Over the past year, researchers from The Century Foundation have analyzed roughly 5,700 charter schools in all 50 states in an attempt to produce the first-ever nationwide inventory of diversity in the public charter school sector. Today, in partnership with the foundation, The 74 is releasing the findings of that report — and over the next two weeks will publish in-depth profiles of four intentionally diverse charter schools, showcasing strategies, policies, and practices that can be replicated and modified by schools elsewhere, as they look to pursue diversity as a goal.
By Sharif El-Mekki principal of Mastery Charter School–Shoemaker Campus, Philadelphia
Last week the Journey for Justice Alliance released a report called “Failing Brown v. Board.” The report is a direct attack on public charter schools and “school choice,” arguing that they perpetuate segregation and thereby increase educational inequity.
Sylvia Marketing & PR Featured on the Topic of Fake News
Satirist Ken Kilpatrick
Fake news, the issue du jour, doesn’t have to be if people would read beyond the headline.
So says Ken Kilpatrick, a marketing agency owner and writer of satire, who has proof in the comments section for his own writing.
Kilpatrick, editor-in-chief of www.realclearsatire.com, wrote a blog titled “Clinton: Trump will be a great president.”
Kilpatrick slips into satire from the opening sentence, yet readers apparently do not bother to read past the headline to realize the story is a parody written as humor and commentary.
Indeed, Kilpatrick in the blog even “quotes” Hillary Clinton in addressing the surge of fake news and the sharing of fake news via social media and blogs.
“Most people who see this article are going to flap their gums after reading only the headline,” Clinton “said” in the blog. “They’re too lazy to read the article and will trust the headline to tell the whole story. Half of those idiots will forward it to all their friends on social media, expecting them to do the reading.”
According to Kilpatrick, in two days, the blog attracted more than 1,000 hits on www.realclearsatire.com, and its Facebook page received approximately 570 emoticon hits, 320 comments and 90 shares.
“Most commenters jumped in after reading only the headline, displaying their ignorance of the blog they either praised or condemned,” said Kilpatrick, president and CEO of Sylvia Marketing & Public Relations, with offices in Pottstown and King of Prussia.
“People who comment on and share blogs they haven’t completely read are creating a market for those who create fake news,” he said. “They are as guilty for spreading false information as those who intend harm.”
“The internet is too vast to legislate out fake news, as Germany is trying to do,” Kilpatrick said. “The key to stopping fake news is to read past the headline. In so doing, angry voters might discover quality satire that can help lighten them up.”
Click Here for Original Article in Lehigh Valley Business
The standard networking mixer doesn't exactly bring out the best in most of us. Here are some alternatives that do.
If you’re a normal professional, you may just feel at least a smidge of apprehension or resentment when it comes time to drag yourself to (or get dragged to) a professional networking event. Sure, sure, the crab puffs might be killer, but there are so many things to not love about these shindigs that I’d be here for hours if I tried to highlight each one.
Because that doesn’t sound fun for either of us, let’s start with four common reasons why you don’t enjoy them—even when you know (or suspect) they’re important to attend. And then let’s find a better option for every stinking one of them.
1. IT’S MORE STRESSFUL THAN FUN
Especially if you’re not a natural extrovert, or if you aren’t terribly practiced in the art of small talk, walking into a room of strangers can create all kinds of anxiety and tension. They often seem formulaic to the point of being comical, just without the funny ha-ha part. And this typically nets out to a fairly unenjoyable, stressful, and overtly corporate-feeling session.
A Better Option: Have you heard the news? Many, many professional groups (both the formal ones and informal ones) are realizing that we humans actually enjoy mixing business with pleasure when it comes to networking—especially when doing so lowers our stress levels while still enabling us to meet influential people, gather information that may be beneficial to our careers, or grow professionally.
If you cringe at the thought of the “traditional networking mixer,” consider heading over to Meetup.com or LinkedIn groups to see if you can find events in your area that pertain to your area of expertise or professional interest while combining a social or recreational element.
