Customer support expert Hoover Herrera joined Carolina to gain feedback and create industry-best program to help teachers and administrators achieve goals with Carolina products
RENO, NV, Oct. 11, 2018 – During the NSTA regional conference, Carolina Biological Supply Company, the leading school science supplier, launched a new proactive Gold Standard Support Initiative to help schools achieve their goals with Carolina’s curriculum. The program was designed by customer support expert Hoover Herrera, who joined the company last spring to create and lead the industry-best initiative, going above and beyond what other companies offer. Herrera analyzed customer feedback and worked with educators to provide the deepest level of onsite, live and technology-based support that they need to time efficiently train staff, answer questions, solve problems, connect school teams and successfully incorporate a new curriculum immediately. This resource is available now and included free of charge to teachers and administrators as part of Carolina’s science curriculum programs.
Carolina provides results-driven curricula and resources educators need today, including Building Blocks of Science™ 3D, Smithsonian Science for the Classroom™, and Smithsonian Science and Technology Concepts Middle School™, designed to meet the new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). To engage students and prepare them to succeed in STEM careers, educators at NSTA in Reno are invited to stop by the Carolina Curriculum booth #601. Carolina also has a second booth across the aisle at #501 with general science lab supplies.
Carolina is distinguishing itself from competitors in customer support by initiating a new level of proactive customer success. Instead of simply reacting to problems once they happen, as in most customer service, the program anticipates school needs and provides solutions and resources that are ready for them to access. A common dilemma faced by district administrators is of how to provide more time and support to their teachers during the implementation of new curriculum without having to pull them out of their classrooms. As with any new curriculum, teachers will have questions after their initial training. Teachers will want and need more. Everyone understands and realizes the need for more professional development and support beyond the initial training, but the problem is being able to offer it with the same limited amount of time, resources and budget.
“Teaching to the new NGSS standards can be challenging. We recognized that schools could use more support and that it didn’t yet exist. So, we set out to find a way to share good ideas, provide resources and use digital technology to help teachers be successful,” said Jim Parrish, President and CEO at Carolina. “We value our relationships with educators, and we want to proactively help them be successful with our science curriculum. We are excited about offering our new Gold Standard Support and we believe it will help schools fast track their way to success. We want teachers and students alike to enjoy teaching and learning science!”
Carolina is prepared to provide next-level on-going support via an online professional learning community platform, where teachers have access to product and content experts. They can receive real-time answers for real-time questions. The company wants administrators and teachers to be wildly successful, but they may struggle to accomplish everything they want to accomplish because there isn’t enough guidance and support from the publisher. Carolina is launching its gold standard initiative to do better.
Herrera is the new point person to help schools succeed as they pilot Carolina programs. He launched the program with five pilot school sites in Lakewood, WA; Point Pleasant, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Patchogue, NY; and Indiana, and will continuously adapt and expand it based on feedback from staff.
“The definition of Customer Success that Carolina wants for the educators that we work with is that those customers achieve their desired outcomes through interactions with our company,” said Hoover Herrera, Customer Support Manager at Carolina. “We know that school districts often face the struggle of not having enough support with implementations or pilots and can be left feeling held back from true success. Carolina has figured out a proactive formula that can help any school district receive the appropriate amount of communication and on-going support.”
Features
Since teachers need support after professional development training, part of the program is providing support that can be accessed anytime online by school staff using a project management and organization program. Carolina created a private Basecamp site with five categories of support. First is a message board that goes directly to Herrera. School staff determined by each district can post or send private questions to Herrera. He can answer or check with the developer if needed. There are apps that customers can download to post from phones, tablets or laptops.
Second is To Dos, where Carolina can put reminders of things they may forget after training. Carolina can push out any documents there only to the school staff who are involved in the project.
Third is a Scheduling Calendar. The school district could schedule a Skype meeting so everybody would know here.
Fourth is Check-Ins. This is where Carolina gets feedback from schools by asking a few questions regularly.
Fifth is Documents and Files to house important files that need to be shared. For example, a scope and sequence could be posted here.
“Teachers don’t ever have enough time,” said Jennifer Riback, Supervisor of Math & Science, K-12, at Point Pleasant School District in NJ, whose district is one of Carolina’s pilot sites. “They need time to understand for themselves the science concepts they will teach. They are going to have questions and they will like this kind of support.”
Availability
Carolina’s new gold standard support is available now and included at no additional charge with Carolina’s digital core science programs for grades K-8, including Building Blocks of Science™ 3D (K-5), Smithsonian Science for the Classroom™ (1-5) and Smithsonian Science and Technology Concepts Middle School™. Prices start at $374.95 for one kit through Carolina. For information, visit Carolina’s website at www.Carolina.com, call (800) 334-5551, or e-mail curriculum@carolina.com.
Carolina Biological Supply Company
From its beginnings in 1927, Carolina (www.carolina.com) has grown to become the leading supplier of biological and other science teaching materials in the world. Headquartered in Burlington, NC, Carolina serves customers worldwide, including teachers, students, and professionals in science and health-related fields. The company is still privately owned by descendants of the founder, geology and biology professor Dr. Thomas E. Powell Jr.
# # # #
Contact:
Julie Gates for Carolina Biological Supply Company
562-429-5972 or jgatespr@yahoo.com