Login with Facebook Register | Lost Password
Skip to Content
  • National African American History Month:

    February is National African American History Month! To view websites on African American history, click here.

  • KnowledgeBases:

    MC3's KnowledgeBases are topical collections of information and resources on specific subject areas. To see available KnowledgeBases, click here.

  • Common Core State Standards: MC3 has weblinks on Common Core State Standards, including information on assessment, equity issues, funding, implementation, special populations, and state resources. Check it out here.

KnowledgeBases > The School Improvement KnowledgeBase > Element 2 > Activity 4 > Task 2: Match the Message to the Audience

Guideline:

Developing effective message content is an essential part of every communications strategy. District staff members and principals need to be cognizant of the information delivered to target audiences. With a school designated "in need of improvement," consideration should be given to presenting an overview of the No Child Left Behind Act, providing parents information about school choice options and supplemental educational services, and explaining the school's report card. When communicating with national-origin language minority parents about school related matters, districts and schools must do so in a language parents understand.

Checklists Different Formats for Different Audiences

This document lists a number of different types of reports and suggests appropriate audiences for each report.

Tools Communications Plan Worksheet

This U.S. Department of Transportation worksheet from the "It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air" website identifies specific primary and secondary audiences for a communications plan. It may be a useful example for educators.

Alternate format: PDF

Guidelines Community Involvement in Change _EXTERNAL_LINK

This link to the National School Boards Foundation's Education Leadership Toolkit explores involving community members in accomplishing change. The document lists five guidelines for effective public engagement that may be useful to school board members and district/school leaders.

Legal School District Report Card

Each school district is to produce and publish a district-level report card. This document provides links to information about each state's report card process.

Practical Tips Tip Sheet - Crafting Effective Messages _EXTERNAL_LINK

This Biodiversity Project document offers ten tips for crafting effective messages for communications plans.

References Explaining No Child Left Behind

The links provided are to resources available at the U.S. Department of Education's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) website. The resources provide districts and schools useful information to explain NCLB.

References Writing to Linguistically Diverse Audiences

Writing effectively for an audience with a wide variety of backgrounds is difficult. This page provides several resources to help writers craft their message to reach the widest possible audience.

Print Print this page

Next: Task 3: Determine the Communication Modes Previous: Task 1: Identify Target Audiences


The contents of this website were developed under a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Education. The information presented on this website is intended for general reference purposes only, and information/linked content is not necessarily endorsed by the Mid-Continent Comprehensive Center or the U.S. Department of Education.