Running head: COMPARATIVE CRITIQUE
Comparative Critique of Seven Articles
LaVerta McMillan
EDUC 742
Liberty University
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Abstract
Public relations in the school system is stated to address public attitudes and find ways to help
with the shaping of policies and procedures for the school. Public relations are based on the
interest of the public and helps to gain involvement from the community through activities that
will help the public understand what the school is working towards, so the public will be willing
to support them. The role that public relations plays in schools is vital and pertinent for schools
to thrive and be intentional. The articles each discuss public relations in schools and their views
on how public relations is effective in the school system. In search for providing great
information, seven articles were evaluated:
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How Do We Build Effective Parent-School Partnerships in Inclusive Schools?
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How Students Benefit from School Diversity
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Public Relations for Schools, if you’re not engaging, you’re failing
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PR ideas for Principals
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School Principals’ Opinions about Public Relations Practices on Schools
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School Public Relations is All About Influencing Perceptions
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Why Schools Need Public Relations
This paper will compare seven articles that address public relations or entities of public relations.
Keywords: public relations, diversity, partnerships, school leadership, education
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Comparative Critiques of Seven Articles
Statistics states that children able to do well when parents are involved, and you have the
backing of your community. School public relations plays a big part in building your school.
Public relations activities that supports communications between your school and communities
serve to be effective in your school flowing and be successful (Moore, 2009). Communication
could be in many ways, such as newsletters, web sites, Connect Ed, social media, news coverage,
etc. (Moore, 2009). However, you must dig deep into different avenues and not just rely on one
way of communication.
School public relations must be promoted by a team of people that would be able to
convey the vision and mission of your school. To answer that question, every person in the
school plays a part in building your school. Relationships with the staff, community, and parents
are essential to the success of your school. Superintendent a district administrators, principals,
and program leaders, school counselors, school social workers, support personnel need to be
supported and assessed in their communication roles (NSPRA, 2020).
Critiques
How Do We Build Effective Parent-School Partnerships in Inclusive Schools?
This article discusses the positive impact of parent partnerships and student success in
school. However, it doesn’t just stop there, it helps to build our students into productive citizens
and helps them throughout life. When our parents are involved and engaged in their student’s
academic success, they have a better chance of being very successful in school and as adults.
Patricia Williams discusses three R’s to effective partnerships. The three R’s are respect,
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responsibility and relationships. Williams (2015) states that schools that inclusive schools that
share success with parent partner and school partnerships share all three qualities.
The first “R” is respect. Respect means that all individuals trust each other. The school
and parents value each other. The child is number one in this equation and their needs help to
create the relationship. The parents feel welcomed and it is expressed that they would love to see
their beautiful faces at the school. The school supports open door policies. In return, there is
respect between the school and parent because both wants what is best for the child
The second “R” is responsibility. Responsibility is that everybody is held accountable for
the success of the student. The school nor the parent blames each other for the things that are not
working. We all are working to create an atmosphere of parent-friendly schools and school-
friendly homes. Parent-friendly schools refers to inclusive schools welcoming all students for
their differences. School-friendly schools refers to parents being active with the success of their
students (i.e. helping with homework, discuss the importance of education with students). School
public relations activities are that they are staying connecting with the parents and in return the
parents are participating by staying connecting with the school.
The third “R” is relationship. In order to have strong relationships, respect and
responsibility plays a big role. The only ways to build trust is by having a relationship and it will
be sustained if you have quality partnerships. Parents need to feel like they are being helpful and
that they belong. If they feel like they belong, you can collaborate in order to build partnerships;
which will help our children overall.
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How Students Benefit from School Diversity
School public relations activities should observe the differences of their school
population and promote involvement within all students, parents, and the community. Diversity
plays a big part in public relations. In this article, it discusses how school diversity is beneficial
for students. A study was conducted by Jaana Juvonen and colleague at University of California,
LA (Smith, 2017). They studied 4,302 students in 26 middle schools across the south part of
California (Smith, 2917). They selected a group of students; which consisted of 41 percent
Latino, 26 percent white, 18 percent Asian, and 15 percent African American (Smith, 2017). The
remainder of the students being of Pacific Islanders, Middle Easterners, and more (Smith, 2017).
Evaluations of schoolwide diversity and classroom levels were part of their study. The
student was followed from their homeroom, history, math, and English classes (Smith, 2017).
The researchers also survey three emotional domains; which included feelings about how safe
that felt at school, bullying and social exclusion, and the feelings of loneliness (Smith, 2017).
Students thoughts about fair and equal treatment by their teachers and being associated with
other children of different races were inquired (Smith, 2017).
The results of the article revealed that students as we see more diversity in our schools,
students felt safer, they didn’t see as much bullying, and they didn’t feel as lonely. The students
felt like the teachers were fair.
