Model Program: Unionville High School, Kennett Square, PA: We ... Make the Conscious Decision to Market Tech Ed at Every Opportunity-Both in and out of the School Building

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] About seven years ago, we attended a conference session about marketing and were inspired to start our own marketing program for our technology education program here at Unionville High School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. When we started, we had no idea how much that simple marketing program would pay off. Over the past seven years, we have increased our student enrollment by about 30%, raised $130,000 for our department, started a TV studio, written and started teaching three new courses, and made a tremendous amount of capitol investment in the form of a CNC router, 30 computers, a vinyl sign cutter, and much more. We attribute all of this success to our marketing program. It is very important to note that we are not doing anything in the form of marketing that other teachers can't do. We have taken a very simple approach, but always make the conscious decision to market Tech Ed at every opportunity--both in and out of the school building. We strongly believe that marketing is the key to sustaining or increasing your enrollment, getting the funding you want, earning administrative support, and if you teach elective courses like we do--keeping your job. Our marketing program focuses on the following five major groups: Students As all Tech Ed teachers know, nothing boosts student enrollment like exciting, high-profile activities that are fun as well as educational. These projects need to spill out of your lab into the rest of the school building so that the entire student body can see what you are doing. Generating excitement for your activities just takes some simple consideration. We also try to display a lot of student work at every opportunity, not just in the Tech Ed department, but also throughout the school building where all of the students can see. We go out of our way to get involved around the school through coaching, running the stage crew, operating the TV studio, and much more so that students get to meet us and interact. Our middle school teachers have been outstanding. Middle school Tech Ed is mandatory in our district; so all students have that experience. If students have positive experiences, they will be more likely to sign up for Tech Ed in high school. Middle school teachers can also do a lot to encourage students to take technology classes. The students are going to take many classes in high school--why not help to make sure they are taking Tech Ed classes? For years we had students stop by for some reason--like borrowing a glue gun--and comment that they never knew this room existed or that they never knew we offered a particular course. So we fought for a few years and finally got onto the schedule for the mandatory ninth grade orientation program. Enrolling students now take a tour and hear what we offer. They may never sign up for a class, but at least they know early on in their school career exactly what options are available. Guidance Counselors We strongly believe that counselors are the key to marketing Tech Ed programs because they have so much influence over which classes students elect to take. In our school, roughly 96% of graduating seniors go on to some form of higher education. Many go on to Ivy League schools. We are nationally ranked for the number of students who take AP courses. Some traditional thinking might be that Tech Ed classes are of little or no value to these high-end students, particularly the girls. So we keep explaining to the counselors how our classes are of great value for all students in the high school regardless of gender, academic standing, or future aspirations. We all get frustrated when students are added to classes late or there is some other scheduling issue that causes us headaches. It is hard to tell counselors to sign the students up for your classes and then complain about how it is done. We do all we can to be accommodating and helpful in hopes that the favor will be returned. …