Personas in Policy: Why Student, Parent, and Educator Voice Should Shape Your Next Initiative
In state education agencies, the traditional approach to stakeholder engagement follows a familiar formula: hold a convening, share a proposed plan, and ask participants for feedback. Most of the time, those participants are leaders of statewide groups, the assumption being that the person can speak on behalf of a large group of people. Sometimes, the purpose is to build buy-in for a predetermined solution. Other times, it is to bring together a group of stakeholders and work toward consensus in drafting new regulations. In both cases, the emphasis is often on managing input rather than meaningfully shaping the direction of the initiative. I’ll admit, I have run a few sessions using exactly this approach, and when the objective is to solicit buy-in, it has its place.
However, this model reflects a top-down mindset that assumes expertise lies primarily (or solely) within agencies or leadership bodies. It can lead to policies that feel disconnected from the lived experiences of students, families, and educators, and as the literature on education reform has repeatedly shown, such policies are rarely effective in sustaining meaningful change. Top-down reforms may produce compliance, but they rarely generate ownership. Without ownership, implementation is often doomed.
There may be a better way: designing policy with, not just for, the people it impacts.
Borrowing techniques from design thinking and product development, the use of personas and journey maps in policy development can transform the way agencies and organizations understand problems, generate solutions, and test assumptions. A persona is a research-informed representation of a real stakeholder, a composite profile that reflects patterns and perspectives identified through qualitative data. Personas are not fictional in the way that user avatars might be in marketing; they are grounded in authentic feedback from real people.
Journey maps complement personas by laying out the step-by-step experiences that different stakeholders are likely to encounter in a system or process. They help policy teams understand not only who a stakeholder is, but what they go through, from the first interaction with a policy through possible implementation hurdles to its ultimate outcome. A well-designed journey map highlights where pain points occur, where communication breaks down, or where access to resources is inequitably distributed. By visualizing these journeys, policymakers can proactively anticipate and address potential challenges, ensuring that reforms are not only well-intentioned but also executable.
Across industries, personas and journey maps have proven effective in improving user experience and informing design. In healthcare, patient personas and journey maps are used to streamline care coordination and ensure communication tools reflect the needs of diverse populations. In product design and tech, companies have long relied on user personas to develop intuitive, responsive features that anticipate user behavior. Even transportation agencies have adopted journey mapping to understand commuter pain points and reimagine public transit. These methods help decision-makers move beyond assumptions and anchor their strategies in the lived realities of those they aim to serve.
For example, instead of framing policy goals around broad categories like "rural students" or "English language learners," a set of personas might include:
Kayla, a 10th-grade student navigating school while caring for siblings during the day due to a parent's unpredictable work schedule.
Miguel, a Spanish-speaking parent of a student in a dual-language charter school, unsure how to engage with the school board process.
Tasha, a microschool student who excels in science but has limited access to lab-based experiences.
These personas help policymakers move beyond generalities. They create an analytical lens for understanding how a policy might play out in real life. When paired with journey maps, these tools allow leaders to envision exactly how someone like Kayla might encounter new attendance requirements, or how Miguel might navigate a revised family engagement framework. This deeper perspective supports more thoughtful approaches to strategy development, resource allocation, and communications planning.
When the anticipated outcome of a convening is the creation of personas and journey maps, the approach to facilitation is likely to change. Rather than focusing on drafting language or voting on recommendations, sessions are designed to collect rich, narrative insights, what a typical day looks like, when participants feel most supported, what barriers they encounter, and what success means to them. The emphasis is on listening to various perspectives and identifying patterns across diverse experiences. Then, in the hands of a skilled qualitative researcher, feedback from a diverse group can be coded for the purpose of identifying larger trends. A final report grounded in this methodology won’t just summarize key themes or recommendations; instead, it might present a set of personas with compelling visual and narrative detail, accompanied by journey maps that illustrate how different stakeholders navigate the system before, during, and after a policy change. This kind of output is more actionable, offering concrete ways to redesign systems around real-world needs. It’s a form of storytelling, but one grounded in a rigorous research methodology.
For microschool founders, charter network leaders, and state agencies alike, incorporating student, family, and educator personas and journey maps can surface blind spots and generate smarter, more sustainable solutions. Policies designed with an understanding of real constraints and real aspirations are more likely to succeed. For cultural institutions, personas and journey maps can help you to anticipate the roll-out of a new initiative, taking the data you receive from focus groups and fine-tuning your approach to meet the expectations of various potential audiences.
At HB3, I help clients move from traditional stakeholder mapping to more robust stakeholder storytelling. I facilitate listening sessions, focus groups, and interviews that elevate stakeholder voices in ways that are contextually grounded. Then, I synthesize those insights into tools, like personas and journey maps, that guide decision-making at every stage.
The next time you prepare to draft a policy, don’t start with a checklist. Start with a story. Ask: Whose voice is missing? What constraints and barriers have we assumed away? What outcomes matter most to the different people we serve? Then, as you conduct stakeholder convening sessions, be open to being surprised by what you hear.
Centering students, families, and educators in the policymaking process demands more than good intentions; it requires methodological rigor, skilled facilitation, and a deep understanding of system dynamics. When done well, it yields insights that drive smarter decisions and lead to policies that are not only more responsive but also more likely to be implemented with fidelity and sustained over time.
