How Good Does A School Need To Be?

Everyone in schools, public and private, lives in the daily challenges of the competitive, accelerating, and turbulent nature of contemporary education.  

What needs to be true for a school to thrive in these times? Here are some thoughts. 

Clarity. The school’s culture can see and respond to the world with clarity that leads to common purpose and action. 

Vision. The vision is built on a clear theory of the future that engages parents’ hopes for their children. This is a “why” that inspires at both an intellectual and emotional level. 

Reliability. People working for the school – board, leadership, faculty, and staff – embody the vision and keep the promises the school has made to families. The school is organized to support these promises. 

Outcomes. What the school says will happen happens and can be shown. 

Art. A level of thoughtfulness, attention to detail, and touch that expresses the vision in every experience and contact with the school. You’re just that good. 

Value. The value proposition consists of all of the above. Parents and students experience it continuously and find it difficult to imagine a substitute. New families experience it through word-of-mouth and authentic marketing that directly connect them to all of the above. 

None of this is easy. All of it is essential.