The danger of Ph.D. researchers communicating to professional educators is that the emotional core of their message will get lost in academic speak.
The Success for All Foundation has avoided this pitfall by keeping its eye on its mission: to help every child, from kindergarten to Grade 8, learn to read and get set on the road to life success. Based in Baltimore, MD, the non-profit organization was co-founded in the 1970s by Johns Hopkins University researchers Robert Slavin and Nancy Madden, who were united by their passion to improve education for children, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances.
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, SFA turned to Scott Thornley + Company (STC) to revise its website and marketing materials. Both STC and the client agreed that SFA’s story was a human one – its beating heart revealed in the alumni whose lives are turned around, the educators committed to making a difference and in the students themselves, who find life opens up as they discover the joys of literacy.
Of course, there are all sorts of numbers to back up the efficacy of SFA’s cooperative learning methods, and its record of success speaks for itself: To date it has partnered with more than 50,000 educators at 1,000 schools to help more than 2.5 million children to read more fluently. In some cases, schools who achieved the lowest reading scores in statewide tests rose to the top.
But the real story of STC is the the human one – the lasting impact it has on each student’s life. And this is what I try to convey through the copy.