The Education Insider Podcast with PRP

The Value (and Necessity) of a District's Strong Brand Identity In an era of declining enrollment, school choice expansion, and crisis management, a strong brand identity is more crucial than ever for school districts. In this episode of The Education Insider, host Jacob Hanson sits down with Dr. Kecia Ray, former superintendent and founder of K20 Connect, to discuss why school districts must take control of their narrative.From branding strategies to crisis communications, Dr. Ray shares insights on how districts can build trust with their communities, proactively engage stakeholders, and ensure families recognize the value of public education. The conversation also touches on lessons from Nashville's school system, the role of AI in education communications, and the importance of messaging around national policy changes.Whether you're an educator, administrator, or policymaker, this episode is packed with actionable insights on how to strengthen school identity and communications in uncertain times.Guest: Dr. Kecia Ray, Founder & CEO of K20 ConnectGuest LinkedIn: Dr. Kecia RayResources Mentioned:K20 ConnectAASA Conference Booth #458 – Meet Dr. Kecia Ray & PRP Group in New OrleansArticle: 3 in 4 District Leaders Expect a Cyberattack Soon (The Journal)Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe and leave a review! Share this episode with your network and connect with us at jhanson@hawkmedia.com.#EducationLeadership #NCE2025 #PR #Storytelling #Edchat

In our first episode since we became PRP Group, a Hawke Media Company, Jacob Hanson interviews Hawke's CEO Erik Huberman, who has built Hawke into a marketing powerhouse that includes a venture capital arm and a proprietary AI platform for marketers. Erik (who also stars opposite Anthony Anderson and Cedric the Entertainer on the reality show “Kings of BBQ”) shares his insights into how marketing does and doesn't affect revenue, why PR is the “biggest trust-builder” for any company, and how AI is like having “an army of 17-year-old interns.”

Join PRP's CEO Jacob Hanson for the second part of his wide-ranging conversation with Ulster BOCES Superintendent Dr. Jonah Schenker. As Dr. Schenker shares Ulster's journey toward a Deeper Learning mindset, the discussion takes a deep dive into the pivotal role of innovative leadership in transforming education. Hear Dr. Schenker's thoughts on how budget allocations reflect districts' values, the responsibility of the private sector in education, how to sustain CTE programs, and the importance of preparing students for unknown challenges.

As a student, Dr. Jonah Schenker thrived outside the conventional classroom. As Superintendent at Ulster BOCES, he's creating a productive, inclusive learning environment where everyone's uniqueness is celebrated.  In November 2023, Ulster earned the Deeper Learning Designation and will be hosting the first ever Leading for Deeper Learning conference in July. This is the first Deeper Learning conference to focus on how leadership can create environments conducive to meaningful, impactful change.  Listen as Dr. Schenker discusses the importance of human-centered design and how that “North Star” is what leaders and educators should be using to guide the next generation of learners and solutions for those learners

After the twists and turns of the COVID years, 2023 was a stabilizing period in the education sector, even with fewer deals and tightened valuations. 2024 is now looking brighter, as capital markets show signs of recovery, making this an opportune moment for companies that have been biding their time—especially if they're attending the ASU+GSV Summit on April 14-17. Whether you're an educator, an investor or an entrepreneur, you'll learn a lot from our recent conversation with Taylor Smith, a managing director at Tucker Capital. In this episode, he shares valuable advice that can help potential acquirers and acquirees navigate the mergers and acquisitions landscape with confidence and clarity. You can meet Taylor and the Tucker Capital team as well as Jacob from PRP at the AIR and ASU+GSV events this weekend! You can reach them at: tsmith@tuckercapital.com and jacob@prp.group

PowerNotes' founder and CEO Wilson Tsu, who writes with passion and clarity about the potential and pitfalls of artificial intelligence in education, says every company needs a clear AI usage policy. Tsu also schools PRP's Chris Piehler in the developing art of “prompt engineering” and shares his hope that AI will improve education (and work) for people suffering from “writing anxiety.”

In this episode of The Education Insider Podcast Shorts, host Jacob Hanson riffs on a recent article featuring an administrator's perspective on vendors in the education sector. He wholeheartedly agrees with Dr. Tracy Daniel-Hardy, a district-level director of technology, who says vendors need to “know what we do, how we do it, what we need to simplify our work, our pain points, and the parameters that guide our work.” Jacob explains how understanding your clients' needs can translate into more relevant and meaningful outreach and, ultimately, build the deep trust that's needed to sustain relationships with key buyers. He also introduces PRP Group's new Anonymous Edvisors service, which offers insider access to education experts.

In a can't-miss conversation with host Jacob Hanson, Julia Fallon, the executive director at SETDA, delves into the evolving landscape of educational technology, offering valuable insights and actionable advice. She shares thoughts on: Cybersecurity's growing importance in K-12 education; Crisis communications for education companies; SETDA's role in edtech partnerships; and Market research and building community relationships. Julia's journey in educational technology spans more than three decades, beginning right after her undergrad years. Her enduring passion for the field is rooted in a never-ending curiosity about the transformative power of technology in education.  In the episode, she shares her experiences and discusses the benefits of companies working with SETDA, highlighting how the organization provides insights into state-level educational technology trends and policies. Finally, Jacob and Julia underscore the importance of companies preparing for potential cybersecurity threats and crises by developing comprehensive crisis communication plans.

Kristen Plemon, PRP's director of strategic storytelling & client success (say that ten times fast!) shares her extensive knowledge about how companies can stand out from the competition by building on a short unique value proposition that is truly unique. She also offers practical advice about messaging, the impact of customer stories, and the power of partnerships.

