Can we stop putting the student in the center of it all?

After 16 years of "putting the student in the middle," "surrounding the student with excellent resources," and "making the student our number one priority," the results have demonstrated that virtual schools got it wrong.

So, let's remove the student from the center of the virtual learning universe. Let's quit surrounding the student with the latest technology and academic fads expecting them to latch onto it and thrive. And, by all means, cut the word "individualized" out of the virtual school vocabulary.

How much more data do you need before you understand the current model simply won't work.

"It works for some," will be the retort. Then, serve the some and not the many.

Better yet, radically alter the model. Redefine the possibilities. Start from scratch and build with completely different blueprints.

Where to start?

Start by placing the teacher and student relationship at the middle. Let it be your foundation to build on.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Figment Consulting offers sales & marketing training, executive coaching, and consulting services that offer our clients effective ways of increasing revenue and decreasing costs.

Seems my Agora Cyber post stirred some emotions

Part 2 of my post this morning was related to the recent layoffs at Agora Cyber Charter School. As you can imagine it stirred some emotions, and I have already received numerous emails related to it.

One was from an Agora leader (I will keep his/her name removed in order to not make it about him/her) who emailed me with the following:

"You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. You don't understand the financial constraints we are placed under with Gov Wolf's refusal to work on a budget that fully funds cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania. And, the budget impasse has led us to the point where our hand was forced to lay off people -- people we care deeply about. We had to do this now."

I understand this person's frustration with me. And, I understand the excuse being provided that it is the Governor's fault. However, what is not mentioned in the email is any responsibility being taken on the part of the leaders for all the decisions made over the past 12-18 months that led up to this point in time.

Decisions related to hiring practices, curriculum-design and build decisions, money spent with the belief the student population would remain what it was prior to leaving K12, marketing money spent (and still being spent) recruiting wrong students in order to fill seats, in-year departures of leaders, lack of investment in teachers and their development, and so forth.

Sure, the budget impasse may have been the catalyst to make NOW the time to enact these layoffs, however, the causes began long before.

Moving forward, as long as Agora leaders continue to believe it is the Governor's fault, then no real improvements will be made.

One cannot make real change when one does not know where real change occurs.

Now is the time for radical re-thinking of what Agora should be and can be. Further tweaking and adjustments will only lead to more of the same -- even when the budget is no longer the issue.

Use this negative and turn it into a positive -- a long-term positive for families, students, teachers, and staff. Quit finding places to blame and turn attention to building a cyber school that serves.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Who is your competition?

For most virtual schools they first look to other virtual programs as their competition. Then, they look to traditional schools (charter, regular public). Finally, they may even look at other forms of education as their competition (blended, flipped, homeschool).

To become great though, a virtual school must expand their definition of competitor. They must go beyond the traditional ones and realize everyone is their competitors in some form or fashion.

Just prior to calling you, a family spent time with a Disney vacation representative planning out their long-awaited vacation to the Magic Kingdom. Then, they call you. If you think for a moment they don't compare the calls and the experience, then that is where you must begin.

You must begin to analyze each and every touch point (or times when you come into contact with a customer), broaden your understanding of competition, and then adapt and improve your overall customer experience based on your new understanding, not your old one.

What would your enrollment experience look like if you did this? Would it change? In what ways would you improve it?

houston@figment-consulting.com

7 Questions for Virtual School Leaders

Do you know who you are?

What matters most to you?

What do you spend most of your time thinking about?

What are you afraid of?

Who are you trying to change?

What do you want that change to look like?

Do you believe you can do it?

houston@figment-consulting.com

Top 4 Must-Haves from Parents in Virtual Schools

Show me you care about my child.

Join my team instead of asking me to join yours.

Give me a place worth belonging to.

Earn my trust, and I will give it to you.

Note: No survey done here, simply 16+ years of talking to tens of thousands of parents in virtual schools.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Top 4 must-haves for online and blended learning

Recently Fuel Education released the results of their 4th annual survey on must-haves in online and blended, according to the 81 school leaders they interviewed.

Number one: Rigorous and engaging curriculum

The other three are:

* Presence of student progress tracking and reporting tools
* Measurement of student progress with initial and ongoing assessments
* Instructors who are well trained in delivering online courses

While I am not negating the need for any of what Fuel Education found out in this survey, I do offer that if we believe these are the four main requirements for a successful blended or online program, then all blended and virtual school programs should be highly successful already. Peruse any virtual school web site and they all tout their curriculum as "rigorous" and/or "engaging."

They also tout their usage of student tracking, intervention capabilities, ongoing measurement, etc.

Again, as I mentioned in a recent post, virtual and blended schools tend to think the solutions are only academic related. Hence, in a survey of school leaders we receive academic answers such as curriculum, measuring tools, assessments, and course delivery.

