Value is Not Measured in $$

In his April 25 post, Grant Lichtman shared a definition of the word “value” that I think schools struggling to assign a dollar amount to what they do every day for children should consider. According to Grant, “value is the difference between what you say you are going to do and what you actually do, as seen through the eye of your customer.” If we adhere to this definition of value, schools should pay just as much attention to what they say and do as they do to what something cost. Therefore, I’d like to ask schools to spend more time thinking about how best to convey its value to the customer. I think this is important because I believe “everything we do at school has some ‘value’ either positive or negative; however, I believe it is up to [the school] to determine the value added.” We must remember we are the experts (and if we build it; they will come – but only if we can sell it).

Ultimately, I believe there are schools able to determine and articulate their value within their community (parents, faculty, and administrators). I also believe there are schools able to thrive during a time when lots of really good schools are struggling to maintain their competitive edge in a market of really good schools. Perhaps what we really need to ask ourselves is how do we (public and private schools) maintain what is best for all children while selling our value to our customers? tlb

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