In a lively chat with PRP editorial director Chris Piehler, Susan Enfield, the award-winning Superintendent of Washoe County Schools, shares why she wants to work with “compassionate human beings,” why fall break is a good time to reach her, why AI will never trump human-to-human connection, and the correct way to pronounce “Nevada.”  

Collin Earnst is the founder and managing partner of The EdTech Leadership Collective, which helps K-12 edtech companies build leadership capacity in their middle management. He joined Alison Deutsch, VP of curriculum assessment and data at Lexia Learning, at the T&L Ed Exec Summit. In today's The Education Insider Podcast Short, Jacob Hanson chats with Collin about the summit and key takeaways from Collin's presentation. Watch the Episode >

On this Education Insider Podcast Short, Jacob interviews Chuck Amos, CEO of The Amos Group, about his panels at the Tech & Learning EdExec Summit, which focused on funding and government affairs. The Amos Group is the parent company of SchoolBondFinder & SchoolNetwork. SchoolBondFinder is the first comprehensive online database tracking K12 funding projects in the U.S., and SchoolNetwork is a networking platform for K12 District Administrators to view and share funding project documents, review solution providers, and advertise RFPs nationwide. Show LinksThe Amos Group: https://theamosgroup.us/The Ed Exec Summit: https://www.techlearningevents.com/edexecsummit/home

After a lively couple of days of sessions and networking, PRP's Kristen Plemon recorded her thoughts live from #TLTechLive! Whether or not you were with us at Chateau Elan, you'll want to check out her 90-second rundown of her most important takeaway from the EdExec Summit!  

“I've ​been ​fortunate ​enough ​to ​speak ​at ​conferences ​around ​the ​world, and ​one ​of ​the ​things ​that ​I ​come ​away ​with ​is ​educators ​around ​the ​world ​are ​all ​trying ​to ​solve ​the ​same ​problems,” says Dr. Charles Khoury, who recently retired after a 49-year career in which he served as classroom teacher, assistant principal, high school principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. On this episode of The Education Insider Podcast with PRP Group, Dr. Khoury shares insights and anecdotes about being on the receiving end of education vendor's sales pitches, and delves into the importance of the “post-back-to-school” period to educators and education vendors. About the Guest Dr. Charles V. Khoury is the former district superintendent of Ulster BOCES. In addition to his role as chief executive officer, he was the New York State Education Commissioner's representative in the field, the major liaison between local districts and the state education department, as well as the spokesperson for regional education issues. He can be reached at khourych@gmail.com or via LinkedIn.

Are you ready for the Tech & Learning EdExec Summit? I'm super excited to come and see all of you! FYI that there is a ride sharing opportunity from the airport. Reach out to me or Christine Weiser to learn more. It's a bit of a jump from the airport to this wonderful venue, so I encourage you to reach out: info@christineweiser.com. So drop her line and she will get you hooked up with Joyce Whitby who is helping to coordinate this. Where we want to be spending some time today is looking at the agenda and scrolling through here to make sure that you all know where to go and where to look. You can access this information once you've logged in as well. I'm gonna be spending some time this week getting myself scheduled into some sessions. There's some really good ones and some fantastic speakers. You can see the venue map and kind of check out where you'd like to meet locations, those kinds of things as you're looking to reach out for meetings. I just want to caution you that you actually have to put in a meeting time and date as well as a location like they mentioned up there. But knowing this is a holiday weekend coming up and we're gonna be there Wednesday, I strongly encourage you all to get moving on, taking a look at some of these things, starting to look through the directory and reach out to folks.

Welcome to the first episode of The Education Insider Podcast Shorts from PRP Group. Our podcast shorts are a new series of 2-minute videos with timely info about what's happening in education, best practices for understanding your customers, and answers to listener questions about our episodes. In this episode, PRP Group co-founder and CEO Jacob Hanson introduces our podcast shorts and gives a sneak peek into what you'll get out of them. Spoiler alert: He talks about what you should really be doing during this back-to-school period and the importance of the post-back-to-school period for education vendors. Episode Links Tech and Learning Ed Exec Summit Anonymous Edvisors PRP

If you've worked with PRP before, you might know Benjamin Bachman. Benjamin is the former Director of Marketing at PRP and is now the founder and CEO of Identify.Solutions, where he helps companies bring ideas to life with no-code platforms like Airtable, SmartSuite, Zapier, etc. In addition to his expertise in creating user-friendly webapps, advanced prototypes, and more, Benjamin is a wizard with one of our favorite digital platforms for education organizations — HubSpot! Benjamin agreed to come on the show to share tips on why HubSpot is one of the leading platforms education companies use to build their website, relationships, and more. In this episode, he shares thoughts on AI, A/B testing, and how to use tools like HubSpot to reach edtech buyers with the right message.

