Infographics work to effectively communicate the LCAP process
An infographic is an assemblage of knowledge that transforms data into visually accessible messages . School districts are increasingly using them to communicate implementation of their improvement efforts .
32 Leadership
The Local Control and Accountability Plan is beyond a doubt the most effective way for a school district to engage its stakeholders in the educational process . A comprehensive LCAP not only outlines a district ’ s goals and action steps to increase student achievement , it also reviews its financial commitments , highlights its community ’ s priorities , and harnesses stakeholder ownership . It is vital that the LCAP be communicated in a manner that is simple , brief and coherent ( WestEd , 2014 ).
Michael Fullan ( 2015 ) argues that school district LCAPs are too long and vague to be deciphered either by implementers or those seeking to assess them . With this said , the need to create an understandable LCAP in diverse school communities is a very challenging undertaking . One way that the Val Verde Unified School District has worked to effectively communicate its LCAP is to summarize it in an infographic .
An infographic is an assemblage of knowledge that utilizes images , charts , graphs , maps , text , numbers and characters to transform data into visually accessible messages . Infographics are not new and have been used in other fields outside of education for many years . Some argue that infographics may have had their origins with cave dwellers , who used paintings as a means of communication thousands of years ago ( Featherstone , 2014 ).
Whatever its origins are , the use of infographics is rapidly on the rise , and many organizations are now utilizing infographics to help get their important messages out to their intended audiences . One of the main reasons why the use of infographics is increasing has to do with the way our brain processes information .
As humans , we process information visually , and we are more likely to remember material if it is presented to us in a visual manner . According to author John Medina ( 2014 ), vision trumps all other senses . He further states , “ We are incredible at remembering pictures . Hear a piece of information ,
By Michael R . McCormick