The U.S. Department of Education's Reform Support Network is seeking to help Race to the Top States communicate about education reform initiatives by collecting and disseminating exemplary tools, practices and strategies. The goal of this work is to identify examples of promising communications efforts that States can replicate and tailor to their unique needs, as well as to identify clear gaps and common areas of need where States might work together to create new tools. The tools are organized into six categories of communication type and use.

The material shared on this website was collected through an initial scan in spring 2012 of communications efforts led by State education agencies and external education advocacy organizations in many Race to the Top States. The RSN will continue to update and add to this list of resources; States or organizations that develop additional materials or strategies that they would like to share are invited to submit them via the RSN homepage or to info@reformsupportnetwork.org.

Note: By posting these tools, the U.S. Department of Education is not endorsing these products; rather they were voluntarily submitted by states and critical partners to share with colleagues and inform their own communications efforts.

• State Communications Plans/Outreach Efforts
• RTT Websites
• Messaging Guidance and Opinion Research
• Newsletters and Updates
• Outreach and Policy Issue Briefs
• Social Media/New Media/Videos

Educator Evaluation Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Plan  PDF (560K)

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Audience: For use by State and district leaders - Identifies audiences as teachers, principals, community and union leaders, and early-adopting school districts
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education developed a detailed communications plan to guide the multi-stage rollout of its new educator evaluation system. This plan gave a timeline for key stakeholder engagement, feedback, and system implementation. The plan identified critical audiences and highlighted specific online resources that would be updated regularly.

READY Campaign and Resources  PDF (295K)

READY Campaign Website
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
Audience: Materials are for use by district leaders, to communicate with educators and parents
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction developed its READY campaign to build broader understanding and engage key constituencies in the state's education reform efforts. This campaign emphasized clear and simple messages about the changes in North Carolina's schools, including changes supported and enhanced by Race to the Top. The department kicked off this campaign with a series of half-day meetings across the state in which every principal was invited and asked to bring a teacher. The campaign's resources—including a communications guide, meeting materials and PowerPoint presentations—were used locally by leaders to help communicate to teachers, principals and parents about changes in schools.

Guidance on Advocacy Campaigns  PDF (200K)

Battelle for Kids
Audience: State and district leaders
Based on experience supporting state departments of education, school districts and partnerships in over 20 states, Battelle for Kids developed an overview memo on effective communications strategies for education change, entitled "Successfully Implementing Transformational Change in Education: Lessons Learned About the Importance of Effective Change Leadership and Strategic Communications." It highlights considerations for strategic communications planning, coalition building, training and recognizing excellence in education. Battelle for Kids is a national, not-for-profit organization that provides counsel and solutions to advance the development of human capital, the use of strategic measures, effective practices for improving educator effectiveness, and communication with all stakeholders.

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Delaware's Turnaround Website

Delaware Department of Education
Audience: General public, parents, educators, external stakeholders
The Delaware Department of Education school turnaround team's website, DETurnaround.org, provides information on its Partnership Zone initiatives to a variety of audiences. The site summarizes the goals and processes of the program, as well as news, information about individual schools, and additional resources/documents. The department created the website in partnership with Mass Insight for Education.

Florida's Path to Success Website

Florida Department of Education
Audience: General public, parents, educators, external stakeholders
With changes being made this year in Florida's assessment and accountability requirements—new tests based on higher standards with higher passing scores were implemented in 2011-12—the Florida Department of Education has deployed a host of resources to explain these changes to parents. These resources include a comprehensive website with information, videos and answers to frequently asked questions; a call center and designated email address for parents to ask questions; and an online forum for parents to join.

New York's EngageNY Website

New York State Department of Education
Audience: General public, parents, educators, external stakeholders
Engage NY is billed as an "evolving, collaborative platform for educators" and is designed as the new go-to source of information and resources for New York educators as the State shifts to new standards, data-driven instruction and new evaluation systems. Especially noteworthy is the site's comprehensive toolkit for the new standards, which includes curricular exemplars, a 15-part video series on every detail in the standards and a rubric for evaluating the quality of lesson plans. The New York State Department of Education includes the website in all communications with educators.

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College- and Career-Ready State Standards Materials PDF (601K)

James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy
Audience: Community leaders, State policymakers, legislators
The James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy produced a 23-page toolkit and briefing packet to support communications about the College- and Career-Ready State Standards with community leaders and State policymakers, including legislators. The materials outline key messages, talking points, and myths/facts about the composition and content of the new standards. The Hunt Institute works with governors and other elected officials to help them make informed decisions on education policy.