In the Portland market alone, you’ll find gatherings like these: Coffee & Copy (a gathering for writers), Wonder Women in Business, and a Tech + Pong hangout (for developers and other IT people). There are hundreds of these types of events, in pretty much every urban market. Go find a couple that suit you.
2. YOU’RE AFRAID TO APPROACH PEOPLE
Here’s the thing: We’re all afraid to approach people we don’t know, just at varying levels of terror. It’s human nature to fear rejection or looking awkward or stupid, it really is. And networking events are often just teeming with scary strangers that we dread approaching.
Given this, a lot of us tend to completely underperform in these environments. We go through the motions and survive, but we end the evening with very little to show for the agony we’ve just endured. And that’s not at all what our goal is here.
The Better Option: First, recognize that we’re all scared. All of us. That may ease your feelings of “I’m all alone in this.” Next, if the event has genuine potential (and, really, most of them do), try constructing a game plan in advance, which will make it less intimidating to walk in the doors and approach new people. Consider bringing someone who’s a natural connector, or who knows a lot of people in your industry. And ask that person to make introductions on your behalf.
(See? Less terrifying already.)
Or, you might create a game out the entire event. Challenge yourself to see how many people you can meet or what specific goals you can achieve before the end of the evening. And, if you can get your hands on an attendee list in advance, be sure and do so. This will make pre-planning much easier, as you will know who your “target connections” are beforehand.
3. THE EVENTS FEEL SO FORCED AND FAKE
The events I most despise are the ones in which everyone just stands around shoving their cards at one another while trying to juggle appetizers, cocktails, and handshakes. I often feel like I’m in some bad 1991 movie scene, one that’s overtly making fun of how corny and fake so many of these professional mixers are.
Seriously, does anyone ever forge genuine, lasting connections in these awful environments? I probably can’t say, because I’ve admittedly exited stage left in the middle of many of these types of deals before even giving them a chance.
A Better Option: If the fakeness of “classic networking” really doesn’t work for you, choose non-networking networking opportunities. This isn’t an oxymoron at all. Sleuth out (and get your rear end over to) events that allow you to actually contribute, do, or achieve something while you meet like-minded people.
Raise your hand to volunteer at an event or for a cause tied to your area of expertise or interest. Organize a fitness group or book club specifically designed for people in your field. Join a committee within your own company, with the specific intent to get to know new people within the organization. You get the theme here.
4. YOU HAVE NO TIME TO ATTEND NETWORKING EVENTS
I’m absolutely not one of those people who says (in a judging tone), “It’s never that you have no time, it’s that you choose to not make the time.” Oh, God, spare us all. Hi, I’m a married business owner with multiple children—who are in multiple extracurricular activities. I actually “get” what it is to have almost no extra time to be flitting about town talking shop over mediocre wine.
However, I also actually “get” how important it is to forge and maintain strong professional relationships throughout one’s career. I have personally and professionally benefitted (over and over again) from having a supportive and influential network of people around me (and hope I’m helpful to them as well!)
So what happens if you’re someone with so many demands on your time that physically attending networking events is nearly impossible?
A Better Option: I’ve got two words for you: social media. No matter how good (or not good) you are at it or how much you like (or dislike) it, you’ll need to harness the power of these platforms as a solid alternative to participating at live events. Your specific strategy should be customized to your own needs, personality, and comfort level with various platforms, but you absolutely must leverage networking tools like LinkedIn, Twitter chats, and Facebook Live events (to name a few) if you’re not able to attend face-to-face gatherings.
Blipping off the radar entirely may feel more safe and comfortable, but you’re shortchanging yourself (and may cause yourself a lot of unnecessary stress when you need support from others) in the long run. Business is built around relationships. It is truly who you know in many, many instances.
So even if you abhor the idea of networking, try your darndest to find survivable (and maybe even enjoyable) ways to stay connected with influencers around you.
