Kirtzman Strategies

WINNING
OVER
SKEPTICAL
AUDIENCES
Ou r Ap proa ch
to Ed Reform
KIRTZMAN
EDUCATION
STRATEGIES
HOW D O YOU
CO NVI NC E A
CHANGE -AVE R SE
PUBLIC THAT THI N G S
H AV E TO C HANG E ?
The question bedevils just about everyone in
the ed reform movement. How can we turn
around failing schools when so many parents
want them to stay the way they are? How
can we raise standards when the very word
makes teachers cringe?
FPO
The Kirtzman Education Strategies team
understands the challenge of communicating to
skeptical audiences. Our greatest victories have
come from working - hard - to win public buy-in
for our clients’ policies. We work with them to
engage communities, the public and the media
so the brickbats never start flying.
We have deep experience in both ed
reform and the media. We’re experienced
crisis managers, and can help you stay
on offense during rough patches.
But our goal isn’t just to help you solve your
problems - it’s to help you avoid them.
We’ll create a proactive strategy to help you
drive the coverage about your organization and
not just react to it. And we’ll work with you to
create a public engagement strategy that won’t
strike communities as just lip service.
Communications and public engagement.
Four words that make all the difference.
OUR
STORY
Kirtzman Education Strategies
was born of years spent in the
media and education worlds.
Our founder, Andrew Kirtzman,
He has created the communications and
public engagement strategies for turnaround
districts in Michigan and New Jersey, and
advised a diverse group of ed reform nonprofits,
including the Collaborative for Student Success,
America Achieves, High Achievement New
is a nationally-recognized ed
York and PENCIL. Prior to forming Kirtzman
reform strategist, having advised
at Global Strategy Group, a national political
government leaders including
Gover­nor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and U.S.
Secretary of Educa­tion John King.
Strategies, he ran the ed reform practice
consulting firm, and served as Senior Advisor to
NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott in the
Bloomberg administration.
Prior to entering the strategic communications
field, Andrew was one of New York’s bestknown political journalists; he is a multiple
Emmy award-winner who has covered more
than a dozen national political cam­paigns for
print, television and the web and interviewed
hundreds of elect­ed officials as host of two
widely-watched television political shows. He
has also authored biographies of Rudy Giuliani
and Bernie Madoff, and often appears on shows
such as Morning Joe and Today.
ANDREW KIRTZMAN
PRESIDENT
M I C H A E L B LO O M B E R G
ORGANI Z ATI ON S
AND PU B LIC
OFFI C I AL S WE ’ V E
ADVI S E D
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KIRTZMAN
EDUCATION
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O R G A N I Z AT I O N S A N D P U B L I C O F F I C I A L S W E ' V E A DV I S E D
JOHN KING
R U DY C R E W
JOHN KING
U.S. Secretary of Education
U.S. Secretary of Education
R
President, Medgar Evers College
CAR
ANDREW CUOMO
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M I C H A E L B LO O M B E R G
D E NJN
S NWA
OIH
K ILCOT
NG T
Former Mayor of New York
Former
New York City
U.S.Chancellor
Secretary of Education
Department of Education
Depa
F I C I A L S W E ' V E A DV I S E D
C A R M E N FA R I Ñ A
OMO
Chancellor of New York City
York
Department of Education
D E NJN
S NWA
OIH
K ILCOT
NG T
R U DY C R E W
Former
of Education
New York City
U.S.Chancellor
Secretary of
President, Medgar Evers College
Department of Education
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F UND ER S
O F OU R
E NGAGE ME N TS
O UR B LUE PRI N T
FO R S UCC E SS
COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
We’ll work with you to create a comprehensive
communications battle plan. We’ll conceptualize an
overall strategy for winning a public debate, craft
proactive and reactive tactics, and write statements,
talking points, op-eds, speeches and other content
that reflects your message strategy.
COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT PLANNING
The biggest mistake an education reformer can make
is to treat community sentiment as an
afterthought. We will design a strategy to get public
buy-in to your plans before they’re
rolled out.
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
We have deep experience navigating crises. We’ll
game out crisis scenarios in advance and prepare
strategies for each one of them. We’ll create advance
statements, talking points and emergency contact
lists, so when the bad news strikes you’ll be ready.
And we’ll be there every step of the way until the
storm has passed.
MEDIA RELATIONS
We can create a media relations strategy for your
communications officials to execute,
or serve as your communications department and
execute it ourselves. That means cultivating reporter
relationships, taking their calls on
deadline and crafting responses that reflects your
messaging and keeps you in front of
breaking news.
MEDIA TRAINING
We help the leaders of education organizations
communicate effectively, regardless of their experience speaking to the media. We’ll help you stay on
message, prepare you for tough interviews and train
you to deal with curveballs from reporters.
BRAND & MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT
We’ll help you craft a way to talk about your
organization. We’ll interview stakeholders, research
media coverage, engage focus groups and
conduct polling in your state, city or community.
From that research we’ll form a strategy for
delivering your message in the most powerful,
persuasive way possible.
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT AND
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Every leader need to carefully shape his or her image.
Some want to boost their public profiles; others
need to deal with reputational challenges. We
have deep experience in both areas. We will pitch
stories about you to place you at the center of the
conversation – or work to reposition you if your
reputation is at stake.
DIGITAL & SOCIAL MEDIA
We speak social media, and will create an on-line
conversation geared toward your messaging. And we
can target your audience all the way down to a single
street in your community. We’ll tweet for you, post
for you, or guide your staff to do so in an effective,
disciplined way.
PE RS UAD I N G
TH E I NF LU E NC ER S
SOPHISTICATED COMMUNICATION
PLANNING PAYS OFF
The good news in lower
test scores
Raising standards will mean we now
have a more true measure of how well
our students are learning. In the near
term, it will also mean that previously
inflated test scores will drop.
Walcott: Common Core test
results are about the future
of our children, not adults
The city schools chancellor wants
to remind parents not to allow
exploitation of the test results to
advance personal or political agendas.
“The goal is to move
the schools away from
rote learning - and
those weak, multiple
choice bubble tests to a writing-intensive
curriculum that
emphasizes problemsolving skills
A new starting line for
my students
A sixth grade teacher is ready for lower
scores, so long as they’re aligned with
higher Common Core standards.
By Kalcya Thomas
“The precipitous drop
will simply be a sign
that the nation’s largest
public school system is
making an overdue and
necessary shift to the
far more challenging
Common Core
Standards.”
“While some may use
lower test results to
score political points
and argue that we
should abandon higher
standards, this would
do our kids a grave
injustice.”
D RI VI N G
NEWS COVE RAG E
SOPHISTICATED COMMUNICATION
PLANNING PAYS OFF
EAA interim chancellor plans
district-wide review of
Michigan Schools
CON TAC T U S
We’re happy to chat with you
about your communications
and public engagement needs.
Please call us at:
646.584.6592
or email us at:
info@kirtzmanstrategies.co m
KIRTZMAN
EDUCATION
STRATEGIES
K I R TZ M ANST R AT E G I E S .CO M