Rely on Research, Not Conjecture
Chad Barnett, PhD
Head of school, St. Edmund’s Academy
“I’m so impressed by the quality of work and the accuracy of the assessment. Everything you flagged in the report is now on our radar. There is a real precision of thinking in the report and your process lets the data tell the story. The report was a very customized profile of the school and I am thrilled with it. Worth every penny.”
By Chad Barnett, PhD, Head of School, St. Edmund’s Academy (PA)
St. Edmund’s Academy hired Connor Associates Strategic Services to collect and analyze data so that the Board could evaluate strategic priorities as the timing of the 2016-2020 strategic plan closed.
Two Products Delivered Objective Guidance
The two products you offered us, the Alumni Survey and External Image Audit, reinforced each other and proved to be incredibly powerful from my perspective. I would encourage any client seeking to assess strategic progress and determine next steps to conduct both studies.
The research revealed generative, strategic, and tactical opportunities to be assessed by the Board, administration, and faculty. Blended into a single narrative, the two studies provide us with an objective guide to discussing value as a customer-centric, not organization-centric, proposition.
“Perhaps more than any generation before them, Millennial parents want answers.”
Learning What Millennial Parents Want
And this is important in general, but especially when you consider Millennial parents. Perhaps more than any generation before them, Millennial parents want answers to the following when it comes to their education investment:
What’s in it for me and my child?
What is distinctive in the experience?
Are the school’s distinctive characteristics meaningful?
What does the school accomplish that its competitors cannot?
Through the research, we can clearly see the attributes of the St. Edmund’s Academy experience that unify the school across generations and that resonate with today’s market.
Opportunities Revealed
We can also see areas where our school’s identity requires clarification.
The blend of the data streams from both the survey and the image audit also demonstrates a lag between perceptions and actual progress underway.
Finally, holding the results of both studies in balance allows us to understand which areas of improvement will inspire the most confidence in key stakeholders and result in meaningful progress for children.
Next Steps
“The Board always wonders: We want to know how people feel. We don’t want conjecture. ”
The Board will use the research as primary guidance to decide on a central and vital programmatic part of the school. This is a double black diamond from a governance perspective.
The Board always wonders: We want to know how people feel. We don’t want conjecture.
This research addresses those questions and is the most reliable data possible to inform decision-making around curriculum and market forces.