Sylvia Marketing & Public Relations Client Achievement House Cyber Charter School is Featured on Rasmussen College Special Report!
Scanning a crowded restaurant while your family waits for a seat, you notice almost all of the tables have at least one person staring into a cell phone screen. Walking through the mall involves dodging teens whose eyes are fixated on smart phones rather than oncoming shoppers. You hand your daughter the phone when she gets antsy at the store, immediately transfixing her with a compilation of clips from Disney’s Frozen,so you can discern the best deal on cereal.
Then, at a school meeting for your second grader, the teacher announces the addition of computer science education to the curriculum.
What? Surely we get more than our share of technology use outside of the school day. It’s probably even harmful in these doses.
Though it may surprise you, there are myriad benefits of starting computer science education young. Contrary to common belief, computer coding is not socially isolating screen time. Read on to learn what experts say about the advantages of computer science for our youth.
Learning to code requires thinking and encourages curiosity
Our education system aims to decrease the focus on low-level cognitive development: students sitting back and listening to a teacher dole out facts they will regurgitate later for an exam. As a parent, you know your kiddos are capable of more than memorization, and you’ve witnessed their unbridled energy and curiosity. The great news is that computer science encourages the following types of higher-level thinking:
Computational Thinking
“Coding is not just about creating software. It’s about computational thinking,” explains Gillian Hayes, who has a PhD in computer science and volunteers to teach kids the subject. “Thinking computationally is a benefit to our logic and philosophy skills as well as more traditional STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) oriented concerns.” There is a direct link between the computing required to code and the computing required in a child’s science and math classes.
Sequential Thinking
Reading comprehension and computer science may not seem related on the surface, especially when you are battling your little ones to put down the tablet and get their nose in a book. But the sequential thinking involved in coding can actually contribute to improved reading comprehension.
The ability to order events in a text relates to the skill of the chronological sequencing required in writing code. So you can rest assured that even if your little one doesn’t grow up to be a computer programmer, exposing them to coding is still benefiting their overall development.
Curiosity
Being curious is motivating for students when approaching a new topic. Instead of regarding technology as magical, coding promotes the question of “Why?” when thinking about a particular app or game. “Young children are exposed to so much technology at a young age, that they miss a vital piece of the puzzle,” says Kimberly Chicchi, computer science teacher at Achievement House Cyber Charter School.“Understanding why something works allows you to put it into context. It’s a beautiful puzzle.”
But what about all the screen time?
Parents and educators fear screen time’s potential to stunt kids’ development. Picturing your child staring into a screen at school seems contradictory to learning.
“Parents sometimes have difficulty telling the difference between students as ‘consumers’ of technology and as ‘producers’ within the technology space.” Lindsey Handley owns and operates ThoughtSTEM, an education startup in San Diego, and she emphasizes that effective computer science classes don’t involve passive consumption. Instead, they encourage creation and teamwork. Check out these engaging coding lessons and activities to use at home or in schools:
Code.org: A website providing kids the opportunity to design and manipulate a variety of games, create intricate works of art and track mastery of new skills. A multitude of unplugged activities do not even involve a computer.
Break It Down: Encourage kids to take apart electronics (computers, DVD players, televisions) to see their different components. This process, which Hayes uses frequently with her students, helps kids demystify what is going on under the hood of electronics, just like coding.
Scratch: A website where kids use code to create animations, music videos, design games, send interactive cards and more. Kids communicate with others throughout the world to collaborate on a project and give design feedback to one another.
Interactive Robots: Students work on teams in programming robots to complete certain tasks. Encourages problem solving and sequential logic. Sphero and Olliie and Dash and Dot are a couple of examples.
Makerspace: Community centers are being developed in schools where students use various tools to physically engineer ideas for solutions to problems. They depend on collaboration and critical thinking, and they can be linked to coding.
Coding is crucial to the future
At this point, you may be asking, “What if my kids aren’t interested in becoming computer programmers?” What a waste to emphasize computer science so early when we should prioritize universal skills.
