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Hey WirED Marketers,
Do you almost exclusively speak in acronyms and marketing jargon…or are you a normal person?
Here’s the backstory.
Just yesterday my husband (who is not a marketing professional) overhears a B2B sales and marketing call and later discloses to me that he was in utter shock over the number of acronyms and jargon that is used.
He’s not wrong. It’s kinda crazy. If I were younger and cooler, I might describe it as “cringe.” But hey, we are who we are. And if you’re not throwing around “value prop,” “CTR,” “SEO” or “B2B,” are you even a marketer?
Well, the same goes for K-12. Our pals in K-12 have their own jargon and acronyms and as EdMarketers we should be able to gracefully speak their language, right? Or at the very least know what our prospects and customers are talking about when they throw around acronyms like RTI, IEP, and MTSS.
In this edition, I feature a quiz that tests your knowledge on K-12 jargon. Take it and let me know how you do.
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Your WirED Marketer,
—Melissa, Senior Director, Marketing at Education Week
P.S. — 📩 Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⠀⠀⠀⠀
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✨ In this edition you’ll find:
- Quiz: How well do you know K-12 jargon and terminology
- Why you should weave families and communities into your marketing
- Talk bossy to me (but only in your subject lines)
✨ Did You Know
District leaders are over 20% more likely than your average EdWeek reader to engage with our content on Families & the Community. Why?
- Many superintendents have parent and PTA advisory councils they consult for initiatives such as PD sessions and tech pilots.
- Parents, the PTA and the school board are largely involved in raising important issues like cell phone bans.
- Absenteeism is a big deal (even in the post-covid era) to district leaders and families play a critical role here.
- Families are taxpayers and tax dollars play a huge part in local funding of schools.
- They’re public figures. Superintendents are part administrator, part local celebrity/politician. Parents, community leaders, school boards, and the local media are all paying attention.
DO THIS | Actionable Advice on Marketing EdTech 👇
Families and community impact should be intentionally woven into your marketing messaging that is geared toward district leaders. Here’s how:
⚡ DO THIS: Use stories that highlight family and community outcomes.
Don’t just focus on academic performance in your testimonials and case studies, gather anecdotes and data on how it affected things like attendance or improved communication outside of the classroom.
⚡ DO THIS: Align messaging with district priorities like equity and belonging.
When district leaders think “families and communities,” they’re often thinking about inclusive engagement. If your product can help reach underrepresented families, reduce communication barriers, or improve access—highlight that. This connects your offering directly to their equity goals.
⚡ DO THIS: Choose media channels where these themes resonate.
Consider advertising or sponsoring content in publications and websites where district leaders read about Families & the Community. And here, my friends, is where I offer a shameless plug for EdWeek: we have a section devoted to it. If money’s tight, develop your own content hub on family-school partnership best practices.
⚡ DO THIS: Create a groundswell of interest doing ABM at a hyper local level.
Are you focused on a specific regional area? Perhaps you’re really hoping to win an RFP in a specific highly sought after district. Take your advertising beyond the typical players (the superintendent and their staff) and include the school board and key community members like the superintendent’s advisory council made up of parents and/or PTA.
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Events on our Radar 🎯
[In-person] The EdWeek Market Brief Summit | November 3-5 | Denver, CO | OK, so this is my final plug—it’s not too late to join us! Over 100 of your peers will be in attendance and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be plagued with FOMO if you’re not there.
Pop Quiz: How Well Do You Speak K-12? ⚡
When a district refers to “A-ROI” (Academic ROI) in procurement discussions, what do they mean?
a. The ratio of academic-program cost to district budget impact
b. Ratio of professional development hours to teacher retention
c. The measurable student outcomes (growth, proficiency) relative to cost
d. A savings formula for district technology refresh cycles
Meet A K-12 Digital News Specialist 👋
Hyon-Young Kim, Senior Digital News Specialist
Hyon-Young Kim is our senior digital news specialist here at EdWeek. When she’s not at work she likes to unwind by reading, taking leisurely walks, or lately, avidly watching The Great British Bake Off.
3 words to describe yourself:
“Empathetic, Methodical, Open-Minded.”
What’s been on your mind lately?
“How to package and present content online in creative ways to engage our readers and deliver a seamless digital experience. The Reuters Institute’s 2025 Digital News Report highlighted current news consumption behaviors: Smartphones are people’s go-to medium for accessing the news first thing in the morning, video is dominant, and AI chatbots are being used as a news source for the first time (especially for young audiences).
Content is still king, sure, but it needs to be discoverable, provide real value, and meet the audience where they are to cut through all the noise. K-12 educators are busy people, so I’m thinking about how to engage them online so that they don’t just read one article and leave.”
What do you wish every EdMarketer knew?
“The digital landscape is constantly evolving. Embrace optimization, experimentation, and iteration across all channels, not just in email campaigns. It can be easy to fall into a set-it-and-leave-it mindset when it comes to the website, for example. Think about refreshing images, testing different layouts, sharpening web copy, call-to-action placement, etc.—and see how that moves the needle on conversions and lead generation.
For instance, we regularly monitor clicks from our homepage to three featured trending topical pages, and we determine whether to keep or replace a topic based on the data and how much new content has been published on that topic.
It’s no surprise that “teaching,” “federal policy,” and “federal” are our top-clicked trending topics from the homepage so far this year (we’ve kept up “federal policy” since April, and it’s still holding strong). We also do a variety of testing in our newsletters and draw learnings from the results—for example, we notice that an assertive, “bossy” tone in the subject line tends to perform well with our school and district leader-targeted newsletters.
(P.S. Don’t forget to tap your digital/web colleagues! 🤝 Cross-functional back-end collaboration matters, not just front-end content. As a big fan of knowledge sharing, I value any opportunity to brainstorm ideas, share what’s working/what’s not, and align shared goals with our marketing team.)”
What EdWeek resources should EdMarketers explore?
“A shameless plug for the wealth of newsletters that EdWeek offers K-12 school and district leaders: The Savvy Principal, The Strategic District Leader, Curriculum Matters, and EdWeek Tech Leader, to name a few. Education Week also produces excellent explainers on the most important K-12 issues.”
Say What?! 🦜
Excerpt from the article ‘Look How Fast This Is Exploding': Inside One District’s Approach to AI Training by Alyson Klein:
Marcia Flora, who runs a Louisa High School program for students interested in becoming teachers, cautioned that her students were reluctant to use AI tools—even though Flora assured them she had used the technology to create classroom content.
“I love it. I’m all for it. I’m 100% in” on AI, Flora told her colleagues. “But my students, they’re like, ‘I don’t like this.’ They think it’s going to take over the world.”
A big part of combating that fear was explaining to students that AI “is just one tool. It’s not going to do everything,” Flora said.
That’s all folks. Thanks for reading. See you again in 2 weeks.
Your WirED Marketer,
Melissa AND team, because every marketer knows, it takes a village.
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We can help you develop a successful campaign tailored to your unique marketing goals. To learn more, contact Advertising & Marketing Solutions Director Mike Bell at mbell@educationweek.org.