Hopefully you’ve read some of my previous posts and found that I know a little bit about the subject.  And you should know by now that this is my business and I’m passionate about it.  We really do care about whether or not our planners can move the needle on college-readiness (and that includes making better grades in middle and high school).

When it comes to printing student planners, paper and ink cost about the same anywhere you go.  The big differentiator is labor cost and companies in this business have figured out how to get that cost as low as possible, whether they are running idol printing presses in the US or using the new global economy to compete, the playing field is pretty level.

In the end it is the cost to acquire a new customer (advertising, sales commissions, etc) that add much to the cost of a planner.

When we started selling our page-per-day student planner in 1996 this was a fledgling industry.  Over the last decade printing companies have flocked to the business and schools have seen one option in various flavors marketed in various ways.  They seen covers become 3-D, seen pockets and rulers and pouches added.  That’s about it for innovation.  One makes a change and the rest follow.

But in the end, it’s been the same mouse trap repackaged over and over.  Someone once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  And this is partially why so many schools have abandoned student planners.  They say they school planners don’t work for the majority of students.  I think they are right.

But a daily student planner…we’ll call it a student day planner…is a different animal.  When designed right it is the perfect vehicle to teach organization and planning skills that translate into good time management skills.

A weekly student planner doesn’t cut it.  Seriously, ask every friend you have to show you their day planner and then come back and post how many of them use a weekly planner (7 days spread out on two pages).   There are some great ones out there, I’ve used just about every planner on the market because it’s my business and my favorite is the “Planner Pad” but even that great planner doesn’t translate into the academic setting.

iPhones don’t work, computers don’t, PDA’s don’t either.  There is something about the tactile feel of writing down assignments and seeing how they fit into a busy day that begins to orient the mind toward what can and can’t be accomplished in a given day.

AgendaWorks student planners have taken all of this into account.  We can print and sell “weekly student planners” but that would be against what we know to be the best planner solution for the modern student.  And if you think that’s all there is to our planners…you’d be wrong.  Every aspect of our planners map back to solid research.

Let’s first look at the question.  Should a school spend money on a planner for students?  That begs the next question…what are you trying to accomplish?  Here are some possible answers to that question.

1)     We’ve always given students a planner.  Parents expect it.

2)     It’s the best way to ensure that every student gets a handbook.

3)     We want to help them get their homework done.

You can add your own to the list but I’d make the case that a student planner is a poor vehicle for all of these potential reasons.  If you cannot quantify the benefit of anything you use, then question the value of using it at all.

Second, a planner might do double duty as handbook but that’s not a reason to give students a school planner.  You can print a handbook on newsprint for the same or less than printing and binding in a handbook.

Third, there are many ways to ensure homework assignments can be obtained. With the advent of the internet there is a good chance that your school has assignments available online.

So given these obvious reasons, I can make a pretty good case to “can” the school planners and opt for other uses of those funds…“unless”…the student planner has another more important function!  One that makes a school student planner one of the most valuable investments the school can make.  Next time….

In World War II, British Engineers were studying aircraft returning from bombing runs and noticed that the tail sections and wings were all shot up.  So they decided to beef up those sections with armor.  It didn’t make a dent in the number of lost planes.  Why?  The Germans were aiming for the engines and cockpits and finding their marks.  These planes were not making it back home for “analysis” by the Engineers.  The planes needed armor on the engines and cockpits…not the tail and wings.  Are we missing the obvious in the school planner business?

I’ve talked to a number of schools that have decided that school planners are a poor use of taxpayer money.  In some sense they may be right.  I’ve talked to countless parents that find their child’s school planner stuffed behind the sofa cushion with the first 2 weeks of school filled out and nothing past that. Or it’s jammed under the car seat and only very little writing in it at all.  But we may have learned the wrong lesson.  Is it really that student planners are not effective or is it something else we’ve overlooked.

I’ve also talked to teachers, parents and students that see some students using their day planner to the max.  Each day is filled out and it’s used exactly as designed.  These students say they couldn’t live without their planner.  For many, getting that planner is an exciting event in the semester.

I don’t have statistics to back this up, but with antidotal feedback I’d say that 50% of academic planners end up unused.  That effectively doubles the cost for those school planners that are used (and of the 50% that are used, what metric is being moved with use of the planner and can it be measured?).  But more importantly is the potential lost opportunity for those students that don’t use their planner because they are quite likely the ones that need them the most!  The kids that really use them would make due with a Big Chief pad and Number 2 pencil…they just get it.

So what is the best planner students can use?  Well, that depends on what you mean by “use”…if the question relates to “writing down assignments” then we have one potential answer to the best student planner.  If we are talking about imparting skills that will transcend homework assignments then we have a whole new conversation.

A waste of money or lost opportunity?  Next time.