Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

About Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Macmillan/McGraw-Hill provides the highest quality materials and services to academic professionals to support the education of children. McGraw-Hill Education covers all aspects of education, from pre-kindergarten to professional learning. The company critiques and conducts its own independent research and uses these findings to develop programs that meet the standards set forth by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). These research studies are built from prototypes into larger research products. As a result, McGraw-Hill Education integrates its research into the development of its education programs to help students achieve academic success.

Bridging Communication and Information Gaps

Traditionally, market research had provided the fundamental data used in curriculum development. However, with the introduction of NCLB, there has been growing pressure for educators to show demonstrated results by meeting state and federal standards. Consequently, a need to better incorporate the academic research into the curriculum development process emerged.

Macmillan/McGraw-Hill enlisted the services of MarketPoint to bridge the research findings from academic studies with those from marketing analysis to develop a more cohesive process for curriculum development.

MarketPoint analyzed the disparities between the two research groups and recommended a framework to address both departments’ needs and to bridge the gap in communication and use of information throughout other parts of the organizations. Recommendations included:

• Creating a comprehensive research plan
• Organizing the research content
• Building a strategic framework, incorporating all processes—from academic and sales/marketing to editorial and production
• Integrating all processes to build better research-based programs
• Publicizing the plan to gain greater understanding and support internally, so that the company’s programs could more effectively align with NCLB and ensure academic student success

Developing an Integrated Process

In order to create an effective framework, MarketPoint first interviewed key personnel regarding their beliefs about the role of research in education. This step was crucial in conveying the importance of blending both branches of research as well as successfully developing an integrated process.

“MarketPoint made this process painless,” says Irene McAfee, Ph.D., Director of Academic Research at Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. “Our management team enjoyed working with Laura during this phase. She was able to neutralize any differences between the two research factions.”

Next, in order to facilitate a successful framework, MarketPoint aligned the process to effectively incorporate all the elements and diagramed the process to illustrate the big picture as well as reinforce the importance of research cohesion in the process. MarketPoint then presented to management its recommendations for incorporating both research aspects into the development of curriculum programs. The presentation underscored the value of scientific academic research to the more traditional approach that was solely based on sales and marketing analysis.

“Change is hard,” observes McAfee. “It is especially hard when talking about potential hot button issues. MarketPoint was able to present an objective and precise argument as to how the framework could make developing curriculums for learning more effective and efficient.”

After finalizing the plan to integrate sales/marketing and academic research, MarketPoint provided recommendations for communicating and implementing these changes. Moreover, MarketPoint stressed the importance that all departments work together to be more proficient and consequently, meet educational goals more effectively.

Macmillan/McGraw-Hill recognized the need to dedicate a resource to effectively manage the recommended process and plan. MarketPoint met with this person and briefed them on the recommendations to facilitate implementation. “Our management was so impressed with the efficiency of MarketPoint’s plan that they quickly moved to put it into action,” concludes McAfee.

Breaking New Ground

With MarketPoint’s guidance, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill was able to break out of their traditional approach of developing curriculum programs based solely on sales and marketing analysis. By realizing academic research’s value and its ability to complement the information provided from the market analyses, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill’s programs would ensure that its education programs were effectively helping schools and students meet the mandated NCLB standards.

Though Macmillan/McGraw-Hill currently is in the process of incorporating this strategic framework into its educational programs, the organization is already seeing a positive impact. The company now values academic research and its contributions to educational program development. It will continue to leverage this successful blend of research to provide superior educational products and services to educators as well as ensure that each child has the same academic opportunities.

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