Messaging Tools and Opinion Research on College- and Career-Readiness

Achieve
Audience: Community leaders, educators, students and parents
As part of its Future Ready Project, Achieve compiled tools and advice about the importance of college and career readiness to inform States' communications efforts about higher standards. Short summaries on the site with relevant opinion research for students/graduates, parents, educators, college leaders/faculty, employers, parents, and voters can help inform messages tailored to different audiences. Also, a do-it-yourself communications planning tool and links to several statewide advocacy campaigns provide templates and ideas for developing an overall communications strategy about higher standards. Achieve is a national nonprofit organization that works with State leaders to improve standards, testing and accountability systems.

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Weekly Update Newsletter PDF (316K)

Newsletter Archives
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
Audience: All district personnel, including superintendents, principals and classroom teachers
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's weekly newsletter consolidates the week's news and updates on Race to the Top reform initiatives into a single information source for educators and other interested stakeholders. To improve readability, it is clearly organized into a "New This Week" section with latest developments and an "In Case You Missed It" section with previously announced news. The newsletter is archived on the State's website.

The Delaware Educator PDF (2.9M)

Newsletter Archive
Delaware Department of Education
Audience: Educators
Three times a year (beginning in March 2012), the Delaware Department of Education publishes The Delaware Educator, a newsletter especially for classroom teachers that spotlights exceptional educators and programs and provides information about statewide education reforms. The 12-page newsletter presents details about how State reform priorities and local innovations (Race to the Top and other initiatives) are having an impact in Delaware schools. To ensure the newsletter reaches its intended audience, it is mailed to teachers' homes. Past issues are posted on the department's website.

Maryland Classroom Newsletter PDF (1048K) | PDF (619K)

Newsletter Archive
Maryland State Department of Education
Audience: Educators
The Maryland State Department of Education publishes Maryland Classroom, a special newsletter designed for teachers. Each issue spotlights key Maryland education and Race to the Top reform priorities, giving teachers information about emerging State priorities and work. One recent issue was paired with a video to answer teachers' "Top 10 Questions about Race to the Top; future issues will feature implementation of the State's new standards, the work of their assessment consortia, and summer teacher training opportunities. Print copies of the quarterly, two-page newsletter are distributed to teachers and schools through their districts; the newsletter is also distributed through email and is available online.

RTT Monthly Update Newsletter PDF (272K)

Newsletter Archive
Maryland State Department of Education
Audience: Agency staff and external stakeholders including policymakers, advocates and district leaders
The Maryland State Department of Education's RTT Monthly Update newsletter gives agency staff and key external stakeholders) information about State progress and new developments in each of the Race to the Top's four reform areas. The format of the one-page, quick-read newsletter allows the Department to communicate frequently and effectively with its external stakeholders. The newsletter is archived on the department's website.

Race to the Top First Year Report Card PDF (1.7M)

Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Audiences: Policymakers, general public
The Rodel Foundation of Delaware produced this six-page summary, "Delaware's Race to Deliver," that grades the State on progress in each of the four Race to the Top reform areas. The broad-based statewide reform coalition, Vision 2015, commissioned the report. It highlights accomplishments, challenges and upcoming priorities. The visually appealing, easy-to-read publication was widely circulated to policymakers and opinion leaders to recognize progress and maintain momentum for difficult changes.

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Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model (TEAM) Rapid Response Email System PDF (311K) | PDF (267K)

Additional Information
Tennessee Department of Education
Audience: Educators
To build understanding and respond to questions about the State's new educator evaluation system (which rolled out statewide for all teachers during the 2011-2012 school year), the Tennessee Department of Education developed a website for sharing information and an email address for responding to questions submitted by educators. Agency staff monitor the site's email inbox to ensure each question is answered within 24 hours. The agency also tracked questions to understand which parts of the new system were causing the most confusion or misunderstanding and shared that information with local superintendents, and incorporated the most common questions into future guidance and/or FAQ documents. In addition to the ability for users to submit their own question, the site includes both short videos and documents explaining each component of the new system. This system's responsiveness proactively engages teachers and enhances their understanding of the new requirements.

Educator Evaluation Feedback Process PDF (276K)

Additional Information
Tennessee SCORE
Audience: Educators, education stakeholders, State policymakers, education officials
At the request of Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, the advocacy and research organization SCORE led a five-month effort to gather feedback on the State's new educator evaluation system, which rolled out for all teachers in the 2011-2012 school year. The goal was to provide a clear opportunity for educators and education stakeholders to offer input after the first year of implementation that could inform potential improvements. SCORE's outreach effort included nine regional roundtables and online questionnaires, combining face-to-face and digital approaches to reach the largest possible audience. More than 27,000 educators provided feedback at some point during the process. SCORE summarized the input in June 2012 and offered seven recommendations to the Governor, Commissioner of Education and other State policymakers on ways improve the new evaluation system. Other states beginning to roll out their own evaluation systems can learn both from SCORE's approach to engaging educators in providing feedback and from SCORE's seven recommendations.

