School Connection/USA It pays to go to school. Target and Option One found that out last year, and won a second World PRO award this year for the School Connection program, which built on the theme of Take Charge of Education by improving communications between teachers and parents.
Target had conducted primary research with parents and teachers, and both groups agreed that better education could be achieved with convenient and more frequent parent-teacher communications. The study found that two-income households and busy family schedules stymied relations between parents and their kids’ teachers.
Target jumped into the breach by designing, developing, and supporting an interactive voicemail system for teachers in five key test markets. Teachers got their own mailboxes that parents could access for standard class information recorded by the teachers – homework assignments and upcoming field trips – or to request input on problem areas. Programmers also provided lunch menus, athletic events, and special event information.
Parents received introductory letters from Target explaining how the system worked, as well as fridge magnets with the schools’ voice mailbox numbers.
Within the 1/2rst year of the system being introduced, some 1,800 schools signed on and more than a million families participated.
Network