I would suggest that while these survey answers Fuel Ed uncovered are necessary (except for "rigorous curriculum" but I will leave that for another post), they should merely play a role in the overall pursuit, and should not be the top four requirements.

What if the survey were given to students? To parents? Would they give the same answers?

It's an ongoing problem, a disconnect between schools and students/parents. And yet, next year we will be served the same survey with the same results as this year, and we will still wonder why families continue to withdraw.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Cause and effect

In today's virtual schools it is simple for teachers to see when students are falling behind or not even logging in for lessons. They are also able to keep track easily of students who are not participating in live sessions online, or clubs, or field trips.

The difficulty comes in determining the cause of this lack of engagement.

Too often if a student is falling behind in math, virtual schools attack this effect as if it is the cause. They simply focus too much on the academic issue at hand -- falling behind in math.

In my 16+ years now in the realm of virtual and blended schools, I have noticed how often there is not a 1-to-1 correlation. Meaning, if a student is falling behind in a subject, the cause of it is very seldom related directly to that subject. Indeed, there is something else at hand that is the true cause.

Sometimes a headache is not really a headache. Determine the true cause before prescribing the medicine.

Too many times we assume an academic issue is related to an academic deficiency, or lack of trying by the student. In reality, it may be something quite disparate that is the real cause, yet part of the effect is evidenced in the academics.

Virtual schools need to spend more time caring about their students and families. Each family is on a journey -- one that is far more than merely academic. Each piece of that journey can be a cause that manifests itself academically.

How well do you know your families? How much do you care? How much do they know you care?

Sometimes an academic issue doesn't require an academic solution.

houston@figment-consulting.com

What parents want from a virtual school

Give me something worth enrolling in instead of trying to sell me something

Give me information so I can make a decision that is best for my family, not for your school

Speak to me in my language

Explain to me what you are trying to say

Listen to my story, hear what I am telling you

Make it personal for me

Show me you care for me

Only promise what you will put forth in effort to try and fulfill

Be real with me

houston@figment-consulting.com

Improving test scores

I have had numerous families reach out to me recently from an unnamed virtual academy sharing with me their plight.

"We have Class Connects from 9:30-2:30 every day before we can get to our regular learning lessons."

"We are doing 10+ hours per day because they are so focused on improving state test scores."

"What happened to the fun? Learning used to be fun but not anymore."

"I withdrew my two children over the holiday break because it was just too much work."

While I feel for these families, I also feel for the school -- the school is simply doing what it believes will have the best chance of improving test scores. Repeated drilling and practice (Class Connects) along with other learning programs that provide students even more opportunities to practice (Study Island, etc.). Then, the expectation of students progressing through their regular lessons.

One teacher who reached out to me shared that it feels like an ongoing Army boot camp structure - - drill, drill, drill.

"We've become so laser-focused on the state testing that all else is becoming secondary."

What remains to be seen is whether or not all of this will have any impact on test scores. Right now, it appears burnout is more the result than anything else.

And, we wonder why kids don't engage.

houston@figment-consulting.com

For the record - each person gave me permission to use their quote in this post.

Authenticity, transparency, and vulnernability

Authenticity is a difficult ask because it means we admit to our flaws.

Transparency though is tougher because it means our flaws are shared.

And that leads us to vulnerability - which is what we are most afraid of.

When we feel vulnerable we are exposed.

Before you can be authentic and even transparent with your students, you must first be willing to be vulnerable, to be exposed for what you are not.

Know who you are, accept who you are, be who you are, and you have the potential to develop a meaningful relationship with your students and families that is built on trust.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Join us

In some form or fashion that is what all virtual schools are asking families to do -- join us.

So, what does "us" look like?

I know you are tuition-free but that is not a description of "us."

You are accredited yet that is not a description of "us."

You claim to be rigorous but that is not a description of "us."

You are asking families to join yet never define "us."

houston@figment-consulting.com

Virtual School Enrollment Call Centers

If you pay your Enrollment team, or enrollment call center, based on enrollments, you do not and cannot have a retention culture.

So, you can unleash all of the "retention programs" you want but they will not have the impact you desire. And, your marketing efforts will fall flat, no matter how brilliant they may appear.

Attrition rates (in-year departures) and retention rates are what they are in virtual schools because we merely want to talk the talk while avoiding walking the talk.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Day 1

After today there are only 365 days left in 2016.

When you arrive at December 31, 2016 and look back on your year, what will it have looked like?

What do you want it to look like? Start there first. Decide, then do.

It's the first day of a new year, and it can also be the first day of a new you.

houston@figment-consulting.com

The potential of 2016

52 weeks
366 days (Leap Year)
8,784 hours

However you want to count it, the potential of it lies within you.

You get to decide what it will be.

houston@figment-consulting.com 

A Different Kind of ROI

Return on Imagination?

It's a thought. We all know return on investment -- we invest x and the return is y. Finance loves ROI -- especially when it is increasing. It's measurable (most of the time), can be adjusted, adapted, and redirected.

