School Programs

Parent Engagement and Priority Assessment

This program uses parent/guardian feedback to help you reduce costs, retain headcount, and prioritize areas that have the greatest impact on parent/guardian satisfaction and support. Areas include perceived school safety, educational outcome, program quality, staff training, and facilities. The program offers tools to measure, map, benchmark and manage your efforts. 

Supports these activities:

• Engaging parents/guardians
• Setting budget priorities
• Strategic planning
• Setting program priorities
• Measuring performance
• Managing parent/guardian support
• Preserving headcount

This short survey uses parent, guardian, staff and student feedback on specific school programs and services to prioritize budget allocations as schools reduce spending. Results are provided in a simple spreadsheet that allows budget analysts to graph program/service importance, satisfaction and cost.

Supports these activities:

• Engaging stakeholders in school budget decisions
• Setting budget priorities
• Measuring service shortfalls
• Measuring performance

This program lets you evaluate awareness and effectiveness of your facilities, programs, and initiatives specific to your school, then segment your population to deliver the right services and information, in the right way, and at the right time. Such surveys carry significant weight when making resource decisions or evaluating the outcome of an initiative. Through scientific sampling techniques and collaboration on the survey instrument, Cobalt will help you establish a quantitative foundation to develop great programs or support tough decisions.

Supports these activities:

• Engaging stakeholders
• Facility planning
• Marketing for programs, services and events
• Improving communication effectiveness
• Gathering policy feedback
• Measuring awareness, perspective and intent

A focus group is a facilitated meeting in which a Cobalt moderator guides 6-10 people through a discussion. It is a powerful and persuasive tool that can significantly enhance communication and educational program effectiveness. Such groups often yield unexpected insights and a human touch that enriches your program evaluation.

Supports these activities:

• Gathering stakeholder perspectives and ideas on programs and services outside public remark periods
• Helping stakeholder's communicate concerns or thoughts on difficult school issues
• Allowing stakeholder's to participate in the early development of policies or programs
• Building insight and support outside of a public meeting

This half-day onsite workshop guides your leadership team in identifying emerging trends and developing strategic responses. Through a balanced mix of instruction, group exercises, media, and discussion, your team will gain the foundational skills of long-term strategic planning and apply them to their areas of responsibility. Supports these activities:

• Helping key staff think about trends that effect the organization and its stakeholders
• Developing skills to translate trend opportunities and threats into prioritized action
• Tying daily action to strategic outcomes using performance metrics

The Facilitated Meetings Program utilizes an easy-to-use keypad system that integrates with a conventional PowerPoint presentation. The meeting facilitator asks a multiple-choice question on the slide, and the audience uses wireless keypads to answer. Results appear instantly on the slide.

Supports these activities:

• Engaging the audience
• Instantly gathering audience feedback during conferences and large meetings
• Instantly testing understanding
• Profiling age, attitude, geography, or other variables
• Establishing if you have consensus – or if there are concerns that have not been spoken
• Enhancing attention and engagement through significant audience participation