A 2019 ParentKind survey found that only 57 per cent of parents are satisfied with the opportunities they have to get involved in their child’s school. That’s a lot of dissatisfied parents.
The transformative effect of parental engagement on academic achievement is well known, so it’s clear that investing in long-term strategies is crucial. But what can schools be doing to boost these connections?
1. Be consistent
Any parent will tell you that it’s a full-time job and then some, and so keeping up with school life can feel like another demand on their stretched time, especially when information arrives in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion.
Schools can prevent extra stress in this area by ensuring that their communication with home is regular, clear and consistent, enabling parents to easily digest the information they're being presented with and understand what is required of them.
2. Use a single system
Asking parents to log in to multiple systems for messaging, emailing and booking events, each with different methods, can be frustrating and time-consuming, and could result in key information being missed. Instead, use a single system to store all your information and keep families up to date, all in one place.
3. Enable conversation
Whether you’re sending out the latest school trip letter, or a notification that a student is on report, it’s enormously helpful and reassuring to offer parents a channel to communicate quickly, easily and securely with their questions or concerns.
How Tes can help
Class Charts, our classroom management software can help with all of these vital areas, letting you keep student work and family communication all in one place. You can share photos, videos, links, and files and send private messages to individual family members as needed, building trust and support with transparency and visibility into students’ learning.
From two-way messaging to online on-report cards, newsletters, consent forms and much more, Class Charts enables schools to spend less time and money on communication, and focus time and energy on other areas.
