Playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” I would argue that the biggest problem is the illusion that merely providing information is communication. In independent schools, we share a lot of information with parents: They have access to the school website, calendar, and portal. Informational communication is ubiquitous. But school administrators don’t frequently pen or post communication that is relationship-building, or relational communication. Both types of communication are important for school leaders to embrace—however, a research project I completed suggests that avenues of relational communication are often overlooked. In 2015, as a part of the Independent School Leadership Program at Vanderbilt University, I undertook a research project in which I examined head of school welcome letters on the websites of schools belonging to the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS). I chose this research topic for two reasons: my background as an English teacher and my interest in written communication. The welcome letter is often a starting place for families who are looking for a school; it’s the beginning of school communication that is informational and relational in nature. It’s an opportunity for relationship-building and a vital component of recruitment. And quite frankly, in the Miss Manners portion of my brain, it is a necessity, not an option.
In my research, 129 of 239 schools had head of school welcome letters on their websites, and 110 schools did not have one. I dissected each available letter: I fed them into a readability analyzer, quantitatively measuring the number of sentences, words per sentence, syllabic count, reading grade level, and so on; the qualitative research measured elements such as reference to mission, values, and history—which promote institutional identity and community-building. In the end, I found that only nine out of 129 letters were distinct, engaging, and purposeful. It was clear to me that ISACS heads had underused welcome letters during the season of my research.
When I began as head of middle school at the Community School of Naples (FL) in July 2017, I was determined to make a habit of relational writing. Building relationships is often touted as a hallmark of the independent school experience. By respecting parents with routine relational communication, students benefit. At Community School of Naples (CSN), there are 216 families, who place their trust in the school each day. The challenge is to connect with the collective parent body on a regular basis.
A Person of Letters
CSN Head of School David Watson connects with families every Saturday at noon with his e-newsletter Seahawk Scoop. He also sends faculty and staff an email titled Headline every Friday morning. This culture of routine communication inspired me to write my own letters. In August 2017, I committed to writing a once-a-week letter that would be the lead item in the Middle School Weekly Window, our Friday e-newsletter that goes to more than 500 email addresses of middle school families, teachers, and staff.Each Thursday night, I sit down to write, often with no topic in mind. My letter isn’t a chipper regurgitation of calendar events. It’s not a managerial response to an unfolding middle school drama. My letters are different configurations of the same four bricks, though I don’t use all the bricks each time: opening thought, public or personal story, school story or information, and closing thought. This in an effort to continue a conversation. My self-imposed time limit is three hours and the length is 300–500 words. I do my best within the allotted time and then turn it in to the communications department.
As of February 2020, I have written 94 letters to parents. My letter style has become more or less purposeful storytelling and fills three topic buckets: school happenings, parenting, or local/current events. The process feels conversationally honest, allowing me to show that I’m an administrator and a person. A weekly letter requires me to think and then to think about my own thinking, to make connections I would not have otherwise made. But I admit, some letters are good and others are lame. I once wrote about making a grilled-cheese sandwich as a metaphor for kindness. To my surprise, the letter engaged parents in a debate about the correct term for ends of a bread loaf. Most letters build to a comment on a recent or upcoming event, such as standardized testing:
March 29, 2018
Dear Middle School Families,
My earliest memory of standardized test-taking is not a good one. Dresden Elementary School. Fifth grade. The Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The ITBS.
A nervous girl threw up during the administration of the test. The gooey, brown pellets in the girl’s vomitus drew immediate attention. As if part of the standardized test, students raced to identify the mysterious dark blobs.
A. “Ewww. Her teeth were pushed out with the puke.”
B. “No way, those are rabbit droppings.”
C. “Gross—maybe they are pieces of her stomach.”
D. None of the above.
Teachers were unsettled. The testing environment had been comprised. Students were asked to close their test booklets, to tuck the Scantron sheet neatly inside, and to put down their No. 2 pencils. Students were then dismissed to recess while Mrs. Potter called the ITBS hotline to get instructions on how to proceed.
Community School of Naples middle school students will take two standardized tests in April: the Writing Assessment Program (WrAP) on April 11 and the Comprehensive Testing Program (CTP) on April 17-19. Both tests are products of the Educational Testing Bureau (ERB). The WrAP measures writing achievement. The CTP is “a rigorous assessment for high-achieving students.” Again, the CTP is a hard test. A typical question, for example, can hinge on pre-existing knowledge:
eider : ______ :: cedar : tree
A. snow B. plant C. duck D. pine
Many factors can influence a student’s performance on standardized tests: confidence, testing experience, life experience, attitude, underthinking, overthinking, nerves, wellness, and so on. In short, the results are not the sum of any student’s intelligence or future potential. The results from the WrAP and CTP are helpful in assessing individual growth from year to year and are the first steps in readying students for future testing situations, such as the SAT and the ACT—in some cases, the GRE and the LSAT.
In the coming weeks, we will try to calm any test-taking anxiousness with information and some practice. And I will tell students, from personal experience, not to eat Raisin Bran for breakfast.
Always,
Colleen
I received 12 responses to this letter, including ones that said it was funny or that standardized test-taking is nerve-racking.
Mining the Metrics
The weekly letter approach seems to be resonating, but hard data confirms the success. Although collecting data on relationship-building makes me feel a little disingenuous, the email open rates, which I review each week, show progress. In my first year, the average open rate for the Weekly Window was 52.4%. In my third year, it jumped to 72.6%.
I’m not driven solely by open-rate statistics, and I don’t gauge success on metrics alone. I measure the efficacy through anecdotal evidence. A minimum of three to five parents reply to my letter each week; parents approach me when I am on car line to discuss or comment on the week’s letter topic; and parents often mention the weekly letter as a conversation starter at school events. I haven’t received negative feedback so far, and I purposefully choose noncontroversial topics. A letter is of course a one-sided conversation; however, it is regular communication that comes with a tacit invitation for parents and teachers to connect further. And they do.
I have learned that if I establish a habit of communication not driven by a need, problem, or crisis, that habit strengthens relational readiness for times when a need, problem, or crisis does drive communication. Conversational letter writing grows administrator-parent connectedness—an intentional, ongoing effort to know each other better. It would be naive to think the administrator-parent relationship will not be tested—it is, especially in middle school. A weekly parent letter helps all parties better manage the charged emotion of a stressful middle school moment—whether it’s recovering from a direct-hit hurricane, working through a reported threat of school violence, or meeting to discuss a painful middle school social media misstep—specifically because a habit of relational communication preceded a pressing need for communication.
Anecdotes are not research, I know. With regard to weekly letter writing, however, I have found the plural of anecdotes is relationships.
The Right Stuff
If you’re considering writing to your community, here are some of author Colleen O. Potocki’s tips to consider:
Start and continue. Decide how frequently and when you’re most likely to write. Commit yourself to a full year. Don’t be the writer with one blog post dated 18 months ago.
Be a storyteller with a purpose. Don’t just tell a story. Make a connection to a division or your institution.
Develop a go-to structure. Whether it’s connecting a personal or professional story with a school event or another setup, find the formula that works for you.
Make it a safe space. Pay attention to your tone so that every community member can feel included.
Be unpredictable. Some announcements are too obvious. Instead, focus on sharing what isn’t on the calendar. This will keep your readers coming back.
Trust yourself. Know that you’re not always going to have a perfect letter-writing week. Keep writing even if you don’t get feedback each week.