However, learning to code is often compared to learning a foreign language. While the language of coding can be learned in high school and beyond, it is easier and more naturally acquired at a young age.
Early childhood development easily identifies with if/then scenarios, according to Kornel Kurtz, a computer programmer of 30 years and CEO of Webtek. (ie: If you use the potty, then you get a reward. If you tap that icon, this app opens.) “It’s a great introduction to how logical thinking works with programming,” he says. “The younger they grasp that, the easier programming is” His own three children also have programming hobbies and careers.
In our diverse world, people speaking multiple languages in the job market are preferable over those who speak only one. You don’t have to be an official interpreter to benefit from speaking multiple languages.
Similarly, you don’t have to be a computer programmer to benefit from knowing how to code. In fact, computer science and technology currently influence nearly every vocation whether it’s medicine, law, education, farming, political science, business management, construction or marketing.
If your child decides to go into a specifically computer science career, he or she will have an advantage with a multitude of option and exciting earning potential. Computer-related jobs are expected to grow at the faster-than-average rate of 12 percent through 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS also reports that the median annual salary for these professionals in 2015 was $81,430, which was more than two times the average for all occupations.*
Crack the code while they’re young
It’s understandable if you are hesitant about computer science education for your children. Though it’s not what we remember doing in elementary school, the world is changing and coding for kids is becoming more and more common.
Computer science education enhances our children’s ability to think, engages them with hands-on teamwork and prepares them for a successful future. Who are we to deny them the language their future will rely on?
*Salary data represents national, averaged earnings for the occupations listed and includes workers at all levels of education and experience. This data does not represent starting salaries and employment conditions in your area may vary.
It’s not news that the role of salespeople and selling is changing. In the past, salespeople were often the first step in a purchase process, and could significantly influence customer decision-making by controlling information about pricing, availability, competitive advantage, etc.
But in this era of nearly ubiquitous information, customers usually engage with salespeople after they’ve already researched their purchase and in some cases made their purchase decision. Digital commerce and disintermediation have caused many customers to question the importance of having a sales relationship at all. Moreover, companies are learning that true sales success isn’t indicated by the number or size of deals closed; it’s measured by getting and keeping the right customers.
Great salespeople succeed in this new business environment by doing what great brands do. I laid out seven critical brand-building principles that great brands follow when I wrote my first book. I’ve now found that these principles are as instrumental to restoring sales to its role as a valuable, sustainable, integral business function as they are to building great brands.
Great brands start inside. Great salespeople sell inside first. Just as great brands start brand-building by cultivating a strong brand-led culture inside their organizations, great salespeople know the first step to sales success is actually one taken inside their own companies. They contribute tremendous value to their organizations through their market insights and direct communication channel with customers. So they help their companies with product development, marketing strategy, and customer service by serving as the Voice of the Customer internally.
Great brands avoid selling products. Great salespeople cultivate emotional connections with customers. In the book What Clients Love, Harry Beckwith explains that relatively few businesses actually sell products, services, or even expertise; most sell satisfaction. “Progressive does not sell car insurance. It sells comfort: the comfort of knowing that if you have an accident, they will be at the scene, ready to write a check.” In the same way, great salespeople don’t try to sell items or programs. Instead, they appeal to and connect with their clients through emotion, brand story-telling, and thought-leadership. In doing so they take the attention off price and features and appeal to the feelings customers value and the identities they want to experience and express.
Great brands ignore trends. Great salespeople don’t imitate, they innovate. Great brands don’t follow what everyone else is doing, nor do they wait to take their lead from customers. In the same way, great salespeople offer their customers unique perspectives and often seek to push their thinking. They present a differentiated sales experience by challenging customers’ status quo and teaching them something new and valuable. They are the “Challengers” that Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson identified in their research into what distinguishes high sales performers.