Our good friends at Tech and Learning have revived EdNet, and so we are here to talk about their EdExec Summit with Dr. Kecia Ray. EdExec Summit Agenda  Early bird deadline: May 31 PRP is delighted to sponsor Tech & Learning's EdExec Summit, the new event for K12 executives that focuses solely on the business of education. The conference takes place at the Chateau Elan Resort in Atlanta on September 6-8. EARLY BIRD DEADLINE: May 31. To find out more visit https://www.techlearningevents.com/edexecsummit/home?ref=sPRP  About Dr. Ray After publishing an assessment to measure technology literacy in 1999, Dr. Ray conducted research in the US, Canada, and South Africa on the use of technology in the K-12 classroom. Dr. Ray's career includes designing technology within the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and directing technology research through Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Science Outreach programs. As a district administrator for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, she led the award-winning design, implementation, and evaluation of instructional technology programs, including instructional design for online and blended learning environments, redesigning physical learning environments, redefining school libraries, and establishing the first virtual high school to award the diploma in the state of TN. She was invited to develop graduate courses for the University of Maryland on teaching and leading K12 virtual schools and a course focused on evaluating technology for K12 learners for Johns Hopkins University. She is published in the areas of online learning and education transformation in K12 and higher education. She contributes regularly to Fast Company and Tech&Learning. She is a five-time recipient of the President's Volunteer Service Award and has earned the ISTE Lifetime Achievement'Making IT Happen' Award. Dr. Ray was named '20 to Watch' by the National School Board Association, Woman of the Year by the National Association of Professional Women, one of the top 10 EdTech Leaders by Tech and Learning magazine, and most recently named a Top 100 EdTech Influencer by EdTech Digest. She leads K20Connect, a network of female thought leaders in education, along with other passion projects supporting K20 education around the world! Meet Dr. Ray > About the Summit The EdExec Summit is a new event from Tech & Learning that brings together senior executives from companies serving the K-12 industry for a 3-day networking conference dedicated to the business of education. Whether you're a publisher, software developer, hardware manufacturer, investor, industry analyst, or provider of any service to schools, the EdExec Summit's robust agenda and networking opportunities are designed to help your company succeed in the education market.  The EdExec Summit provides business leaders with the perfect combination of insightful sessions and plenty of networking opportunities. The robust agenda is divided into four tracks to serve education companies at all stages. In addition to offering business executives the opportunity to learn from top experts in the education industry, the EdExec Summit includes plenty of networking opportunities to help you develop new business relationships and find strategic partners. ⁠Learn more or RSVP here >⁠ About PRP Group PRP Group, formerly PR with Panache! is an award-winning education PR and Marketing Intelligence firm serving the preK—12 and higher ed community. Learn more >

Rhea Kelly, the editor-in-chief of Campus Technology, talks with Chris Piehler about how the pandemic accelerated technology spending in higher ed, what tech issues universities are grappling with (Chat GPT, anyone?) and how edtech companies can connect with the real decision-makers at universities.

In this freewheeling chat with PRP's Chris Piehler, Dr. Paula Love (aka The Funding Doctor) surveys the current K-12 funding landscape. She shares her insights on the changing roles of key decision-makers and offers practical advice about how edtech companies can help connect their customers with the enormous pool of funds that are available right now. 

Chris Piehler and Jason Innes, Director of Curriculum, Training, and Product Management at KinderLab Robotics, talk about validating education technolgoy products for the ed-tech market.

Gerard Dawson was still teaching when he noticed that writing about teaching made him not just a better writer, but a better teacher as well. His writing helped him form relationships. He eventually left teaching to write and consult full-time.On this episode of The Education Insider Podcast, Jacob and Gerard talk about why and how to build relationships in the education market.Learn more about Gerard at:https://gerarddawson.com/Learn more about Jacob at www.prp.group

PRP editorial director Chris Piehler interviews Lisette Gushiniere, PRP's newest strategist and a former educator, about her career path and the benefits education and edtech vendors get from hiring people with classroom experience.

Our editorial director Chris Piehler recently had the opportunity to sit down with Carmello the Science Fellow, founder and operator of three early education schools in New York, for a chat about how he finds new EdTech products and how he prefers to be approached by vendors.Here are a few tips to help you be sure you're putting your best foot forward when talking to potential clients in the early education arena.Educators Aren't ComplacentCarmello said that as an educator—and particularly as the head of three preschools—he can't afford to become complacent about the materials he offers his students.“You always want to be as innovative as you can be as a pedagog and as an educator,” Carmello said. “And you always wanna meet best practices and try to give your kids the best experiences. So I am always a nerd at heart and I'm always researching things. While my wife might be on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, what am I doing? I'm Googling new coding sets for two year olds.”If you're trying to reach educators, that's good news. They're trying to find you too. They want you to reach out—as long as you're providing solutions and helping make their lives easier.Be Ready to Explain Your ScaffoldsAs a preschool leader, Carmello said that he is often looking for ways to build on a product and extend the learning it offers to children in younger grades. It's difficult, for example, to find a classroom robot designed for children younger than five, according to Carmello, because younger students tend to break sensitive robot parts like motors.“Computational teaching is key because you want to lay foundations when kids are young,” Carmello said. “And if I'm saying it's that important and it's only my four [year-old students] that have it, well, that's not fair now because if I have three and two year olds, I need to make sure that they're getting that experience so that by the time they are four, they're that much more comfortable coding the robot.”Even if your product is geared toward students in a particular grade band, it's a good idea to understand how a teacher working with younger or older students might adapt use of that product to their own students.“I do not have a model that I could incorporate and then scaffold up,” said Carmello. “I would absolutely love that.”Email WorksSometimes it may feel like you're just firing marketing emails off into the ether, never to be seen by human eyes, let alone a potential buyer, ever again. If you're sending them to Carmello, however, not only are his eyes landing on them, but he's actually excited to receive them.“You know,” Carmello said, “it's very rare that I get an email from a company saying, ‘Hey, we have this new, amazing, innovative product. Would you like a sample of it, or to hear more about it?' A lot of the time I have to go out and do grassroots work to get that information. I wish it would happen more because if it were delivered to me, it just makes it that much easier for me to want to venture out and know more about what that product is.”So don't avoid cold emails. Just be sure what you're sending is useful, not spammy.Show Your Stellar Customer Service in the Follow UpIf Carmello is any indication, your follow up efforts on emails will pay off, as well.“What I love,” Carmello explained, “is after they send me some information about the product, so many times the company will say, ‘Would you like to get on Zoom or can we set up a call?,' and to me, that's like a slam dunk because it's all about customer service and customer relationships. I know what my families want from me as an owner of a school, and I want the same thing from the people that are trying to sell me something. I don't want it to be just, you want my money? And then the minute I pay you, you're gone. You know, I wanna be able to call you if I have a question, if something's not working, I wanna be able to troubleshoot.”This is a theme that comes up again and again when we speak to educators on our podcast: build relationships and show that you're not going to disappear after your buyer signs on the dotted line.Don't Skimp on Professional Development and Educator SupportCarmello said he loves having written materials to help him learn about a product, but said the holy grail of teacher professional development and ongoing support is some kind of interactive development program.“A lot of teachers get very complacent in their curriculum, and when you have to introduce something new and innovative, they're fearful and you can't blame them. Imagine being [an adult] and you all of a sudden are expected to learn and then teach something. To a lot of people that is a frightening experience,” said Carmello. “If there's an organization that has the capability to bring in the staff development in person,” or now today everybody's using Zoom platforms, there's just so much that you can do.Carmello pointed to a professional development experience in which some of his teachers learned to use a 3D printer on campus.“I broke them up into groups and I explained the process,” Carmello said. “They were like children working for hours, laughing and loving the building. An in person model of staff development is just by light ears the best method because it creates a sense of comfortability. There's somebody there to answer any questions and to me that's the best.”Learn more: https://www.prp.group/blog/5-tips-for-cold-emailing-superintendents

