Education Articles & Reports

MMS Education developed the following resources to provide key insights and information about the education market and related trends. The materials provided here can be downloaded or printed for your own use or to share with colleagues, as long as MMS Education attribution remains on all pages. Contact us for more information or for customized answers to your specific needs.

"Health Literacy in the 21st Century: Setting an Education Agenda" "Health Literacy in the 21^st Century: Setting an Education Agenda” was a symposium held in Washington, D.C., in January 2009, which began an important dialogue among essential educational organizations about how best to prepare young people to make personally appropriate decisions related to health and health care. Convened by the National Education Association Health Information Network (NEA HIN) and the United Health Foundation, the symposium helped illuminate the challenges and opportunities the nation faces in creating health-literate consumers, today and in the future. MMS Education wrote and designed the symposium proceedings, which helped to frame the issues, provide important background information, and share the themes and consensus points that emerged. Click to download the proceedings.

Action for Healthy Kids 2008 Annual Report: Because Healthy Kids Learn Better In its seventh year of existence and with tangible progress having been made in addressing the issue of school wellness, Action for Healthy Kids spells out its near- and long-term goals, and assesses the grassroots activities of its volunteer Teams in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in combating childhood obesity. Click to download the PDF. The report was developed by MMS Education on behalf of Action for Healthy Kids, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve children’s nutrition and increase physical activity, which will in turn improve their readiness to learn.

Progress or Promises? What's Working For and Against Healthy Schools After two years of implementing measures to improve children’s nutrition and physical activity, are schools showing progress in school wellness – or just giving promises? What gaps still exist? What remains to be done to effect positive change? This ground-breaking report assesses the extent to which school practices are improving the health of America’s children. The report is a compilation of one-on-one interviews with experts in the fields of public health, nutrition, education and child health; survey responses from more than 2,000 parents, teachers, administrators, school nutrition professionals and community health experts; and summarized data from recently published articles reporting on national surveillance studies and school wellness practices. Two briefs and two fact sheets were derived from the report. The briefs were created for school administrators and parents, and provide highlights of the original report and action steps for preparing children to live healthy, active lives. The fact sheets focus on nutritional quality and the state of school wellness. The report, briefs and fact sheets were developed by MMS Education on behalf of Action for Healthy Kids, a national nonprofit organization, as part of their strategic initiative to improve children’s nutrition and increase physical activity, which will in turn improve their readiness to learn. Progress or Promises? What’s Working For or Against Healthy Schools AFHK Admin Brief AFHK Parent Brief AFHK State of School Wellness Research Fact Sheet AFHK Nutritional Quality Fact Sheet

What K–8 Educators Are Saying NOW... About Supplemental Materials How do educators view supplemental materials? How often are these materials used? What’s the preferred format? Who decides which materials will be purchased and used in the classroom? This informative presentation, based on a detailed survey conducted with educators in 2007, contains the surprising answers. Presented by Susan Keipper Meell at the Association of Educational Publishers' annual summit, Washington, D.C., 2007. Click to download PDF »

School Wellness Policy Development, Implementation and Evaluation How are school boards and districts addressing school wellness? What challenges do they face in developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating their local wellness policies? What opportunities exist? This study will help you understand the current school wellness environment across the country. A national research project conducted by MMS Education for the California School Boards Association and California Project LEAN, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Click to download PDF »

Follow the Money: How Policy and Funding Influence Product Development How do funding and legislation affect product development, provide opportunities and lead to new markets? This presentation features a look at how No Child Left Behind and other laws have expanded markets and created new ones, and it highlights resources that can help educational publishers track funding and legislation to stay ahead of the curve. Presented by Susan Keipper Meell at the Product Development Boot Camp hosted by the Association of Educational Publishers at its annual summit, Washington, D.C., 2005. Click to download PDF »

Thriving in the Reading Market: Maximizing Your Marketing Strategies How do reading and language arts educators learn about new products? What are their products of choice? What factors influence their purchasing decisions? How much will they be spending this year? This presentation, based on the results of a proprietary market research study, reveals the best marketing strategies for targeting reading and language arts educators. Presented by Susan Keipper Meell at a seminar co-sponsored by MCH Education Data and the Association of Educational Publishers at the International Reading Association meeting, 2005. Click to download PDF »

Market Positioning and Branding: Strategies and Tactics That Work How do you create strong brand identity in the crowded education market? What steps can you take to set your products and services apart from your competitors? This presentation explains how to carve out a well-defined position in the education market and build brand awareness among your key audiences. Presented by Susan Keipper Meell in a workshop at the Association of Educational Publishers’ annual summit, Washington, D.C., 2004. Click to download PDF »

An Introduction to Database Marketing Database marketing is a process of identifying, collecting and analyzing significant data and information from all sources, internal and external, about your customers, leads and prospects to drive strategic marketing and sales decisions. by Susan Keipper Meell and Chuck Romans, Market Data Retrieval Click to download PDF »

"Health Literacy in the 21st Century: Setting an Education Agenda"

"Health Literacy in the 21^st Century: Setting an Education Agenda” was a symposium held in Washington, D.C., in January 2009, which began an important dialogue among essential educational organizations about how best to prepare young people to make personally appropriate decisions related to health and health care. Convened by the National Education Association Health Information Network (NEA HIN) and the United Health Foundation, the symposium helped illuminate the challenges and opportunities the nation faces in creating health-literate consumers, today and in the future.

