by Mark Ray, March 2012

As the 2012 Washington State Teacher of the Year, I’m learning about capitals and capitols. I am taking a crash course in Advocacy with a capital “A.” And this kind of advocacy is all about Policy (also with a capital “P”). In the past two months, this advocacy has usually taken place with decision makers whose positions include titles like Senator, Representative, Superintendent, and Board of This or That. And many of these people can be found around capitols.

I am sharing some of what I’m learning with the belief that we must all be ready for our fifteen minutes of fame. Not all of us will brief Congressional lawmakers, but we can all work, think, and act as if we will. We all need a big picture message to use when a school board member comes to visit or simply when we serve as an organizer for our day-to-day advocacy. And if we think bigger about advocacy in our profession, we can change both the way we see ourselves and how others see our programs and profession.

In the last several months, I have met with my local Congresswoman and briefed educational staffs of Congressional Representatives and Senators. I have testified to the Washington State Legislature, presented to the State Board of Education, Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction, and have met with members of our state educational agencies and the federal Department of Education. This is in addition to a variety of speaking engagements with local school boards, local business leaders, and superintendents. As teacher of the year, I am packing a lot of advocacy into a very short period of time. These are not normal days at the library. But as curriculum, technology, and instructional leaders in our schools, school librarians are naturally big picture thinkers. Many of us advocate within our buildings and sometimes in our districts, but stop once we approach district boundaries. We can all benefit, however, by expanding our audience and scope. In reality, many school librarians will probably have one or more opportunities to meet with lawmakers, board members, and other decision makers in the course of their careers. The preparation for that opportunity is invaluable even if that lawmaker doesn’t come through the front door. Given the exponential challenges facing our profession, we need big picture advocacy to ensure that we can continue to support student learning in the years to come. But that requires different strategies and a very different mindset. I’d like to share some lessons learned and offer some action steps for your own big picture advocacy.

LESSONS LEARNED

LESSON ONE: DECISION MAKERS HAPPEN.

Big picture advocacy is rarely planned or anticipated. Like other stuff, it just happens. And we all should be prepared for it. Our close encounter with a decision maker will happen when we least expect it. Even if we proactively connect with decision makers, their visits will happen on their timeline, not ours.

The action step for this lesson requires the school librarian to be prepared by creating an executive summary. If we are not ready for our advocacy moment, we are likely to scramble, rather than thoughtfully reflect on our message and messaging. We must begin by thinking critically about the role of the library in the school, district, and educational marketplace. Then we must step outside the box and look at program, patrons, profession, and the place we call library. We can create three or four bullet points that highlight what’s going well. We can also identify one or two stories of success that involve students. If a mission statement exists, include it. Finally, we can identify two or three challenges. This can be compiled into a one-page, one-sided document with enough white space and a font size so as not to overwhelm the potential audience. One page. One side. No more. No less. This is an executive summary.

I created three of these summaries on the plane as I headed to Washington, D.C., in October. Through no particular fault of my own, I was tossed into advocacy much less prepared than necessary. Literally on the fly, I quickly distilled successes, challenges, and next steps into executive summaries. (Note to self: Don’t do this again.)

Once we create an executive summary, we can hone it and revise it as our program and thinking evolves. This living document can serve as a resource for additional strategic planning, to inform building or district administration, and to use with parents and the local community. Most importantly, it cannot be a document once created and then lost on a hard drive. My executive summaries are loaded into my personal long-term memory so that when I meet a decision maker in the elevator, I am ready with my bullet points and compelling story.

LESSON TWO: WE WILL HAVE LESS TIME THAN WE THINK.

Decision makers are busy people, just like we are. And they have a lot of other agendas filling their calendars. Both the Washington State Board of Education and my local Congressional Representative gave me fifteen minutes each. School board and community members have usually given me the same, if not less depending on their agendas. I had a mere five minutes when I testified to the Washington State Legislature. This was followed by thirty minutes of questions.