Read more at: https://www.prp.group/blog/7-tips-for-staying-right-with-your-district-while-edugiggingDuring a recent episode of The Education Insider podcast, I chatted with education lawyer Steve Wellvang. He's the former president and CEO of ECMC Holdings Corp., an education-focused private equity investment company, and the former general counsel of ECMC Group, Inc., a higher-education services company, so he's quite qualified to talk about the legal considerations, risks, and opportunities related to consulting, influencing, and other forms of “edugigging” income. Here's what he had to say.Learn your district's policies.If you're thinking of moonlighting, the first step is to familiarize yourself with your district's policies, which can often be found online. If you find that outside employment is barred for district employees in your position, that may be the end of it for you. But even if there is no specific policy against it, you're not in the clear yet. Wellvang said that you want to go beyond the specific policies and look at codes of conduct as well.As he explained districts typically have, “a code of ethics and also typically a conflict of interest code. And so in Minnesota, for example, there's a state law that school administrators have a code of ethics just for school administrators and every school district.” However, he added, “It tends to be more general in nature and doesn't specifically address outside employment, but there are some provisions in that code of ethics for administrators that do have some implications for outside work.”Policies you should pay special attention to include:Conflict of Interest policies;Outside work policies; andProcurement and purchasing policies, which may involve educators who help choose what products or services the school or district will adopt.You can read and interpret these policies on their own, but for further peace of mind you can bring questions to your supervisor or your district's legal counsel. You can also speak with your ethics officer.Follow your district's procedures.Knowing your district's rules and policies isn't enough. You also have to follow them. That includes policies like not entering into conflicts of interest, not disclosing confidential information, and never acting against the interests of your employer, even if you didn't find any specific formal guidance about it. When in doubt, disclose everything.Your district policies likely require some level of disclosure regarding outside work, but when in doubt, opt for full disclosure. “Get your thoughts together about what you would like to do, and then talk to your supervisor, your superintendent, or your school board chair If that's the only person” available, said Wellvang. “If you're a superintendent, talk to the ethics officer to get a sense” where to disclose if there is no specific, clear guidance for your situation.“Making appropriate disclosures in advance is the way to generally avoid problems down the road,” said Wellvang. “People, frankly, in this sector get crosswise with their district when there has not been proper disclosure and it surprises someone.”Never use district-issued devices.If you do end up doing outside work, never use a phone, computer or other electronic device issued by the school district, even if it's authorized for personal use. To be safe, be sure to use your own equipment and devices. And, of course, that includes things like email and social media: always use your own, never your school account.If you have a business, register and insure it.If you're just being paid to give the occasional lecture or otherwise picking up piecework here and there, maybe you don't have a business. But if your moonlighting does amount to a small business, you should treat it as such by setting up an LLC and buying insurance. Your bank can usually help you set up everything you need in one stop.Be careful with gifts and payments.As you may already know, states and districts have gotten a lot clearer on gifting rules. Even a gift card might be something to be careful about accepting. Know your gifting policies. As Wellvang explained, “A number of districts have very specific gifting policies that are particularly specific if the employee from the district is involved in any type of procurement decisions. His advice? “Definitely you'll want to familiarize yourself with those policies and not run the risk of violating them.”Be careful with being a ‘brand ambassador.'Brand ambassadors are becoming more common, but it's a good idea to be careful about the appearance of proselytizing for a company, especially in exchange for gifts or payments. And even if it's not against your district's policies, endorsing products can put your reputation at risk.For example, Wellvang said, what if there's a problem with a technology that you serve as ambassador for? “You may not have anything at all to do with the problems, but having aligned yourself with that company, there are a number of situations I've seen and read about where a teacher or somebody else can be tainted. So do your homework. You definitely want to be careful, just as you would in your full-time employment. Just because somebody offers you a consulting role doesn't mean that you should take it. Reputation in every area, but certainly among educators, is very important.”Disclaimer: This is a blog post based on a podcast interview between Jacob Hanson and Steve Wellvang. Steve's remarks are his own and do not represent the views of his law firm, Fox Rothschild.

