What to Say at the Start of the School Year

Use this toolkit with your school community to improve communications about student success.

Communicator
July 2016, Volume 39, Issue 11

Arts-integration, genius hours, instructional rounds, and Ed Camps—for parents. These are just some of the new strategies and approaches that schools around the nation are piloting this year. And while the back-to-school season is extremely busy for the entire education community, it’s critical that principals take the time to nurture relationships and shore up communications so that they can count on teachers, parents, district staff, and other educators to contribute to strategic advances like those listed above.

The Learning First Alliance (LFA)—of which NAESP is a proud member—recently developed a “Working Together for Student Success: A Back-to-School Communications Toolkit” that can help principals with the type of back-to-school communications that will help garner support for public education as a whole, as well as for individual school communities. Specifically, the toolkit will help principals:

  • Speak collectively about key issues such as college and career readiness;
  • Discuss publicly the great things happening in their classrooms and schools; and
  • Emphasize the important role that each member of the education community plays.

Tailor the messages to fit your school context, or use them as inspiration while you consider the messages you want to send this back-to-school season. The toolkit includes messages on:

College and Career Readiness

This infographic highlights the wide variety of education professionals needed to move to college and career readiness for all (also available as a jpg), as well as suggestions for how to use the infographic.

Shining a Light on Your School

This national back-to-school fact sheet offers key statistics about public education for the nation as a whole.

This template fact sheet can help you shine a light on the great things happening in your school or district. It includes suggestions for how to use the factsheet.

Speaking With One Voice

These talking points can help all members of the education community speak with one voice. They are accompanied by:

Take advantage of these resources that will help you start the year strong, and will the full support of the entire education community.

The Learning First Alliance is a partnership of leading education organizations representing more than 10 million members dedicated to improving student learning in America’s public schools. Visit www.learningfirst.org for more info.

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