So, what is Return on Imagination?

Over 700 million iPhones have been sold since they were first introduced. We can look back and take into account product development costs, marketing costs, and other costs to determine the full return on investment. Then, we can look specifically at marketing and determine individual channel returns -- did tv outperform digital? What was the ROI for radio? Etc.

However, without Imagination there would be no iPhone to sell.

In fact, without Imagination there would be no:

Television
Internet
Personal computers
Movies
Telephone
Automobile
Airplane
and the list goes on and on.

Much of our time is focused on return on investment but we tend to forget the role Imagination plays. Imagination opens the doors to the need for measuring investment. Where would we be though without Imagination?

My concern today is in the realm of education we are spending too much of our time thinking about return on investment, and spending far too little time on Imagination.

We seek ways to measure student performance, then explore ways to improve it. We introduce a new nationwide curriculum, designed in some part to give us a similar foundation to measure results. Then, we introduce new legislation to change what we measure, how often we measure it, and what we need to do to invest in the education of our youth.

Where does Imagination fit in? Who in the world of education is introducing to us the iPhone for the very first time? Who is bringing us the telephone for the very first time? Who is building a new mode of transportation to replace the horse and buggy?

We need to have the dreamers in education. We need to allow Imagination to be of equal importance as Investment when it comes to education.

In fact, we need to encourage more Imagination. It's a different kind of ROI which requires a different way of thinking.

houston@figment-consulting.com

The Suit That Changed Bathing To Swimming

Today, $13.25 billion is spent annually on swimwear. In 1920 the total amount was zero.

The reason is in 1920 they were only known as bathing suits. There were no such things as swim suits.

It wasn't until 1921, Jantzen introduced the first swim suit. After lengthy board meetings, task forces, focus groups, and corporate strategy sessions, they finally arrived at the idea of what would become known as a swim suit.

Not really.

Instead, the idea of a swim suit originated with one man -- John Richard Dodson.

Dodson worked with Portland Knitting Company, manufacturer of Jantzen bathing suits and predecessor of Jantzen Inc. At the time he was retail manager of their Broadway store.

"I remember distinctly the twinkle in his eye as he suggested the use of the name in our advertising," stated John A. Zehnbauer, co-founder of Portland Knitting Company, a few years after the change. "So from 1921 we discontinued the use of the name bathing suits and used swimming suits in all our copy."

One person, one idea, and a new industry was born.

Most breakthroughs occur like that, not around a conference table.

houston@figment-consulting.com

A New Year means new possibilities for virtual schools . . .

. . . unless we continue doing the things we have always done.

We cannot continue down our current path and expect a different outcome.

If we want 2016 to look drastically different than 2015, we must have the desire to make decisions that are drastically different -- different in what they are and different in how we make them.

And therein lies the rub -- do we have that desire?

It's easier to tweak the input and hope the output is exponentially greater but that is rarely the case. It is also easier to be excited about minimal increases and improvements and call it success. However, if we do that we will arrive on December 28, 2016 and be faced with the same questions we are faced with now.

If 2016 is to be different then it is up to us to make it that way, and it begins with desire.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Exit Now

The youngest of my four children is a seven-year-old girl who will one day rule the world. She is an amazing little girl whose insight into life is refreshing.

Her middle name is Breeze and my wife has collected what we call Breezyisms -- or her sayings over the years that offer a fresh perspective on life, often filled with humor.

Recently we spent over a month in Lake Buena Vista, spending time with my clients, working from and with Disney, and enjoying the parks as often as possible.

One evening as we headed back to our executive villa, we found ourselves on I-4. It was late, we were all very tired from the Magic Kingdom that day, and it was quiet in the car. Then, a Breezyism occurred.

"Dad, that sign says Exit Now," Breezy said, noticing one of the interstate directional signs flashing up ahead. "That's so rude. Why couldn't it say Exit Please?"

Sometimes what we mean doesn't come across by what we say. We need to choose our words carefully, and allow for the nuances that occur when they are heard.

houston@figment-consulting.com

In pursuit of excellence

The difference between mediocrity and excellence is not found in the details. We can take care of all the details and still be mediocre.

Excellence begins with our mindset. It is a decision we make long before we begin working on it.

Excellence is a pursuit, a way of thinking, an inner focus.

Begin first with the decision to pursue it, then you will be on your way to achieving it.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Merry Christmas

While I have no analytical data to prove it, I sense that the term "Merry Christmas" is being used more this year than prior years.

Perhaps it is the circles I run in, yet I spent over a month at Disney World, and noticed it there as well. I also noticed it at Target, at Publix, at Celebration, FL, and a multitude of other places this year.

To me, it seems "Happy Holidays" has taken a back seat to "Merry Christmas."

Have you noticed it too?

Merry Christmas.

houston@figment-consulting.com