Student, Stakeholder
& Market Focus
Dawn K. Creason, Director, Public Relations
Kelly Marcy, Director, Student Services
www.iss.k12.nc.us
It’s All About Our Key Stakeholders…
•Community
•Business and other partners
•Parents
•Employees
•Students!!!
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Swimming in a Sea of Mandates
•Many student segments identified through legal
and/or regulatory requirements
•Exceptional children
•Economically disadvantaged
•Limited English proficiency
•Other AYP subgroups as identified by NCLB
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Additional identified student segments
•Current students
•Academic program
•School level (elem, middle, high)
•Grade level
•Geographic location
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Additional identified student segments
•Former students
•Graduates/alumni
•Prospective students
•Mooresville Graded Schools
•Charter school students
•Other non-public school students
•Pre-K students
www.iss.k12.nc.us
How Do We Listen and Learn?
•I-SS Two-Way Communication Model
Senior Leadership
Staff, Students
&
&
Board of Education
Stakeholders
Two-way, symmetrical
communication
*Rev. 02/09. Based on Grunig’s (1992) Two-Way
Symmetrical Communication Model.
See page 29 of handouts for additional details
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Addressing the Needs of Non-ISS Students
•School choice program, a derivative of feedback
from current parents and prospective parents
•Also addresses facilities needs and market share
•Developed a comprehensive marketing plan
to address the requirements of students and
parents:
See pages 32-33 of handout for
additional details
www.iss.k12.nc.us
We Learn A Lot By Listening…
Our listening and learning methods include:
•Family Resource
Center
•PDSA
•Issue bins
•Partnerships
•Conferences
•Area advisories
•Focus groups
•Task forces
•Meetings
•Surveys
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Key Examples of the Partnerships Process
•Involvement in key local/regional/state agencies
•Golden Opportunities Partners Program
•Strategic, mutually-beneficial partnerships
•Learn & Earn Early College High Schools
•Barium Springs Home for Children
•Boys & Girls Club of the Piedmont
•City of Statesville
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Evidence the Partnership Program Works
•More than $17 million in grants for community
programs aimed at dropout prevention
•Community survey data indicates partners are
supportive of I-SS
•Continued trend of growth of partnership
program
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Number of Partnerships
Partnership Growth Trend
300
250
200
Goal
150
Actual
100
50
0
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
School Year
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Complaint Management Process
•Identify isolated areas for improvement
•Identify overarching issues for total school,
district improvement
•Regular reviews of data to determine action
steps
•Two methods of access
•Electronically or by phone
•Family Resource Center (pages
30-31 of handout)
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Complaint Management Process
Complaint
Internal
External
Send to process owner
Valid or invalid?
If valid, address complaint
If invalid, contact customer
with response/explanation
If you can’t address,
bring to CT/OT/EC
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Complaint Management Process
• Three customer service requirements
1) 24-hour initial response time
2) Accurate response
3) Polite/pleasant response
• Includes a feedback loop to ensure
requirements are being met (a process
improvement since original deployment)
• For additional information, see page
20 of handout
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Complaint Management Process
Improvement & Results: Using Data to
Improve Processes
• Example: Large numbers of parent
complaints indicating displeasure at
eliminating recess as a form of discipline
• Reviewed policy
• Re-educated staff on policy expectations and
requirements
• Monitor the implementation of the policy
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Current Complaint Management Data
• The overall trend is that the number of
complaints is going down
• Begin in March 2007 with an average of 15-20
district-level complaints per month
• Now seeing 3-5 district-level complaints per
month
• Indicates two things:
• Individuals are handling issues at the appropriate
level as directed by the process
• Stakeholders are more satisfied
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Area Advisory Meeting Process
• Example: Parent meetings to examine the
preference for changing student bell times
• Started based on feedback regarding traffic
issues and the instructional benefits to
lengthening the school day
• Topic was the center of fall and spring area
advisory meetings
• Feedback gathered and shared at cabinet
meetings; recommendation sent to the
board of education
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Area Advisory Meeting Process
• Based on area advisory feedback, as well as
survey data, recommendation to the board was
to keep bell times as is
• No change to bell times, but a number of
schools identified ways to get more out of the
instructional day, as well as alleviate traffic in
problem areas
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Student Focus Group Process
• Example: Student focus group data indicated
that students felt drugs and alcohol were a
problem at their school; students also stated
that the district’s policies were too punitive
and provided little in the way of helping
students receive treatment
• Crime and violence data supported and
validated the students’ concerns
• The policy was revised by a group of
counselors and other stakeholders to
include a process for dealing with
violations
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Student Focus Group Process
• Senior leaders agreed with recommendations
made by counselors; recommended a policy
change to the board of education
• Board of education approved the revision to
include therapeutic components as opposed to
only punitive
• Marketing campaign was launched to inform
parents, students, and staff of the program
• District has seen a significant drop in
the number of drug and alcohol
related offenses
• See page 21 of handout
www.iss.k12.nc.us
What Does Our Community Think?
Percent of Respondents
Giving 'B' or Better
Community Survey Results
100
I-SS
80
BNQP Winners
60
40
Regional Comparison
District
20
National Comparison
0
2007
2008
2009
2010 Goal
School Year
www.iss.k12.nc.us
Contact Information
•Dawn Creason, Director of Public Relations
dcreason@iss.k12.nc.us
•Kelly Marcy, Director of Student Services
kmarcy@iss.k12.nc.us
www.iss.k12.nc.us