Advocacy TrainingSpring 2012

What are the SMART criteria and why are they important in guiding project planning?

Let’s be SMART about action planning

SpecificMeasurableActionable RealisticTimely

Use these criteria as a guide to question and push your students in their planning.

Root Cause(s)

SMART Approach

Specific?

Measureable?

Actionable?

Realistic?

Timely?

• Your root cause is the reason behind your focus issue. It describes why the problem exists. (There may be more than one root cause, of course, but it's better to pick just one to work on right now.)

Understanding Root Cause

• Students feel unprepared for college requirements– Current course offerings lack relevant college prep– Information, materials, and opportunities available

through guidance counselors’ office are insufficient

From Focus Issue to Root Cause

• Students feel unprepared for college requirements– Current course offerings lack relevant college prep– Information, materials, and opportunities available

through guidance counselors’ office are insufficient • Bullying is widespread between racial groups– School lacks sense of community between diverse

populations– Appropriate consequences for it are vague and vary across

the district

From Focus Issue to Root Cause

• Students feel unprepared for college requirements– Current course offerings lack relevant college prep– Information, materials, and opportunities available through

guidance counselors’ office are insufficient • Bullying is widespread between racial groups

– School lacks sense of community between diverse populations

– Appropriate consequences for it are vague and vary across the district

• Teen unemployment is high– Jobs are not easily accessible by public transportation– Students aren't getting jobs because they lack the skills local

employers desire

From Focus Issue to Root Cause

Focus Issue: Teen PregnancyTeen pregnancy rates are high at the school.

What are possible root causes of the problem?

Your Turn!

• Your goals are broad aims within your focus issue which are accomplished and measured in terms of your strategies.

• Sample goals include:– Get a voting student representative on the

academic affairs committee that starts meeting in March

– Reduce (by X%) the incidence of bullying in your city

– Boost teen employment by increasing job readiness for students in your neighborhood

Creating Goals

• Your strategies are the means by which you accomplish a goal. • Sample strategies include:–Lobbying school board officials to create a

permanent student position–Convincing city council members to support

an important bill on bullying–Working with local employers to create an

after-school job training program

Choosing Strategies

• Guiding Question: Which decision-maker(s) can help me accomplish my goal?

• Guiding Question: Why would the decision-maker(s) do what we want them to do?

• Guiding Question: What strategies should we use?

How Do We Get This Done?

From Goals to Strategies

Wha

• What is lobbying?

Lobbying Strategy

• Why lobby?

Directly persuading a decision-maker to do something

• How could this look in your pyramid? Your lobbying strategy should include:• Who you are attempting to influence• What you are attempting to accomplish

Wha

• What is coalition-building?

Coalition-Building Strategy

• Why build a coalition?

Forming a group of supporters to advocate for your goal

• How could this look in your pyramid? Your coalition-building strategy should include:• Which people or groups should be brought in• What you are attempting to accomplish

Wha

• What is a media strategy?

Media Strategy

• Why use media?

Influencing public perceptions of your goal

• How could this look in your pyramid?

Your media strategy should include:• Which audience(s) are you trying to reach? What message do you want conveyed/what do you want them to do?• Which outlets will you use to reach them?

Root Cause(s)

SMART Approach

Specific?

Measureable?

Actionable?

Realistic?

Timely?

Lobbying Coalition-Building

Media

• Your tactics are the tools by which you will accomplish your strategies.

• Sample tactics include:– Jointly publish op-ed with PTA president advocating

for student voice in local and school papers– Meeting with a councilman to present a list of

recommendations for bullying legislation– Survey local employers to find gaps between

students’ skills and employers’ needs

Choosing Tactics

Wha

Sample tactics include:• Holding a meeting• Writing an op-ed • Using social media• Mobilizing others• Public speaking• Asserting indirect influence• Writing a letter to the editor• Creating a blog

Choosing Tactics

Describe the relationship between goals, strategies, and tactics.

Stop and Share

Guided Practice

Root Cause(s) Insufficient bus routes that pass school in the AM

SMAR

T Ap

proa

ch

Root Cause(s) No shelters in the neighborhood

SMAR

T Ap

proa

chIndependent Practice