of audiences and stakeholder groups requires research and information gathering.

Audiences, including Internal and External Stakeholders: Some have described the key to Strategic Communications as understanding the various audiences of the SEA and determining the best activities for engaging them in the strategic direction.  In most cases, every person, organization, and entity within a state and some outside of the state are stakeholders of the education system – either as a financial contributor, recipient of implemented learning experiences, employer of graduates, or provider of educational services.  It is important, then, to understand a broad array of perspectives and determine the scope of stakeholders for varying levels of intensity in a Strategic Communications plan.

Activity 3: Determine the purposes, objectives, strategies and tactics of your SEA Strategic Communications Approach

Writing specific goals and objectives for the Strategic Communications plan assists with selecting the most meaningful strategies and tactics for implementing it.

Purposes of Strategic Communications: Not every activity that is considered communication is part of a Strategic Communications approach. Understanding what the agency intends to accomplish with its Strategic Communications approach will assist in determining which activities need to come under the umbrella of Strategic Communications. For example, one SEA may choose to use a Strategic Communications approach to build support for one new initiative while another SEA may desire to use Strategic Communications for all activities related to a new set of goals for the state.

Promising Practices: When selecting specific strategies, activities, or tactics for a Strategic Communications approach, SEAs will want to conduct a review of proven and promising practices to maximize the likelihood of success for the strategies.

Element 3: What are the processes for developing, implementing, and evaluating a Strategic Communications Approach?

Purpose: The iterative process of developing, implementing, evaluating, and revising a Strategic Communications approach is critical to its success. All steps of the process must be considered before implementation to monitor the effectiveness of the approach.

Activity 1: Explore examples of Strategic Communications plans and templates

In this activity, a variety of Strategic Communications plans are presented, including examples from inside and outside of the education field.  Examples of specific strategies and activities are provided to illustrate how a plan gets turned into actions and deliverables.  Additionally, templates, checklists, and guiding questions for key components of Strategic Communications plans are shared. 

No magic formula exists for Strategic Communications approaches, so the variety of plans presented are intended to be instructive and provide opportunities for SEAs to modify promising practices to meet the context of the agency. Remember: Stay true to the word "strategic." These samples and templates reflect the principle of proactive, impact-focused Strategic Communications. Resisting the temptation to be reactive and tactic-focused can be difficult in the fast pace of state agency work, but it is essential to successful outcomes in this arena.

Activity 2: Monitor and measure the success of your Strategic Communications Plan

It is imperative to monitor implementation and measure the success of the SEA’s Strategic Communication approach. Decision-makers need to see evidence of expected impact and, where necessary, which elements require adjustments for improved outcomes. Additionally, audience feedback is critical to communications success. Listening to stakeholder input, and reflecting changes based on it, will enhance and accelerate the work.