Education Research and Journalists
March 30, 2008 at 11:31 am | In education research | 2 CommentsTags: AERA, Education, education research, journalists, media relations, PR, public relations
The American Educational Research Association held a panel discussion last Thursday called Disseminating Education Research Through Electronic Media: Advice From E-Journalists. The panel focused on education researchers sharing their findings with e-journalists. Several journalists and bloggers spoke to the group about how best to communicate with journalists working in electronic media.
For public relations professionals, knowing how to communicate with the media and pitch stories is just a part of the job. Of course, some are better at it than others.
Within the last week I’ve had two interviews for internships where my main responsibility would be media relations. So, with media relations fresh on my mind, I started thinking about what advice I would give education researchers trying to communicate findings with journalists.
1. Know the journalist or medium. If you are researching a topic or have findings you think are interesting communicate that to an appropriate source. You should know what journalist or news outlet might be most interested in the information. This could involve reading other articles written by the journalist or reviewing other articles in the news medium and knowing whether your information “fits” with the other stories.
2. Know the trends or current topics. It’s important to stay on top of educational issues. Even if your research isn’t complete it can always provide a context for issues being discussed or add valuable knowledge to a current topic. Journalists might not want to write a story just about research; but, if it provides information about a current story or trend it becomes more valuable.
3. Be candid. Be honest about the research – don’t stretch the truth and exaggerate findings.
4. Help educate the journalist. It’s important to realize that even if you meet with a journalist your interview or research findings may only appear as one sentence in a story. However, you can give journalists a better understanding of an issue by answering their questions.
These four points are the ones that immediately came to mind when first reading about the AERA’s panel discussion, but I’m sure the list could be much longer. Any additional thoughts on communicating research findings to journalists?
Ethics & Graduation Rates
March 23, 2008 at 10:19 am | In Ethics, Graduation Rates | Leave a CommentTags: Ethics, Graduation Rates, PR, public education, public relations, reported graduation rates, schools
One of the classes I took last semester was Values and Ethics Management. We studied ethical issues in businesses and developed our own values and ethics plan for a company as our final project. Even if I hadn’t studied ethical dilemmas for 15 weeks I would still question the ethics of schools reporting two different graduation rates.
Apparently some schools are reporting one set of numbers to Washington and then reporting other numbers back home. This excerpt from the New York Times highlights the situation:
“California, for example, sends to Washington an official graduation rate of 83 percent but reports an estimated 67 percent on a state Web site. Delaware reported 84 percent to the federal government but publicized four lower rates at home.”
What’s especially interesting is that school administrators know the “official” rates are inaccurate. Hank Bounds, the superintendent for Jackson Public Schools in Mississippi, stated the graduation rate was 56 percent. However, the official statistic reported the graduation rate at 81 percent. A principal at Murrah High School in Mississippi, Roy Brookshire, stated in the New York Times article that he didn’t know how the graduation rate for his school was 99 percent when typically half the students drop out of the school.
How can school officials accept this discrepancy?
Developing and requiring states to use one formula could solve the reporting problems. In 2005, one formula was developed; but, states weren’t required to use it and began dropping out of the program within the first year of its creation.
Enforcing a standardized formula may dramatically reduce reported graduation rates, but it may also benefit schools. By not giving the schools a chance to play with the numbers, schools with low rates may receive the help they need. Perhaps programs or solutions would be developed to aid those schools reporting low graduation numbers.
As the graduation rates are currently being reported, there doesn’t appear to be trouble – graduation rates of 90 percent and higher are being reported to Washington. By reporting two different sets of numbers schools are only hurting themselves; after all, if we don’t know there is a problem, how can we fix it?
Licensing Fee Increase
March 16, 2008 at 2:38 pm | In Education, Ohio Department of Education, teaching license | Leave a CommentTags: key messages, license fee, licensing fee increase, Ohio, Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Education Association, public relations, teaching license
One educational issue receiving media coverage is the increase in licensing fees for Ohio teachers. The Ohio Department of Education has raised the price for a five-year license from $60 to $200. According to the State Department, the money will be used for more extensive background checks.
In 2000 the fees were increased by $2; however, this is the first major increase in 14 years. Needless to say, teachers aren’t happy about the licensing fees more than tripling in cost.
The Ohio Education Association encouraged its members to speak out against the fee increase – which resulted in flooding the inboxes of members of the State Board of Education. One board member reported receiving approximately 1,200 e-mails and other reports call the e-mails threatening and abusive.
The union’s vice-president, Bill Leibensperger, has apologized for the e-mails.
While I can certainly understand the teachers’ anger about the licensing fee increase, the Ohio Education Association should have instructed the teachers on what to say (or not say) and how to say it.
Perhaps if teachers were instructed to focus only on key messages, such as how the increase is for public safety and, therefore, taxpayers should be responsible for it, and were told to keep their tone professional, the e-mails might have been considered more effective.
Telling the teachers what to write (or not write) might have eliminated e-mails such as the one KidsOhio.org mentioned:
“…and I hope your children and their children’s children get screwed over by the educational policies you and your ignorant cornies (sic) develop.”
That certainly didn’t help the teachers’ case.
Developing a list of messages that needed to be communicated to the board members and instructing teachers on how to effectively communicate might have helped the teachers lobby against the licensing fee increase.
School Levy Recap
March 9, 2008 at 9:22 am | In Education, Levy Campaigns | 2 CommentsTags: campaigns, levies, Plain Local, PR, public education, public relations, Stark County
I’ve already blogged a couple times about school levies in Ohio and thought I should follow up with the results from the election last Tuesday. After all the votes were counted, only 1 out of 7 Stark County school districts saw their levy passed. As this article in the Canton Repository asks, “now what?”
I certainly don’t have any easy answers for these school districts – but school officials better be prepared to start communicating with their key publics and evaluating their levy campaigns.
One school district, Plain Local, is going to move forward with its “Phase V Crisis Plan.” This will include limiting bus services, shorter school days for students, closing the building promptly at the end of the school day, and teacher lay-offs.
I’m sure parents will have questions about the limited busing and the shorter school day; students will probably want to know how the building closing will impact their after-school activities, and teachers will, undoubtedly, want to have more information about the lay-offs. I suggest the school district send a handout home for parents and students to review and also hold a few town hall meetings to discuss the Phase V Crisis Plan. The information sent home can give a brief overview of the up-coming changes and the face-to-face meetings can be a chance for school officials and those affected to discuss changes. Additionally, information about the lay-offs should be communicated as soon as possible – there are probably rumors and unease among the teachers.
If schools are considering putting their levies back on the ballot, it’s important to evaluate their previous levy campaign.
For public relations campaigns, it’s always important to have set goals or objectives that can be measured. The schools probably measured the success of their campaigns by whether the levy passed or not. For the 6 school districts with the failed levies, officials should look at the specific tactics used during the campaign and assess what did and didn’t work.
It will be interesting to see if any of these schools do put their levies back on the ballot and if they change their campaign tactics.
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