As a public relations company, we at PRP are often asked what the difference is between PR and marketing. While the former is about creating and maintaining your organization's good reputation and the latter is about selling products and services to people, there's still a fair amount of overlap and no bright dividing line.To help understand the overlap and shed a little light on the differences between the two, I invited two members of the PRP leadership team, Kristen Plemon and Chris Piehler, to join me for the latest episode of the Education Insider podcast.What is PR?“I think there are just some misconceptions by business leaders and organizational leaders on what PR really is because historically we haven't done a good job of defining it to others outside of our industry,” Plemon said. “Or people only really see a portion of it because they see interviews on TV or they see quotes in a newspaper article.”Plemon said that while the words and messaging you put out there are important, PR encompasses much more.“People don't necessarily realize it's really everything that you do,” Plemon explained. “It's the perception that you give from your actions and from your words, and that can be from your customer service reps or your spokespeople or your sales staff.”Marketing has different goals and objectives than PR, according to Plemon, but in the end, it's pretty similar to PR and it certainly contributes to the overall perception that organizational leaders should be trying to shape with their PR efforts.“There is an overlap between PR and marketing and sales and pretty much everything that you do as an organization,” Plemon said. “Marketing's purpose is to try to sell products. It's to try to get people to want to purchase and to renew that purchase or buy additional products from that company or organization, whereas PR is trying to build a brand. It's trying to create a specific idea in people's minds of what that company or organization represents and the value that they offer.”“PR is an ongoing story,” Added Piehler. “It's a narrative that you're building about not just your products, but your company, your people, all of that stuff put together. And I think that's why we call ourselves storytellers because that's one of the things that we build is that larger story.”Marketing, on the other hand, “is “a little bit more direct,” added Piehler, pointing out that marketing messages are generally focused on the benefits of a product, how they will help customers, and information about how to go buy it, which they all suggest, in one way or another, you should do very soon.How has PR Changed Recently?The main way that PR has changed in the recent past is the proliferation of social media, according to Plemon.Social media has “really expanded how you can tell your story,” Plemon said, “the ways in which you can tell your story, the various channels you can use to reach people so that they hear the story that you want to share.”Sharing your stories through all those new social channels may be PR work, but it also does some lifting on the marketing front because it can bring people into your marketing experiences. When someone from your company is featured in a meaningful op-ed in TechCrunch or cited by a reporter at District Administration, potential customers see that and then some of them are going to go look at your website and encounter your marketing at precisely the moment that they are primed to think of you as a credible expert solving challenges in their field.“Oftentimes PR is helping to open the door so that they're more amenable to that marketing message,” Plemons added. “Really marketing PR are collaborative. They support each other.”Is Marketing or PR More Valuable?Organizations really need both PR and marketing, according to Plemon, and that can lead to problems because when budgets are cut, it's most often PR because it is easier to outsource in most cases.“Sometimes companies will find themselves in a bind because they didn't do the PR that they needed to and a crisis pops up,” Plemon warned, and “now they have a different situation to face. So it is important that companies think about PR from the founding, thinking about the story that they want to tell and how they're going to tell it. They might not be spending the big budgets that an established company will, but it's still part of what you need to do as an organization as you build and grow.”Piehler said that many clients seem to think that marketing is a better investment because it will pay off faster.“PR is going to take weeks or months to actually roll out,” Piehler said.But whether you should focus more resources on one or the other—or even put one on hold temporarily — should be based on where your company is at and where you want to take it.“It really does come down to your goals and objectives,” said Plemon. “And that's what we talk to clients about when they come through the door as we customize the strategies and activities for them. ‘What are your goals? What are you hoping to accomplish? What are the outcomes you expect to see?' And that's really gonna dictate what levers you're pulling, how much more you're spending on either marketing or PR, and what we decide to do in the next three months, six months, or 12 months.”More than Earned MediaYour goals aren't just going to determine if you focus more on PR or marketing. They will also help you decide what kinds of PR you want to pursue. One common kind of PR is known as “earned media.”Earned media are the stories that are written about you that you haven't written yourself and (this is important) haven't paid for. That's why we called it “earned” media — you have to earn it by being newsworthy, or pitching a story that publications will want to share.Earned media is fantastic, but it's not the only opportunity to create or shape a narrative around your organization.PR is “about creating the reputation that you want for your company or organization,” Plemon said. “That comes down to how you relate to investors, to industry professionals, whether it be trying to hire the right talent or work with potential partners or associations that you need to work with to help further your business or work with them on advocacy or legislative affairs or employee relations. You need to have happy, satisfied workers to be able to tell your story as well. When a customer service rep is on the phone with your customers you wanna make sure they're using unified messaging and they're happy to share and they kind of emit that love and passion that they have for the business.”Can Companies Create Their Own PR?Companies can create their own PR “in the same way that you can dye your own hair or wash your own car,” according to Piehler. “It's certainly doable. But very often having an outside eye can be helpful and, if that's us, that's great. But I think something that we often find is that companies have a really great set of goals or ideas or projects they want to do because the brainstorming can happen in one meeting. It's really the getting the boots on the ground and getting the work done that they just don't have time for often, because unless you have a large enough dedicated team, it tends to be something that can get pushed off to the next meeting.”Read more at: https://www.prp.group/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-marketing-and-pr-and-how-can-they-work-together