Public Relations for School, if you’re not engaging, you’re failing
In this article, Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “Strategic
communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and
their publics.” We’ll discuss strategic communication and mutually beneficial relationships.
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Strategic Communication is information that is being advertised on a consistent basis.
You are keeping all parties informed and it is vital information that helps build your school.
Strategic communication helps to build a sense of trust and respect with your audience (Brooks,
2018). Mutual Communication provide opportunities for people to provide feedback. You must
be able to listen as well as communicate. This promotes your school brand, connects your school
to your community, and impacts your marketing efforts (Brooks, 2018).
Being strategic with your messages and intentional helps to build nurturing relationships
with the public. The end results in your school being successful.
PR Ideas for Principals
This article explores ways that principals could build school public relations. Principals
were asked all around to provide some of the methods that they utilize to help build their school
public relations. The article explored how local media helps to build public relations in your
school. Some utilized local news organizations, radio, and local newspaper to inform the
community about the events that are happening in their school.
The principal at Orchard Hill Elementary School stated that she utilized her school
website to promote community members to participate in their reading program. Also utilizing
your retired teachers to help promote your school. Retire teachers are essential in assisting with
things that may be newsworthy. Teachers and staff members could be motivators for the school
as well. Placing incentives in place for students to promote school programs helps build schools
public relations.
Lots of schools uses their marquee to help promote events that are happening at the
school and PTA. Sending invitations and postcards to your very important partners builds the
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school trusting relationships and keeps your partners informed of the wonderful things that you
are doing in your school.
School Principals’ Opinions about Public Relations Practice on Schools
This article discusses the opinions of school principals about public relations practices at
school. The data was collected from 13 school principals working at different levels of
education. The principals worked in the Canakkale province. The researcher completed a case
study and collected qualitative data. Also, semi- structured interview form was utilized by the
researcher to collect the data.
The results stated that school principals relate to communication as being a big part of
their public relations. School -parent interaction and self-expression. Public relations activities
should be conducted to help your school to be successful. Again, all stakeholders play a big part
in the success of your school. Everyone has a crucial part in your school being known.
School Public Relations is All About Influencing Perception
The stakeholder are great ways to evaluate how they feel about your school. If you are
not aware of the perception of your school, you will not know how to change it. As the school
leader, one of your duties is to have great strategies that will help with delivering positive
messages to the community. It is very critical of leading a successful school and having
successful school leaders. After finding out what perceptions are out there about your school,
develop ways to promote your school. Some activities are:
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Marketing Your School
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Great Customer Services
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Consistent Communication
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•
Always be Prepared for the Issues
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Creating Community Support
Why Schools Need Public Relations
Public relations are the source of letting the community know what you are doing and to
help your school be successful. Public relations are not in place to just save you when you have
crisis situations, but to help promote your great news as well. PR connects with their
communities. It doesn’t matter if your school is public or private, how the message is delivered
to your stakeholder and community could be detrimental PR consist of:
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Anticipating crises and the solutions
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Using media relations
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Connecting with the community
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Building Budgets
Conclusion
All the articles promoted public relations in the school. All discussed the importance of
making sure that you are promoting information that the community is aware of and getting your
parents involved in your activities. Parents are very important in the success of their child’s
academic, personal/social, and career development. Establishing positive relationships with
families, community stakeholders. The articles discussed ways to communicate your vision and
mission to your community, so they would want to be involved in building the school culture and
climate.
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One of the articles discussed diversity in the schools. I think that this is very important
because we want racial balance in our schools. I think it promotes differences in the school, but
learning to embrace the differences of students, families, and staff.
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References
Braney, B., Gaines, A., Kline, D. A., Peltier, B., Potter, L., & Jean Carolyn Williams. (2019). PR
Ideas for principals. Retrieved from
https://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin357.shtml
Brooks, K. (2018, July 27). Public relations for schools: If you're not engaging, you're failing.
Retrieved from http://www.schoolwebmasters.com/Blog_Articles?entityid=199022
Callahan, M. (2012). Why school need public relations. Retrieved from
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/allahan-school-public-relations-why-
needed.shtml
Coruk, A. (2018). School Principals’ Opinion about Public Relations Practices on Schools.
International Journal of Progressive Education., 14(2), 136-147.
http://doi.org/10.29329/ijpe.2019.139.10
Leedy, B. (2019, September 10). School Public Relations is All About Influencing Perceptions
Retrieved from http://www.schoolwebmasters.com/Blog_Articles?entityid=480418
Moore, E. H. (2009). School public relations for student success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Smith, J.A. (2017, August 15). How Students Benefit from School Diversity. Retrieved from
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/artoc;e/item/how_students_benefit_from_school_
diversity
Williams, P. (2015). How do we build effective parent-school partnerships in inclusive schools?
Retrieved from https://inclusiveschools.org/how-do-we-build-effective-parent-school-
partnerships-in-inclusive-schools/
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