MMS Education wrote and designed the symposium proceedings, which helped to frame the issues, provide important background information, and share the themes and consensus points that emerged.

Click to download the proceedings.

Action for Healthy Kids 2008 Annual Report: Because Healthy Kids Learn Better

In its seventh year of existence and with tangible progress having been made in addressing the issue of school wellness, Action for Healthy Kids spells out its near- and long-term goals, and assesses the grassroots activities of its volunteer Teams in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in combating childhood obesity.

Click to download the PDF.

The report was developed by MMS Education on behalf of Action for Healthy Kids, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve children’s nutrition and increase physical activity, which will in turn improve their readiness to learn.

Progress or Promises? What's Working For and Against Healthy Schools

After two years of implementing measures to improve children’s nutrition and physical activity, are schools showing progress in school wellness – or just giving promises? What gaps still exist? What remains to be done to effect positive change? This ground-breaking report assesses the extent to which school practices are improving the health of America’s children. The report is a compilation of one-on-one interviews with experts in the fields of public health, nutrition, education and child health; survey responses from more than 2,000 parents, teachers, administrators, school nutrition professionals and community health experts; and summarized data from recently published articles reporting on national surveillance studies and school wellness practices. Two briefs and two fact sheets were derived from the report. The briefs were created for school administrators and parents, and provide highlights of the original report and action steps for preparing children to live healthy, active lives. The fact sheets focus on nutritional quality and the state of school wellness.

The report, briefs and fact sheets were developed by MMS Education on behalf of Action for Healthy Kids, a national nonprofit organization, as part of their strategic initiative to improve children’s nutrition and increase physical activity, which will in turn improve their readiness to learn.

What K–8 Educators Are Saying NOW... About Supplemental Materials

How do educators view supplemental materials? How often are these materials used? What’s the preferred format? Who decides which materials will be purchased and used in the classroom? This informative presentation, based on a detailed survey conducted with educators in 2007, contains the surprising answers.

Presented by Susan Keipper Meell at the Association of Educational Publishers' annual summit, Washington, D.C., 2007.

Click to download PDF »

School Wellness Policy Development, Implementation and Evaluation

How are school boards and districts addressing school wellness? What challenges do they face in developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating their local wellness policies? What opportunities exist? This study will help you understand the current school wellness environment across the country.

A national research project conducted by MMS Education for the California School Boards Association and California Project LEAN, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Click to download PDF »

Follow the Money: How Policy and Funding Influence Product Development

How do funding and legislation affect product development, provide opportunities and lead to new markets? This presentation features a look at how No Child Left Behind and other laws have expanded markets and created new ones, and it highlights resources that can help educational publishers track funding and legislation to stay ahead of the curve.

Presented by Susan Keipper Meell at the Product Development Boot Camp hosted by the Association of Educational Publishers at its annual summit, Washington, D.C., 2005.

Click to download PDF »

Thriving in the Reading Market: Maximizing Your Marketing Strategies

How do reading and language arts educators learn about new products? What are their products of choice? What factors influence their purchasing decisions? How much will they be spending this year? This presentation, based on the results of a proprietary market research study, reveals the best marketing strategies for targeting reading and language arts educators.

Presented by Susan Keipper Meell at a seminar co-sponsored by MCH Education Data and the Association of Educational Publishers at the International Reading Association meeting, 2005.

Click to download PDF »

Market Positioning and Branding: Strategies and Tactics That Work

How do you create strong brand identity in the crowded education market? What steps can you take to set your products and services apart from your competitors? This presentation explains how to carve out a well-defined position in the education market and build brand awareness among your key audiences.

Presented by Susan Keipper Meell in a workshop at the Association of Educational Publishers’ annual summit, Washington, D.C., 2004.

Click to download PDF »

An Introduction to Database Marketing

Database marketing is a process of identifying, collecting and analyzing significant data and information from all sources, internal and external, about your customers, leads and prospects to drive strategic marketing and sales decisions.

by Susan Keipper Meell and Chuck Romans, Market Data Retrieval

Click to download PDF »