https://www.prp.group/blog/howdy-partner-engaging-with-superintendents Matt Kinnamen is the president and co-founder of New Era Superintents, an organization dedicated to helping superintendents put the focus back on student success at a time when there's a lot of distractions and political division. He's an expert in the field. Before founding New Era, he was VP for events at Thoughtexchange, and group publisher at District Administration magazine, where he was part of the team that created and ran DALI, the District Administration Leadership Institute. Quintin Shepherd, New Era chairman, is superintendent of the Victoria Independent School District in Victoria, Texas, and a nationally-recognized voice on transformational and collaborative leadership. Also, he recently published The Secret to Transformational Leadership.I sat down recently to chat with Matt and Quintin to find out how vendors can better support superintendents and achieve district-level adoption.Know the Hows and Whys of Your Product, Not Just the WhatsShepherd said that he doesn't want to start by hearing what a vendor has to offer, but why they are offering it.“I want every kid to graduate with a high school diploma and something else,” Shepherd said. “They either need an industry certification so that they can go to work, they need a military enlistment letter, or they need acceptance to a college and university. I think of them as the three Es: it's either enlistment or it's enrollment or it's employment. Those are the three E's that I want for my own kids when they graduate.”“If you keep that as your lodestar, that's it. That's why we're here,” Shepherd said. “And then, and only then when you answer that question, do you back out to the how and then you talk about what are we going to do.”“Too many people start with the what, and then try to figure out the how, and they completely forget about the why,” added Shepherd, ”but if you stick to the why, and then the how, and then the what, things sort of fall into order in a pretty interesting way.”Focus on Student Outcomes Everyone WantsKinnamen noted that though division seems ever-present in the United States these days, the mission of education can be a powerful unifying force.“You could have a room of people who are bitterly divided on topics, but if one of us says to that room, ‘Look, every third grade student needs to be able to read at grade level because we know that if a third grade student can read a grade level, he or she has better lifelong prospects across all measures of success,'” Kinnamen said. “And we'll have agreement on that. There will be 100% agreement on that statement.”That doesn't mean that anything else is any less important, according to Kinnamen. It's simply not the “We need to also start from being singularly focused on what we came here for in the first place and what we all can agree on rallying around, and that's delivering these levels of success to students.”Explain How Your Product Will Improve Educator Capacity, Processes, or ResourcesQuintin said that educators trying to improve teaching and learning have three domains within which to make those improvements. Comprising the supports of three-legged stool because no two will work on their own, those areas include capacity, resources, and processes.In deployments that succeed, it's because vendors have a solid understanding of the processes that make their product succeed when they're deployed and fail when they're not.“They can tell us where it worked and why, and they can tell us where it didn't work and why,” Shepherd said. “They have unique insight into the processes that we don't have from our own system. So when we're trying to improve our capacity, the conversation that I want to have with the partners at the table is, ‘Where is it working? Where is it not working?' I don't care about whether or not it is or not working. I'm not judging you. I want to learn from you what are those processes that make it work? I think they bring a vital role.”Don't be Afraid to Guarantee ResultsShepherd said that the best way for a vendor to get a meeting with him is to have a product that can deliver on promises—and then actually make those promises to him.“It's a conversation that some superintendents around the country are taking more and more seriously,” Shepherd said. And I, myself have done this with folks who want to meet in the district. The question that I have for them is as straightforward as it could possibly be. If you're going to quote me a price, what's your guarantee on that price? Can you guarantee me X percentage student learning growth and, if not, do I get my money back? Are you actually willing to stand behind your product enough to say you will give me money back if you don't meet this particular threshold?”Shepherd said that, though some companies will not offer any guarantees, more and more are coming around to the idea.“There are companies that will do this,” Shepherd said. “We engaged with one around graduating kids and they absolutely delivered on that promise 100%. It's a hard conversation. It's one we've not typically done in education, but it's one we need to do a whole lot more of, saying, ‘Look, you've gotta guarantee an outcome on this.' And if not, then clearly there's a product issue and that shouldn't be born by the district.”Be Educators at HeartKinnamen said that he sees a true partnership between schools and their tech providers.“They start as companies,” Kinnamen said, “but they can become partners with the district leadership in a truly kindred spirit way. And that's the beautiful thing to see. A lot of observers see it first as kind of a mercenary arrangement. ‘I pay you because I have to.' It can have a sense of commercial dirtiness to it.“I see that as completely false,” Kinnamen continued. “The reality is, and this is the beautiful thing, the entrepreneurs who launch ed tech companies to help students succeed in reading and math and science are educators at heart. They believe that this is a moral imperative in the world. It's a mission.”Kinnamen said that mission driven companies can't just deliver some number of units at a particular price margin and then dance their way to the bank and vacation before fading into the sunset.“It doesn't work that way. What they need to do is create real value for students,” Kinnamen said. “And when that happens, sure, they have to get paid.”Kinnamen said he has come to see this kind of mutually committed partnership as the heart driving effective ed tech deployments.Successful ed tech companies are “in it because they believe in the heart and soul of education as a priority, and they want to deliver not only the resources, but the processes to make it successful,” said Kinneman. “but they can only become successful companies by being successful partners with the people who are leading education.”

