What is your school’s story? What values does it hold dear? How does that story reveal a vision for the future? These are all important questions for Catholic school leaders, teachers and other stakeholders to consider. Understanding your school’s story, and how it is reflected in your school’s mission, vision and values, is something that your stakeholders need to reflect upon regularly. After all, for as important as demographics, data and information are, people respond more to the story that it all tells.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father (Matthew 5:14-16)
As we think about the story of our Catholic schools, and as we consider how it intersects with mission, vision and values, we also know that it is just as important to think about how we communicate our story. A story untold conceals what is great about your school, placing your school’s light under that bushel basket that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 5:15.
When considering how we tell our school’s story, it is helpful to think about how the story will resonate with parents and families, who are motivated by various forces, and who want the very best for their children. Recent market research reveals some of those motivations. For example, in a recent comprehensive study commissioned by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) (FADICA, 2018), a group of parents were surveyed about how they make decisions about private school enrollment. The study confirmed that those parents are “well-informed, savvy consumers” (p. 3). But the study also found that parents are primarily motivated by factors such as studentteacher ratio, educational quality, teacher quality and the structure of the school environment, before religious instruction. These are curious findings, because the Code of Canon Law requires Catholic schools to be outstanding in all these areas (Can 806 §2). So, as a Catholic school crafts its plan to tell the story of how it is outstanding, it is important to be intentional about how motivators like the quality of the academic program, the structure of the school environment and the preparation of the teachers, all goes to support the school’s mission and its Catholic culture. Put another way, excelling in these areas makes our schools more Catholic, not less!
If telling your school’s story is important, then a logical starting place is the school’s website. Take a moment now to look at your school’s website through the lens of a parent, benefactor or other member of the greater community. What does the website reveal about your school’s story? Is the information on the website current, or are there news articles about events and happenings from years ago that have never been updated? Is the website visually appealing? Does it use a color scheme, crest and logo consistent with your school’s brand? What about the images? Do the images reflect the diversity of the student experience in a way that brings your school’s story to life, or do the images seem to only focus on certain students or activities? These are all subtle but important cues about what is important to your school and its stakeholders.
As an extension of your school’s online presence, your school’s social media feeds are also important. They reveal what your school values in the moment. Take a moment now to log in to your school’s social media outlets. Scroll through the recent posts. What do they tell the reader about the school? Do the posts engage the reader with well-developed content and engaging media, or does your school use social media to provide announcements to parents? What about the content? Do your social media posts highlight the diversity of what your school offers to students and families, or do they only seem to focus on certain activities (athletics, for example)? One important parental motivator for Catholic school engagement is the availability of cocurricular and extracurricular experiences. So, highlighting the range of student experiences is essential. After all, your students are all main characters in your school’s story! And, as you consider all this, remember that it is important to highlight how what you share through social media advances the mission and Catholic culture of your school.
In the United States, we have Catholic schools of all different types, from large secondary schools that are flush with resources, to small microschools where the principal has limited support. Wherever your school falls on this spectrum, it is important to consider how your school communicates its story. For schools with limited resources, it can be helpful to identify a teacher or staff member who can serve as a director of communications. This person can take up the work of managing communication outlets like the school’s website, social media feed and other basic forms of communication, to ensure that the school’s story is being told fully and accurately. Alternatively, a communications team consisting of several teachers and/or staff can share the work. Additionally, parents can serve as storytellers who can speak at Mass, provide content for the school newsletter or social media feeds or provide testimonials to prospective families. Students, too, can be a resource, considering there is a level of authenticity to their experiences in the school.
In 2020, Fr. Tom Simonds and I wrote a book for NCEA titled Writing a New Story for Catholic Schools. In that book, we examined the history of Catholic education in the United States, and we shared our thoughts on how Catholic schools can write their story for the future. In the preface to our book, Fr. Tom wrote, “Imagine that God gave you an extraordinary pen and the opportunity to write a new success story for the Catholic schools of the future? . . . What is the very best you can imagine and hope for” (p. 1)? The great news is that your Catholic school is a school of the future. By thinking and acting intentionally about how your school communicates its story, you will be placing the light of your school high upon that lampstand, illuminating the world around, and inspiring others to want to be a part of the story that is yet to be told!
Ronald D. Fussell, Ed.D. is an associate professor and director of Catholic School Leadership at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.
Ronald Fussell, Ed.D.RonaldFussell@creighton.edu