A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Your planning panel has to make the case that this effort is different and that it's going to be worthwhile. It must make clearly to individuals and organizations what they can do to make a difference.

Over and over, from the first day on, panel members may want to hammer away at two questions: "Why should I care?" and "How can I help?" Good answers to these questions can help keep fresh volunteers stepping forward.

Communication is the electricity of continuous improvement, but it must flow both ways. Listening to citizens, teachers, parents and students -- and responding to their concerns -- may seem to slow things down. But it's vital to making real progress over the long- haul.

To do that, many schools, communities and states will be using neighborhood and community forums, speakers' bureaus, seminars, public surveys, newspaper inserts, town meetings, toll-free hotlines, computer networks, and campaigns. Many will also be using the newspaper and other media.

Every time the Kingsport Region Educational Alliance 2000 in Tennessee holds a meeting, the Kingsport Times News prints an announcement that includes the issues to be discussed at the meeting. Afterward, the newspaper follows up with a piece on the outcome of the meeting.

Nevada 2000 Co-chair Ann Lynch suggests that communities "Get the media to buy in, don't just hand them press releases. They are part of the community, too." Many communities are doing that by recruiting the local newspaper publisher or editor, and other media leaders to serve on their steering committee or task force.

Having the newspaper editor on a task force is of enormous assistance, according to Assistant Superintendent Evelyn Farmer of Fredericksburg 2000. The steering committee can count on the paper to print whatever opinion pieces, invitations to meetings, or recommendations it needs to get out. A local radio station also does weekly interviews with educators, and the local cable TV station has been carrying spots on the community effort.

Chairing the steering committee of Omaha 2000 is the publisher of the Omaha World-Herald, John Gottschalk. Activities of Omaha 2000 are reported in the newspaper, as well as on the radio and TV. Omaha 2000's "preliminary report," a 30-page document was distributed via the Omaha World-Herald, to every household in the Omaha metropolitan area -- 200,000 copies in all.

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In the early 1980's, Governor Dick Riley formed a partnership with the business community, parents, major education associations, and the state department of education to involve tens of thousands of citizens and educators in formulating South Carolina's comprehensive reform plan -- the Education Improvement Act.

Regional forums allowed thousands of people to react to the goals being developed by a state planning panel, and small groups suggested strategies to meet those and other goals. A speakers' bureau with trained speakers made 500 speeches on short notice to civic clubs, PTAs, and business groups explaining the need for the improvements and asking for their help. Business and citizen leaders paid for videotapes, ads for TV, bumper stickers, and posters to underscore the needed improvements and invite all to help their children learn more.

The results, some 10 years later, are impressive. Test scores are up. More young people are going to college and getting good jobs in occupational fields. Participation in advanced courses in high school has doubled.

But reform isn't finished in South Carolina. The state is ready for a new reform package, so the planning panel and state department of education continue to mail periodic updates and other information to the 25,000 people who participated in the state's education improvement efforts.

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[The Process] [A Partnership with Your State]