and three days later, you will remember 10
percent of it. Add a picture and you’ll re-
member 65 percent.”
If we know that we are more likely to
engage our learning communities with in-
formation if it is presented to us in a short,
concise and visual manner, then it is in our
best interest to create our LCAP documents
with this in mind.
Fullan argues that an implementation
plan is likely to be successful if it is under-
stood by its implementers and that they have
the capacity to implement it on a daily basis.
I would further advocate that if we know
that an infographic is 30 times more likely
to be read than a text article, then we have
an obligation to represent our LCAPs in a
visual manner.
Another advantage of infographics is
their ability to be easily shared on social
media. More and more districts are using
social media applications such as Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to com-
municate with their learning communities.
Currently, there are more than 2.789 billion
people who are now on some type of social
media platform (We Are Social, 2017).
If we know that articles with images are
94 percent more likely to be viewed on social
media (Bullas, 2012) and that infographics
are three times more likely to be shared than
any other content (Zental-Wiener, 2016), we
have an obligation to harness the power of
infographics on social media when commu-
nicating with our stakeholders.
There is no doubt that the use of info-
graphics on social media can be a very ef-
fective tool in communicating the important
aspects of our LCAP. With this said, a tool
is only as effective as it is utilized, and crit-
ics of infographics state that they are all not
created equally.
Despite a widespread enthusiasm for in-
fographics, there are some potential draw-
backs to them that we must keep in mind.
Some of these setbacks include: They are not
search engine optimized, are often unread-
able on smartphones, and inaccessible to the
visually impaired (Sonderman, 2014).
In addition to these concerns, many
people are starting to create infograph-
ics using online applications, and may not
have knowledge of the best practices that go
#LeadershipMatters
along with them. Some infographics may be
created with too much information on them
(Gardner, 2012); some may not have an ideal
layout; others may not have the best color
scheme or font type.
It is safe to say that there is an art to cre-
ating the ideal infographic, and it is in our
best interest to study the best practices that
go along with them.
With the advent of a number of new ini-
tiatives that are taking place with our state’s
new accountability system, many educators
are currently trying to make sense of all of its
parts. Goodwin (2011) states that when try-
ing to increase coherence in a school system,
“What is needed is an approach of elegant
simplicity, one that calls out the core ideas
of what’s most important in order to help
everyone understand, internalize and do
what’s right.” This is why Val Verde Unified
took the initiative to create “The California
Way” infographic.
Val Verde USD employs a one-page infographic to communicate LCAP information.
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