HISD Wins National School Public Relations Association ‘Gold Medallion’ Award

The Houston Independent School District has been selected as the winner of the 2012 National School Public Relations Association ‘Gold Medallion’ Award for its exemplary communication plan to create awareness on the new state-mandated STAAR exams implemented during the 2011-2012 academic year.

NSPRA’s Gold Medallion Award is the top national competition recognizing superior education public relations programs, and HISD was selected from a field of 54 public relations programs throughout the United States and Canada.

This award recognizes the district for the multilingual, multimedia, communication plan it implemented to inform parents, students and the community about the new state-mandated STAAR exams and their implications on students. 

This communication plan included various strategies ranging from traditional mail outs, TV and radio interviews and public meetings, to internally produced live TV forums, social media campaigns, phone banks and interactive web events. 

In addition, HISD established partnerships with local media such as Univision to help reach out to the community through various live interviews, weekly educational segments and a live phone bank during prime time. 

The entries submitted were evaluated on the ability to successfully execute the following: research, analysis and planning, communication and implementation, and evaluation.