The rapid growth of charter schools in Ohio has presented a wealth of opportunities for families seeking quality educational alternatives for their children. But as more charter schools enter the educational marketplace, the need to effectively communicate unique capabilities will become increasingly vital to generate awareness and attract and retain students.
Win the Competition for Students. Improve Your Day-to-Day Operations. Here's How OCP Can Help.
OCP offers a wide variety of service that will increase enrollment and improve your day-to-day operations.
To learn more about our services choose from the list below, contact us today for pricing information.
- Marketing & Communication Programs
- Student Recruiting & Retention
- Government Relations & State Funding
- Superintendent & Executive Mentoring
- Board Training
- Strategic Planning Services
- Curriculum Services
- Fiscal & Data Reporting
Marketing & Communication Programs
As K-12 public education choices multiply, families are no longer limited to the school district determined by their zip code. In today's competitive education market, all schools must be proficient at communicating their unique products and services to attract and retain students and promote student progress. Increased scrutiny is also making it necessary for schools to effectively communicate the value they provide to students, families, and within the community.
OCP Marketing and Communication Services equip schools with professionally planned, designed, and produced communications tools that create a positive image and market those distinguishing features that make a school's value clear.
- Marketing plans
- Logo,identity and branding
- Capital campaign materials
- Websites
- e-campaigns
- Media-rich presentations
- Public relations
- Internal communications
- Establish an identity
- Share their vision
- Raise awareness
- Recruit and retain students
- Keep families informed and engaged
- Promote new programs or services
- Manage the press
Student Recruiting & Retention
In today's competitive education market, all schools must be proficient at communicating their unique products and services to attract and retain students and promote student progress. Increased scrutiny is also making it necessary for schools to effectively communicate the value they provide to students, families, and within the community. In our view, the key to charter school marketing is measurement.
OCP provides student recruiting and retention services to equip schools with professionally planned, designed, and produced communications programs and enrollment tools that create a positive image and market those distinguishing features that make a school's value clear. Instead of leaving your school’s survival to chance, we can help develop a sound marketing effort by measuring key data.
OCP provides proven student recruiting and retention practices to increase your school enrollment and ensure the retention of your student body to your desired level of funding. Competition for students is the bottom line. Your enrollment is your primary source for fiscal viability. Without sufficient student enrollment, you go out of business.
OCP believes that a starting point for successful student recruiting program is assessing key student data. At a minimum, the board and superintendent of all successful charter schools need to know the following:
- Where are your students coming from?
- How many students do you need to operate your school?
- How many students are desired per grade level?
- What % of students do you wish to retain?
- How many students withdrew from your school during the past year?
- Is there a plan in place to track withdrawn students?
- Where did the withdrawn students go?
- Where are exit interviews held for withdrawn students?
- Why did the students withdraw?
- How many new students enrolled in your school after the school year began?
- Where did the newly enrolled students come from?
- Who are your chief competitors?
Enrollment is the primary source of income for charter schools. Competition is the bottom line. Without adequate enrollment your school will go out of business. Assessing key student data is a must.
Government Relations & State Funding
Arguably the most important of responsibilities for Ohio Charter Partners is advocacy. OCP communicates the charter school message to elected officials, opinion leaders and the media. OCP is regularly engaged in behind-the-scenes meetings and strategic conversations about pending legislation effecting Ohio’s charter school community. OCP has a former Independent legislative and executive agency lobbyist on staff that has representative many of Ohio’s charter schools, management companies and Community School Sponsors. OCP monitors legislative and executive actions daily on behalf of our clients.
Superintendent & Executive Mentoring
As the professional adviser of the board and the educational leader of the school system, it is up to the superintendent to recommend courses of action for meeting existing needs. Ohio Charter Partners offers a “coaching” model when mentoring superintendents.
Through this coaching process, the superintendent will develop a set of specific skills for creating positive change in people and in the organization. The skills will be included in such topics as:
- Board relations
- Community relations
- Employee relations
- Importance of on-going professional development
- Labor union relations
- Successful Board Meetings
- How to “keep an eye” on the mission of the school
Board Training
The role and function of a board of directors are often misinterpreted by the public and in some instances by the board itself.
While the responsibility for public elementary and secondary schools is a function of the state, the Ohio legislature has essentially delegated the organization, administration and control of the public Charter schools to boards of directors. While boards have very broad powers, their authority is not unlimited.
A board's primary function is that of policy making. A board should have clear and concise policies to do the job it was selected to do. All Board members are well meaning but do not always have the training that is required to help lead the district. After policies have been adopted, administrative procedures are established. The board should then depend upon its superintendent to implement these policies goals and objectives through the agreed - to procedures.
