"What's Right with Your School"

What happens when a custodian from your school is asked at a party, "So, are kids learning anything at school?" Will the school staff member be ready to celebrate your success and promote the school or stutter while trying to remember if anything ever happened worthy of celebration?

An organization that fails to consistently celebrate its successes hides those successes. One that celebrates accomplishments creates pride and motivates all associated with it to greater performance. Middle level schools that hope to develop community support should never forget that message.

Celebration in education stimulates students to greater performance, motivates staff, helps create a culture of success at that school, and develops community support.

There may be no better time to celebrate than at the start of the school year through a simple brainstorming activity. Consider pulling everyone on the school staff—from principal to custodian to food service personnel to teacher—together for one hour to focus on what is right with your school.

Communicating success does not have to be a high finance item. More information may be shared at the shopping market checkout line or during a youth soccer game than through the school newsletter. In fact, every time someone from the school family is asked about the school, there is an opportunity to create public support. It is wise to make sure everyone is prepared to take advantage of those opportunities.

During the brainstorming, focus upon three items:

• Student successes, whether as individuals or as members of a team. Has an adolescent been named student of the month by your local newspaper? Did your Mathcounts team finish high in state competition? Has a graduate of your school been elected president of the high school student body?
• Staff accomplishments, recognizing staff members that have won local, regional, or national awards, or have been published in a professional journal.
• Student contributions, including club projects that support the community or provide assistance to younger students. Do your students tutor at a local elementary school, or have they hosted a dance for senior citizens at the school?

All staff members should understand everything that's right with your school. That experience is likely to create pride among the staff and motivate them to perform even better. Everyone prefers to work in a successful environment.

You can also use this exercise as a way to develop community support. Share this information with your most important audiences. To be most effective, you should be as specific as possible and include measurements. For example, "Our school has teachers and parents who really care about our students" is not a statement that will change the attitude of skeptics. "Our parents volunteered 115 hours last semester," however, demonstrates that commitment in an impressive fashion. This brainstorming activity is likely to be fun for any school staff, and may communicate information that is not generally known.

Too frequently, even those close to the school are not familiar with all of the school's accomplishments. In that case, they will not be able to take advantage of opportunities to promote the school. Once the brainstorming activity is completed, develop a list of all the school's successes and consider how to communicate them:

• Develop a speech on "What's Right with Your School" and present it to numerous groups. Start with audiences that are supportive of your message, such as the PTA unit. Even supportive groups need to hear this data so they can share it with others. Then move on to civic organizations such as Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, the Chamber of Commerce, and a Realty Board. These organizations contain many of your community's opinion leaders—people who need to know what you do well.
• Have a short column in each school newsletter, titled "What's Right" and list three to four successes. Suggest this concept for other publications associated with the school. The athletic booster clubs could run a section on sports successes in their newsletters; the parent group could cite accomplishments in parent involvement, etc.
• List your successes on placemats and offer them to civic organizations for breakfast or luncheon meetings.
• Write an op-ed article featuring your successes and submit it to a newspaper in your community.
• Prepare a short article on your accomplishments and try to get it published in newsletters done by other groups—senior citizens, religious groups, local businesses, feeder schools, etc.

Celebrating your successes is a great way to inspire the school family and communicate your value to the broader community. Keep in mind that it's okay to suggest to the community that some areas need to be improved and provide practical suggestions that can help with the improvement. That approach will add credibility to your positive data.

Provided by National Middle School Association's Public Relations Network.