Great brands don’t chase customers. Great salespeople attract the best customers for their company. Just as great brands know they’re not for everybody and so they seek to attract loyal and profitable customers through shared values and common interests, great salespeople are selective when engaging prospects. Research by VoloMetrix, a sales productivity firm, shows that top sellers build deeper relationships with fewer customers rather than casting a wider net of shallower engagement. Salespeople cultivate profitable, sustainable customer relationships if they’re savvy enough to focus on accounts that inherently represent a good fit with their company instead of trying to close as many deals as possible.
Great brands sweat the small stuff. Great salespeople create extraordinary experiences that embody their brand. Great salespeople know that they can strengthen their brand if they interpret and reinforce it and its differentiating value throughout the sales experience. So they examine all the different touchpoints between the customer and the brand in the sales process and seek out opportunities to infuse the most influential ones with the brand’s key values and attributes. They’re also aware of the power of social selling today and they carefully manage their social network activity to make informed, authentic, personal connections.
Great brands never have to “give back.” Great salespeople create real value for their customers. Great brands don’t engage in questionable business practices and then try to make up for them with charitable activities and social responsibility programs — they create a positive social impact in the way they design and run their businesses. Likewise, great salespeople don’t engage with customers simply to make a sale — they look for ways to make their clients more successful. Leadership consultant Scott Edinger observed, “Sales training programs rightly focus on finding clients’ ‘pain points.’ But great salespeople also know there’s value in pointing out successes waiting to be exploited.” They know improving a customer’s condition may not always involve a sale and they do it nonetheless.
Great brands commit and stay committed. Great salespeople impart the unique value of their brand. Many salespeople feel pressure to gain new business or retain accounts at any cost, but the most effective ones do not give price concessions just to win deals. They are convinced of the value their company offers and they skillfully help their customers understand it as well. They employ the techniques put forth by the writers of the book Value Merchants, drawing on their knowledge of what clients value to convey their offer in a way that resonates with them.
Great salespeople implement all of these principles in a cohesive, coordinated approach that mirrors the brand-as-business management approach used by great brands to develop powerful and valuable brands. Just as great brands cultivate mutually beneficial relationships with their customers, great salespeople cultivate a deep connection between their company and their client’s business. To borrow a term, the best salespeople are brand evangelists.
Guy Kawasaki first adopted the term “evangelism” into the business world by applying it to an innovative approach to sales, marketing, and management. Evangelism, as he defined it, means “convincing people to believe in your product or ideas as much as you do” because evangelists believe that what they offer is truly helpful and valuable to others.
Over the years, many technology companies have developed the role of a technology evangelist or “chief evangelist.” These people are charged with building up support for a given technology, and then establishing it as a standard in the given industry. Like these technology evangelists, brand evangelists — that is, great salespeople — build up support within a market for a brand so that it becomes the brand leader in its category.
Importantly, brand evangelism is not another one of the customer-centric or customer-driven sales approaches that have become popular in recent years. Customer-centric sales and most other sales improvement approaches are pursued for the sole purpose of increasing sales. Brand evangelism is about engaging customers in a way that produces stronger and more valuable brands and sustaining long-term business success for their companies and their clients.
As Kilolo Moyo-White watched her 8th-grade students walk through the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, she felt a sense of awe.
Seeing the exhibits last month felt like an affirmation of her identity, she said, which was also felt by her students from the Global Leadership Academy Charter School in Philadelphia, most of whom are black.
“It was just a transformative moment for them to be able to see themselves in that history and to be able to connect it so quickly to what’s happening in our society today,” Moyo-White said. “For some, I think that was a little upsetting and troubling. But I think they were also calmed by the beauty of the museum and the fact that this museum is honoring that hard work, those trials and tribulations, instead of just shading over it.”
Sylvia Marketing & Public Relations is the leading P.R. agency in the U.S. representing Supply Chain Management and Logistics companies. Hence, we were thrilled to see the great Gary Vee give a shout out to the Logistics industry!