There's no doubt that student learning has suffered over the past two years. As we look forward to a new academic year, the question is, what can edtech companies do to help educators accelerate learning for their students?Avoid Resources for Remediation Rather than offering students remediation, we need to accelerate learning, which is really the opposite of remediation.When a student is behind, our typical approach to address it has been to meet them where they are and work with them to progress from there. That's remediation. It's fine for helping students make progress, but new research suggests it's less helpful in trying to bring them back up to current grade-level work. The reason is somewhat obvious: If we spend two months intervening with a student in this way—two months focusing on material from a previous grade—they are going to be two months further behind this year's material at the end of that period and you're looking at two more months of remediation.That doesn't help students catch up so much as it just kicks the problem ever further down the road.Offer Resources to Accelerate LearningWith accelerated learning, on the other hand, if we have that same student who is two months behind, we begin by thinking about what their current grade-level expectations are. If that student is studying geometry in grade 7, as their teacher I will not just go review all the math concepts covered in grade 6. It doesn't even mean that I will review all the grade 6 math skills this particular student has not mastered. It means that I will review the grade 6 math skills that this student hasn't mastered and that are also relevant to the geometry unit we are currently studying or about to begin on.We call those skills that are the most powerful prerequisites to future learning “Focus Skills,” and at Renaissance we've created a collection of resources to help teachers identify Focus Skills for their grade and state and put them to the most effective use as they try to support their students in completing grade-level work.Standards tend to include several skills within them that students must master in order to master the standards, but teachers really work at the level of skills, rather than standards, so standards typically need a bit of unpacking. That's why we've created each Focus Skill to be centered around a discrete, teachable skill.We hope that other vendors will, like we have, focus on offering tools to deliver just-in-time review that is relevant to what students are about to learn and not just any random topic they may have missed out on in previous years.Offer Resources for Trip StepsFocus Skills are those from previous years that are absolutely critical for success when students encounter this year's grade-level skills, and “Trip Steps” are the Focus Skills that are disproportionately difficult for students to master.If we think of the progression of skills a student follows as a staircase with evenly placed steps, each getting just a bit harder than the last, Trip Steps are single stairs that are much higher than those around them. They are the skills that stand out in each grade as the most challenging, relative to the other skills a student will learn in a given year. We've launched resources for Trip Steps as well, for both math and reading recovery.These are incredibly helpful when it comes to prioritization because it can focus our search for resources on the skills the most students are most likely to struggle with, rather than skills the majority of students tend to learn easily.Had we thought to consider them two years ago, Trip Steps could have provided a very accurate prediction of where students would be struggling when we returned to in-person schooling because they mapped so well to the grade levels that have experienced the most significant changes in performance in our How Kids Are Performing analyses. We believe that vendors who focus on offering instructional support for Trip Steps will be more successful in helping students to master their current-grade skills.The Good NewsThough there is still a lot of work ahead for those of us in the education industry, there is some good news. Student growth is beginning to recover, even if student performance is not. It's not ideal, certainly, but as long as students are growing, they are progressing toward the goals we have for them and they will reach them if we keep plugging away.As providers of an open ecosystem who are committed to student growth, we love partnerships with other EdTech providers. We believe that education is better for everyone when companies work together, and I would encourage any company out there who is interested in what we are doing to please get in touch with us. We would love to align your content to our system and operationalize it to accelerate learning for students.And, most of all, I want to congratulate the teachers. We had not one but two variants this year and we've still managed legitimate growth. Our work now turns to accelerating things so that performance will begin to recover. Let's all work together, let's share the resources, and let's focus our attention so that we can begin the journey of recovery of performance as well.Dr. Gene Kerns (@GeneKerns) is the Chief Academic Officer at Renaissance. He is a third-generation educator and has served as a public-school teacher, adjunct faculty member, professional development trainer, district supervisor of academic services, and academic advisor at one of the nation's top edtech companies. He has trained and consulted internationally and is the co-author of three books. He can be reached at gene.kerns@renaissance.com. Learn more at: https://www.prp.group/blog/to-catch-up-to-grade-level-work,-don%E2%80%99t-remediate,-accelerate?

The intersection between academics and economics has always existed. The pandemic and its consequences, like the great resignation and teacher shortage, brought home how tight that connection is. Our guest on the latest episode of The Education Insider, Michael Spencer, lives at that intersection. He's the CEO and founder of Global Expansion Strategies, a company that guides education vendors looking to enter international markets.Spencer said that the renewed spotlight on the relationship between education and business is not an anomoly. It's a trend we can expect to see continuing for a few reasons:More edtech startups will go international because of the economic benefits.Blended and hybrid learning will continue to be a primary learning model across the globe.Blended and hybrid learning that includes individualized learning plans for students and that is highly managed by companies will become more widespread, again because of the economic benefits; andMore brick-and-mortar public schools here in the U.S. are starting to launch their own virtual schools.Here's what that means for you.The Benefits of Going InternationalThere are benefits to going international for edtech companies. It's as true for startups as it is for well-established providers. Schools outside the U.S. face many of the same challenges we have here. That includes a need for high-quality blended learning solutions.Another benefit of international schools is the increased flexibility they offer. Since there are many different types of schools, there may be systems outside the country that are better suited to your technology. With different (or fewer) regulations, getting buyers in an international market can be easier. It can help you get real users and funding more quickly than in the U.S.“The biggest demographics of schools here in the United States are the public schools, and so you have issues associated with budget cycles, budget constraints, and an assortment of other challenges that we all know. There are challenges in the international space,” Spencer explained, but working with private schools “tends to make things a little bit easier when approaching them and introducing technologies. Now you have to make sure that there's a need for the technologies obviously.”Economic Benefits of Blended LearningThere are also economic benefits to blended learning right here at home. This is true for both schools and edtech companies — as long as they do it right. Perhaps the most obvious benefit for schools is that blended learning does not require a teacher on site.Spencer notes that schools had to pivot to remote learning within a week at the beginning of the pandemic. That hurried and improvised deployment leads to less than ideal outcomes. The weaknesses of distance learning were quickly and starkly evident. But in the second year, they also began to see the strengths of distance learning more quickly than they might have under a more traditional and controlled rollout.“Many of these education institutions now are realizing that there are ongoing benefits to both blended and hybrid models,” Spencer explained, “that being if students can do a lot of their curriculum online in a fully virtual environment sprinkled in with some supplemental curriculum,” the teacher can guide students from their own home.Similarly, blended learning allows students to spend less (or more!) time on campus as well. Blended learning could allow students who progress quickly to have a four-day school week while their peers continue attending for the traditional five days each week.“We all know that there are varying degrees of learners out there slow, fast,” said Spencer. “For those that have the ability to learn at a faster pace, we can then provide them with a shorter week.”It could also allow students who learn slower to extend the school day or week beyond the hours and days it normally lasts. We already see schools around the country doing something similar to mitigate lost instructional time from interruptions like snow days or the schedules of student-athletes.Blended learning could even help schools to retain teachers by reducing their work burden. People have been resigning across various industries since the beginning of the pandemic and education is no exception. Teachers are stressed out and overwhelmed because they've been asked to take so much more on and do an already challenging job under even more difficult circumstances.“A lot of these teachers aren't leaving, because they hate their job. It's because they're being asked to do too much already,” Spencer said. But if edtech providers “can help school districts do [blended learning well], it should actually help retain teachers and help teachers be more impactful.”Blended learning can also open up all kinds of new public/private partnerships for the benefit of students.“We now have global operators, including two here in the United States, that are going to be deploying a business finance and management, internet marketing, and digital analytics course to high school students in private schools,” Spencer said. “It's one hour of instruction every week for eight weeks and then the remaining eight weeks are an actual internship with a Fortune 500 company like Deloitte, Google, or eBay, and they can all do that from either their school or their home. They don't have to get on a bus to go anywhere.”How to Do Blended Learning Right“I think blended or hybrid learning has been used quite freely over the past decade with no clear definition,” Spencer said, “but what really is going to determine the success of any implementation, be it blended, hybrid, or combination of thereof, at any education institution is the experience that can provide all the tools, resources, and guidance to implement models that drive student outcomes.”To do blended learning right, companies should:Be able to train school staff and deploy and manage the technology;Create individualized learning plans for students with varied interests or who learn at different paces;Drive student outcomes or risk offering blended presenting in place of learning;Start with the question, “What's the optimal outcome for this particular institution? What's optimal for this specific student?”Offer both asynchronous and synchronous learning to fit multiple student need profiles; andKeep students engaged or offset remote learning with more synchronous learning.I think any successful model is, is going to have to be determined by what is the optimum outcome of the education institution.  If the education institution is to, provide, , blended learning models whereby.“I think there's going to be, to some degree, the need for asynchronous and synchronous learning,” Spencer said. “And it's going to be determined based on those students who are in the model and what their specific needs are. Not every student has the ability to learn at the same pace, and so when we configure these blended learning models, we need to make sure that they can be developed such that each individual student has an individualized learning plan consisting of synchronous and asynchronous learning.Albert Einstein once said that in the midst of every crisis there is an opportunity. As the pandemic winds down, schools are finding that the tools they used to weather that emergency have given them an opportunity to redefine the way learning happens in and out of their buildings in ways they couldn't have dreamed of just a few years ago. Make sure you're in a position to help them make the most of that opportunity.https://www.prp.group/blog/opportunity-in-crisis-making-the-most-of-blended-learning-after-the-pandemic

