Dive Brief:

• At the 2014 National Charter School Conference in Las Vegas, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools distributed an 18-page document for selling charter schools.  
• Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss got her hands on the “Charter School Messaging Notebook" and deemed it a "slick PR guide" with sections like “Say This, Not That” and “Who Are ‘Our People?’"
• Some examples of tips in the "Say This, Not That" section include saying "responsive to student needs" instead of "experiments" and saying "innovation" instead of "competition."  

Dive Insight:

Part of the market-based approach to education relies on customer service and marketing, just like any other business. What may make some uncomfortable is the fact that sometimes PR terminology can obscure the true messaging. At the end of the day, people just want to know what they should expect and what their children are getting out of education.