- Board consulting
- Board surveys
- Board self-evaluations
- Board reorganization and strategic direction
- Board training for new Board members and Boards
Strategic Planning Services
Strategic planning is essential for all organizations. Ohio Charter Partners (OCP) offers a step-by-step process for conducting strategic planning. The goal of the process is to enable the Board of Directors and the executive of the school to clearly define what the students are to accomplish, how well the students are to accomplish it, and how the board can evaluate the results.
The Strategic Planning process includes:
- Define why the school exists. What is the purpose of the school?
- What major outcomes are to be achieved? What are the priorities?
- Develop the plan and reduce the plan into action plans
- Carry out the plan
- Measure the progress of the school against the determined outcomes
- Communicate the accomplishments
Curriculum Services
OCP has partnered with a group that offers an impressive range of interactive coursework, developed by experienced educators and professionals, and supported by a network of certified Teacher Facilitators. This is dynamic curricula -- for lifelong learners.
The OCP is a distributor of Lincoln Interactive courses. Lincoln Interactive is a truly 21st Century curriculum choice designed especially for online learning that provides innovative, engaging, and student-centered educational experiences. Instructors and students use the very best textbooks, printed course reference guides, and state-of-the-art technology in semester-long courses that have been developed in accordance with national standards.
- All courses undergo a three-tiered quality assurance process by the University of Pittsburgh's Tri State Study Council.
- Students learn at their own pace, in their own space.
- A certified Teacher Facilitator supports instruction through Discussion Boards, emails, and graded assessments.
- Students can receive as little or as much assistance as they need to succeed, including one-on-one tutoring services.
- Podcasts, streaming video, illustrations, songs, and gaming simulations create truly engaging and interactive lessons.
- Standards-based courses are available synchronously or asynchronously.
Fiscal & Data Reporting
Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Planning (CCIP)
Ohio Charter Partners has expert knowledge in Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Planning (CCIP). CCIP is the mechanism through which funds (entitlements and grants) flow to the charter school. This process allows schools to apply for Federal Grant Funds which can provide a substantial amount of school revenues required to start-up, maintain, and grow your school.
Typical vendors simply complete the application, but few truly understand how to integrate the grant(s) to fully maximize the allocation. Unfortunately an inordinate number of schools return unspent federal funds due to lack of knowledge, information, and strategic planning provided by their vendor.
The experts at Ohio Charter Partners will work with you specifically to determine your needs and design an application that supports your vision and mission. These grants will be maximized to support the work of improving test scores and maximizing student growth. Ohio Charter Partners will provide the necessary guidance your school needs to become compliant with Federal and State requirements, while at the same time maximizing you available Federal funds.
State Reporting Services
Integral to the existence of any community school is the accurate and timely submission of data to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). This data is submitted to ODE according to their prescribed timelines and according to specific formats delineated in the Ohio Revised Code. If the required data is not submitted according to the prescribed requirements, the school will have their basic funding withheld. The Ohio Revised Code contains specific provisions to financially penalize schools and school treasurers for inaccurate or incomplete data.
Since the beginning of the Charter School movement in Ohio, thousands of dollars have been lost due to reliance on untrained or under trained individuals performing this important function. Ohio Charter Partners employs highly experienced and trained experts in performing these functions. Ohio Charter Partners will accurately and timely complete all requirements for the Education Management Information Service (EMIS) and the School Options Enrollment System (SOES) for your school.
Focus your attention on educating your students and trust Ohio CharterPartners to perform this vitally important task for you.
Fiscal Services
Charter Schools are educational institutions that are operated independently and much like a small business. Budgets, projections, purchasing procedures, and audits are a part of this landscape. To date few charter schools have closed due exclusively to poor academic performance, however more have closed due to poor fiscal performance.
In the early years of the Charter School movement, schools assumed that engaging a Certified Public Accountant was sufficient to maintain public school financial records. Unfortunately, over time, this generally did not hold true. Public School Accounting is a specialized field that requires an understanding reserved only for those with a School Treasurer Certification from the Ohio Department of Education. This expertise is integral to a successful charter school.
Ohio Charter Partners can provide an experienced Certified School Treasurer to oversee and maintain your public school financial records in accordance with USAS coding and the most current Auditor of State bulletins. This service can be provided in conjunction with your schools current data management services or this service can be combined with the Ohio Charter Partners ' Education Management Information Services (EMIS) for a complete package of fiscal service and oversight.
Utilization of fiscal services provided by Ohio Charter Partners can offer your school exemplary fiscal performance providing you with secure financial reporting and record keeping.
