Welcome back, Educational Leaders! Let us wrap up the year with breakthrough insights and bold moves to set your schools on an unstoppable path to success in 2025!
In today’s edition, we are going to solve the puzzle: How do the Value Proposition, North Star Metric, and Priority Objective interconnect to drive impactful, cohesive progress for schools?
What is a Value Proposition
A value proposition is a clear and concise statement that communicates what a school offers and how it differentiates itself from competitors. This statement, usually part of a broader strategic plan, should be succinct—no more than a few sentences—and supported by data that highlights the school's unique strengths.
At Educentric, we believe a strong value proposition is crucial because it clearly articulates to parents why they should choose your school over others in the area. This statement can be effectively used in various contexts, such as:
On your school’s website to attract students and staff.
When presenting to the PTO or other community organizations.
As a compelling answer to the question, “What does your school excel at?”
To create a compelling value proposition, it’s important to start with an understanding of the "Job to be Done" theory.
Understanding Your Parents’ Job to be Done
The "Job to be Done" theory, developed by Clayton Christensen, provides a framework for understanding the primary objective parents have when choosing a school. Rather than focusing broadly, this theory emphasizes identifying the most important metric that parents prioritize when selecting a school for their child.
For example, if parents are choosing a school to ensure their child is well-prepared for college, the school’s value proposition should highlight its academic rigor, college counseling services, and strong track record of college admissions. A successful example is the Young Women’s College Prep Academy, whose value proposition is, “We are the school of choice for young women who want to graduate from Tier I/Ivy League universities.” By focusing on a clear goal, the school improved its acceptance rate from 21% to 100% within four years.
Creating a Value Proposition
You can use the "Job to be Done" framework as a foundation for developing your school’s value proposition. Consider the following questions:
What unique offerings does my school provide?
What "job" are parents hiring my school to accomplish?
Which other schools in the area are we competing with?
What sets my school apart from these competitors?
For example, Ryan Middle School was once a struggling school with declining enrollment, dropping from over 800 students to around 220. However, by crafting a focused value proposition, “The Baylor College of Medicine at Ryan Middle Schools prepares middle school students for biomedical careers with a specialized and challenging health science curriculum,” the school aligned itself with a clear goal: 95% of their 8th graders would qualify for admission into DeBakey High School for Health Professions. In just four years, Ryan Middle School is now rated an ‘A’ by the State Department of Education and ranked 14th out of 2,176 middle schools in its state by SchoolDigger.
What is a North Star Metric
The North Star Metric (NSM) is a concept that emerged from the business community, particularly among companies experiencing rapid growth. Popularized by Sean Ellis, the concept draws from the principles of the Hoshin North Star process, which was inspired by quality management pioneer Dr. W. Edwards Deming. This framework serves as a strategic planning, action, and guidance system for some of the world’s most successful companies. For example, here are a list of some of these companies and their North Star Metrics:
Facebook: Daily Active Users
Spotify: Monthly Active Users
Netflix: Total Hours Viewed
Uber: Weekly Active Riders
Amazon: Gross Merchandise Volume
Zoom: Meeting Minutes
Twitter: Daily Active Users
Educentric’s North Star Metric Framework
Educentric has adapted the principles of the North Star Metric framework for use in K-12 education. The framework simplifies a school’s overall strategy into terms that everyone can remember, understand, and apply. It identifies the single metric that best captures the core value a school delivers to its parents and students.
Benefits of Educentric’s North Star Metric Framework
A North Star Metric acts as a guide—a compass that points a school in the right direction, helping everyone stay focused on the primary goal of improvement and success based on what matters most to parents and students- the value proposition.
Specific benefits of implementing Educentric’s North Star framework include:
Alignment: A North Star Metric aligns the entire school around a shared goal, allowing progress to be mapped directly to this central metric.
Transparency: The North Star Metric provides a clear picture of a school’s progress, offering reassurance to staff and parents about the school’s direction, which can improve both employee and student retention.
Customer Focus: By reflecting the value a school brings to its parents and students, the North Star Metric keeps everyone focused on continuous improvement.
Support: Educentric assigns an Accountability Navigator (School Improvement Coach) to each school. This coach meets virtually with the school’s breakthrough performance team for one hour each week during the school term.
North Star Metric vs. a Priority Objective
It’s important not to confuse a North Star Metric with a “Priority Objective.” A North Star Metric is a long-term guiding star (two to three years)—like Polaris, the star that lies directly above the North Pole. In contrast, a Priority Objective is a measurable goal that helps significantly move a school toward meeting its North Star Metric (two to six months). For example, a school with a North Star Metric of a “97% graduation rate” might set a Priority Objective of increasing the number of seniors participating in credit recovery from 15 to 60 during the first semester.
Can Schools Have More Than One North Star?
Schools typically focus on a single North Star Metric. By concentrating resources on the one thing that matters most to a school’s success, improvements often spill over into other areas. For example, improving a school’s graduation rate may require addressing related issues like chronic absenteeism and high out-of-school suspension rates.
Relationship Between a School’s Value Proposition and its North Star Metric
Alignment of Goals:
Value Proposition: This is a clear statement that defines what the school offers and how it stands out from others. It communicates the school's core strengths and the unique benefits it provides to students and parents.
North Star Metric: This is the key performance indicator that represents the school’s ultimate goal or success measure. It's the primary metric the school focuses on to gauge its progress and effectiveness in fulfilling its mission.
The value proposition often reflects or is aligned with the North Star Metric. For instance, if a school’s value proposition emphasizes preparing students for top-tier universities, the North Star Metric might be the percentage of students accepted into those universities.
Strategic Focus:
The value proposition helps to define the school’s strategic focus by highlighting the key areas where the school excels. The North Star Metric then quantifies success in these areas, providing a clear target for the school to aim at.
For example, if a school's value proposition is centered around high student achievement in STEM subjects, the North Star Metric could be the percentage of students scoring at an advanced level on state STEM assessments.
Consistency in Messaging:
The value proposition serves as a public-facing declaration of what the school stands for, while the North Star Metric provides an internal benchmark for measuring how well the school is delivering on that promise.
Consistency between the value proposition and the North Star Metric ensures that the school’s messaging is aligned with its actual performance goals. This alignment builds trust with parents and stakeholders, as they can see the school is committed to delivering on its stated value.
Guiding Decision-Making:
The value proposition sets the foundation for the school’s priorities and focus areas, while the North Star Metric guides decision-making and resource allocation to achieve those priorities.
For instance, a school with a value proposition focused on fostering a safe and inclusive environment might have a North Star Metric related to student well-being or the reduction of behavioral incidents. The school’s programs and initiatives would then be designed to support these outcomes.
Example:
Consider a school whose value proposition is: "We prepare students to become leaders in global citizenship." The North Star Metric for this school might be the percentage of students participating in international exchange programs, achieving high scores in global studies, or engaging in community service projects with a global focus.
Sharing Your Value Proposition and North Star Metric to Your Community
Once your school team has agreed on a Value Proposition and North Star Metric, it’s important to make it widely known. Publish it on your website, ensure that staff understand and use it, and incorporate it into presentations to the community. Displaying it prominently in your school’s lobby can also help reinforce the message to all who enter.
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