Materials on College- and Career-Ready State Standards PDF (933K)

Additional Grade Level Guides
National Parent Teacher Association
Audience: Parents
Working in partnership with other organizations, the National Parent Teacher Association produced a series of four-page parent guides to build understanding about the new standards, including what they are, why they are important, and the activities parents can do to reinforce learning at home. Guides cover English/language arts and mathematics for each grade K-8 and a combined guide for grades 9-12. They have been widely customized and distributed by State education agencies, State and local PTAs, and other groups.

Guide for Parents of New Kindergarteners PDF (302K)

Hawaii State Department of Education
Audience: Parents
To complement implementation of new college- and career-ready standards during the 2011-2012 school year in grades K-1, the Hawaii State Department of Education created a colorful two-page guide for distribution to all parents of incoming kindergarteners. This guide addresses ways to prepare students for the State's new standards. The guide was circulated in 2012.

Educator Evaluation Briefs PDF (418K)

Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Audience: Legislators, general public, partners and stakeholders
As part of a broader communications efforts about its new educator evaluation system, the Rhode Island Department of Education developed a one-page summary about the State's plans. This brief focused on the policy goals, timeline, stakeholders, and the implementation process. It was distributed to legislators and made available to the general public and stakeholders to help build understanding about complex changes in schools.

Turnaround Take 2 Brief PDF (682K)

Mass Insight Education
Audience: State and Local Policymakers
The 13-page update from Mass Insight Education discussed State successes and failures during Year 1 of the federal school improvement grant programs. Eight lessons, including "fund only the bold and truly different" and "communicate, communicate, communicate," are designed for State and local policymakers who are overseeing turnaround efforts in their communities. The update includes examples of what to do and what not to do. Mass Insight is a Boston-based public policy and research firm that supports State and district policymakers on school turnaround issues.

Brochure and Booklet on Race to the Top Initiatives
Brochure PDF (439K)
Booklet PDF (1.1M)

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Audiences: General public, external stakeholders
Soon after Massachusetts was named a Race to the Top grantee, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education developed and distributed an overview brochure and longer booklet on the reform plan, summarizing the major initiatives and clarifying what would be different in four years in Massachusetts schools. This focus on the future made the initiatives easier for the general public to understand and kept the publications relevant. The state printed more than 10,000 copies of each publication and continues to distribute them at large public meetings of community members, parents and educators.

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Turnaround Blog PDF (253K)

Turnaround Zone Website
Mass Insight Education
Audience: SEA staff, district leaders, turnaround school principals, external stakeholders
This Mass Insight Education blog is designed to be the go-to source for updates on school turnaround issues. It features commentaries, success stories, links to relevant reports and news articles, and a series of issue briefs on topics ranging from developing a lead partner to rethinking the structure of State education agencies. A biweekly e-newsletter summarizes and disseminates the key content to its subscribers. Mass Insight is a Boston-based public policy and research firm that supports State and district policymakers on school turnaround issues. See blog postings on their website.

The SCORE Sheet Blog PDF (425K)

The SCORE Sheet Blog Website
Tennessee SCORE
Audience: Educators, general public, policy makers, external stakeholders
The SCORE Sheet is an online conversation on public education reform in Tennessee, hosted by SCORE, a State advocacy and research organization. This blog is updated daily on a range of topics including best practices, educator evaluation, instructional best practices, and standards and assessment. See blog postings on their website.

Connect the Dots/Vision 2015 Video

Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Audience: Educators, parents, general public, external stakeholders
Delaware's Vision 2015 statewide reform coalition produced a short animated video to explain the connections among the State's six reform priorities (which track closely to Race to the Top and Early Learning Challenge assurances). It premiered at the group's 2011 annual fall conference before about 500 educators and opinion leaders. It is a promising attempt to address a common communications challenge: "connect the dots" among multiple reforms to present a coherent picture of change.

Teacher Video Series PDF (356K)

Race to the Top Videos
Maryland State Department of Education
Audience: Educators
The Maryland State Department of Education's 15-minute video addresses teachers' concerns and confusions about reform initiatives in the State's Race to the Top plan, such as why a new statewide teacher evaluation system is being created, how student achievement results will be used in the new evaluation systems, what professional development will be offered to teachers, and how the State's new longitudinal data system benefits classroom teachers. The video features personal testimonials and explanations from local educators, including a National Teacher of the Year awardee and the CEO of the Baltimore City Schools. A print version of answers to the same questions—published as an issue of the State's regular Maryland Classroom newsletter that is distributed to all teachers—is a companion to the video (see promising practices for "Newsletters and Updates" for more information about Maryland Classroom.) This video and others can be seen at link provided above.

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This information is provided as resources for the viewer to consider and is neither generated nor endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education. No endorsement by the U.S Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in these materials is intended nor should be inferred.

In addition, the communications practices or any other strategies discussed or shown in the materials are not intended to mandate, direct, or control a State's specific strategies for communicating with or engaging stakeholders.