The action step for this lesson is to make sure both message and messaging are clear, concise, and compelling. Remember, we are bending their ear, not the other way around. They will cut us off. We can’t get into lengthy discussions and too much detail. In big picture advocacy, we must know our summary, key bullet points, and a compelling story. We need to tell that story and then shut up and listen.

LESSON THREE: DON’T FORGET TO LISTEN.

Face time with decision makers is gold. We can learn a lot if we choose to listen and hear their questions, concerns, and wonderings. Advocacy is a two-way transaction. In virtually every interaction with someone above my pay grade, I pay close attention to what they are asking and saying. More often than not, that influences what I say and how I say it.

In my meeting with Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, I referenced comments made previously by her education staff and tailored my discussion to focus on the areas of interest that she had listed on her website. As we discussed issues, I listened carefully to understand her agenda and what she believed was important in education.

The action step for this lesson is to be ready to listen. Many of us mistakenly perceive advocacy as simply an opportunity to speak and frequently to shout. I find listening far more important. In doing so, I can quickly adjust my message to align to the interests and priorities of the decision maker. That doesn’t mean I change my message, but I can change how and when I choose to say it. Intelligence gathered from a decision maker can help to focus and refine my executive summary and help me choose the messages and stories for the next time.

LESSON FOUR: KEEP IT SWEET.

Advocacy is about perception, frequently with impressions that are made in minutes with a few bullet points and a story. At this level of advocacy, we are often working with people who have relatively basic understandings of schools and libraries. We should, therefore, avoid acronyms and educational doublespeak. More often than not, these folks are not educators and base their ideas of school on their own experiences or those of their children. Both in the Washington Legislature and in conversations with Congressional leaders, I was surprised by what seemed like relatively basic and one-dimensional perceptions of schools.

The action step for this lesson is simple. As in, keep it simple. Imagine three presentation slides. The first slide is a simple bulleted overview of what you do with students. The second is a numerical listing of key ideas, points, and highlights. The final slide is a short paragraph that tells a compelling story. That’s it. Time’s up.

Don’t begin by asking for something. The best advocacy starts by sharing success. Call attention to innovation, creativity, and initiative. Everyone needs more money. Everyone wants to keep his/her job. Everyone has a problem. That message is just like everyone else. Instead, tell a story. Wrap budgetary challenges around a compelling reason why the decision maker should care. Children are compelling.

LESSON FIVE: CONVEY A SUCCESS-IN-PROGRESS.

In my experience, the best advocacy begins by sharing a success-in-progress, a compelling story that connects to other programs, systems, or ideas, and that makes that success bigger than just my library or school. The most effective messages at 30,000 feet come from the stories of leadership and innovation at the ground level.

The action step for this lesson is to think about successes-in-progress, ideally ones that stretch perceptions of the library program beyond the conventional. These successes don’t have to be complete and perfectly-functioning. They may represent a great educational hypothesis, pilot, or prototype. A success-in-progress may represent opportunities for expansion or replication beyond the school or district. But we must make sure we are talking about students and student learning, not about books, computers, and stuff.

LESSON SIX: VALUE OUR VOICE.

In my first few months as teacher of the year, I have been struck by the genuine interest and respect that both citizens and decision makers have shown toward teachers and school librarians. As educational policy is debated in capitols and the national press, it is easy to assume that decision makers are adversaries or that what we’re doing in our schools and libraries doesn’t have merit and value to a broader audience.

In fact, we can provide something that decision makers value—unfiltered and real stories of students learning and teachers teaching. We take for granted how mysterious, fascinating, and daunting our work appears to be to those outside education. Good big picture advocacy can clarify perceptions about schools, teachers, librarians, and libraries, and can impact broader educational policy.

When we consider the limited number of experiences that executives and decision makers have with school libraries, a well-chosen and powerful experience can be long-lasting and shape that person’s ideas for years to come. When considering the challenges facing our profession, we have no choice. If we want to build (or preserve) powerful school library programs, we must see the big picture and be ready to Advocate (in capitals) to those who define Policy in our capitols.

See Use This Page: “Advocacy: Making 15 Minutes Count!”