© Schoolwires®

2014

theROCThe Schoolwires Roadmap for Optimizing Communities:

driving optimal community engagement for K12 districts

Matthew Meister

Director of Communications

District 49

Peyton, CO

Marc Rubner

VP, Marketing

Schoolwires

CASB, December, 2014

Dustin Senger

Digital Communications Specialist

District49

Peyton, CO

© Schoolwires®

2014

Why Schoolwires®

© Schoolwires®

2014

What is theROC?

• Definition: Each K-12 district travels on a community

engagement journey and Schoolwires provides them a

• Roadmap for

• Optimizing

• Communities

• theROC identifies your district’s areas of strength and

opportunities for growth as you strive to optimize your

community engagement initiatives

© Schoolwires®

2014

Research shows…

“Parental effort is consistently associated with

higher levels of achievement, and the

magnitude of the effect of parental effort is

substantial. We found that schools would

need to increase per-pupil spending by more

than $1,000 in order to achieve the same

results that are gained with parental

involvement.”— Karen Smith Conway, professor of economics at the University of New

Hampshire

© Schoolwires®

2014

Research shows…

“When families of all backgrounds are

engaged in their children’s learning, their

children tend to do better in school, stay in

school longer, and pursue higher education.

Clearly, children at risk of failure or poor

performance can profit from the extra

support that engaged families and

communities provide.” — A New Wave of Evidence, by Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp

© Schoolwires®

2014

How does theROC help K12 district leaders?

• Provides a benchmark

• Reinforces success

• Identifies opportunities

• Contributes to your community engagement strategic

vision and tactical plan

• Ultimately, the ROC provides a guidepost for

strengthening your district’s brand and overall impact on

the community

© Schoolwires®

2014

5 levels of community engagement

• Create

• Inform

• Collaborate

• Integrate

• Optimize

© Schoolwires®

2014

Create

• Homegrown or free website

• Static web pages

• Limited/no coordination of content

• Limited/no uniformity (branding, tone, voice)

© Schoolwires®

2014

Inform

• Centralized website management

• Website design tools

• Distributed content editing and publishing

• Parent involvement initiatives

• Brand development

• Pushed out messages and information

© Schoolwires®

2014

Collaborate

• Shared website and community management

• Two-way school-to-home communications

• Social and mobile networking

• Enhanced student, parent, partner, community interaction

• Standardized district-wide branding, PR, and engagement

programs

© Schoolwires®

2014

Integrate

• Student, parent, and community resources

• Personalized workspaces, calendars, and information

• Stakeholder adoption of systems via training and

professional development

• Engagement metrics and reporting

• Interoperability and integration of 3rd-party systems

© Schoolwires®

2014

Optimize

• District-wide extensibility

• Custom, integrated apps and gadgets

• Broad teacher and community adoption

• Robust community authored content

• National or global connections (sister schools)

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2014

The road blocks

© Schoolwires®

2014

The journey

© Schoolwires®

2014

Digital BackpackD49.org/DigitalBackpack

• Custom Table Display

• Segmented by School

• Pinterest Integration

• 7,234 District Views

• 700-900 Views at High and

Middle Schools

• 150-400 Elementary

“It’s so great that I don’t have to

print thousands of fliers.”– Local Business Leader

© Schoolwires®

2014

Enrollment Guide WikiCommunity Editing

• Front-End Editing

• Collaboration Between

Multiple Campuses, Artist

• Document Viewer Showed

Previous Year’s Guide

• Style Guide, Format Info

• Show Page Only to

Leadership Groups

“I like this new format, and seeing

edits other schools are making.”– Middle School Assistant Principal

© Schoolwires®

2014

College Scholarship PageCommunity Editing

• An Idea Expands

• Collaboration Between

Counselors And Academic

Deans At Multiple

Campuses

• Scholarships Unique To

District 49 Community

• Now At 25 Scholarships

“I really like this! I just added

another scholarship opportunity!”– High School Academic Dean

© Schoolwires®

2014

Weather Days, Nov. 12/13Two-way School-Home Communication

• Status On Website Using

Global Icons

• Social Media Update With

Survey Link

• Explored Results of Survey

With Community

“If you appreciate delays on days

like today/tomorrow fill out the

weather survey on this link. The

district needs to hear from those that

are happy with the decisions too.”– Caitlin Garrett, Parent

© Schoolwires®

2014

Distributed ReportingRelevant Stories on Schools Sites

• District Communications

Department Publishes

School Stories

• Tag Network Place Stories

on Appropriate Sites

• Tag “EIES” Puts A Story

On Evans International

Elementary School

“Quality images and stories

make our school shine”– FVA Principal

© Schoolwires®

2014

theROC grid

© Schoolwires®

2014

theROC as a benchmark

• Knowing your place on theROC gives you perspective

• It helps to benchmark your district against others

• It illuminates your community engagement strengths and

identifies areas of growth

© Schoolwires®

2014

theROC as inspiration

• TheROC reinforces your vision for continuous

improvement

• There is no finish line

• No matter what level of theROC you find yourself,

there are always ways to improve community

engagement

• With every advancing level comes new heights of

community engagement

• The ROC allows you to build upon the trust you’ve earned

in the community

• The ROC provides a way to build a stronger brand

• Advancing on the roadmap creates the opportunity to

impact student achievement and district performance

© Schoolwires®

2014

Where are you on theROC?

• Review Digital Resource Score

• Review Community Engagement Self-Assessment score

• Determine your place on theROC

http://offers.schoolwires.com/website-grader

© Schoolwires®

2014

What do we do now?

• Let’s work together to develop a plan for getting you to the

next level on theROC

• Define your aspirations

• Review desired capabilities

• Review products and services that get you there