Editorial Director Chris Piehler talks with Renaissance VP and Cheif Academic Officer Gene Kerns about how everyone associated with education can find the skills that students are having the most trouble with and help them learn efficiently.

Ali Alowonle is an award-winning educator with some ideas for companies that want to capture the hearts of students and teachers through DEI. Her recommendation? Research the schools you're products are in — and the schools that you're trying to reach. Get out there, talk to the families. What are their experiences? What are their stories? What are their needs? Talk to the teachers in the building. Talk to the administration. Talk to the custodians. Those are the people who impact the students who use your tools on a daily basis. You can make them your number one DEI resource.Read the full story here: https://www.prp.group/blog/how-edtech-providers-can-support-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-efforts

Jacob interviews two of the most talented advisors working in the education market. Taylor Smith and Morgan Battle, Managing Directors at Tucker Capital, talk about the evolution of M&A in the edtech market over the past couple of years, and why it may not be too early to start having some of the right conversations.https://www.prp.group/blog/is-your-company-ready-for-ma-ask-the-tough-questions-now

Ann Brown, the CEO of the Cook Center for Human Connection, discusses the mission of My Life Is Worth Living, an animated series dedicated to student mental health. In conversation with PRP's editorial director Chris Piehler, she also explains how edtech companies and leaders can help alleviate the national emergency of students mental health.

PRP's very own Kristen Plemon, one of the education market's leading crisis-management experts, shares tips for companies serving the education market Learn more about crisis planning at https://www.prp.group/crisis-planning-and-management

Hechinger Report writer and editor Jackie Mader gives expert advice on what education topics are grabbing media attention right now, why the best article ideas lead with data, and why it pays to read reporter's bios before you pitch.

In a recent conversation with consultant and educator Carl Hooker, the EdTech influencer had a recommendation. Focus on relationships with schools and districts — not sales.That's always sage advice, but how can you apply it in this specific moment? How can you start building new relationships that lead to happy and committed customers? Hooker said the answer begins with three steps.Read more at https://www.prp.group/blog/how-to-get-into-the-room-for-esser-spending

“Free Trial!” “Request a Demo!” “3 Free Seats with our Starter Kit!”Have you heard that before? Have you said that before? If you're an educator, or you sell to educators, those phrases are everywhere. Some kind of free introduction was a baseline expectation in the edtech market even before the pandemic.Learn more: https://www.prp.group/blog/when-free-is-everywhere-wheres-the-value

Teacher retention is, of course, a perennial challenge for many districts. The pandemic, lockdowns, and the "Great Resignation" have turned it into one that will define the next few school years. Coupled with record low numbers of new teachers entering the field and seasoned teachers retiring, the teacher shortage may be the greatest challenge facing education (and education companies) post-pandemic.Administrators are searching for solutions. They're trying strategies that most districts haven't seen before. The many companies that serve schools will need to pay attention.Learn more: https://www.prp.group/blog/teacher-swaps-combined-classes-and-staffing-resignations-have-changed-the-edtech-marketplace