More Power to Teachers, More Connection with Parents: Our Communications Success Story

Until last year, our district relied on a legacy platform for sharing school-related information. We eventually recognized the significant limitations of that system—limited teacher control, no built-in translation capability, and minimal communication features—and started exploring better options.

In June 2024, we implemented a new school-home communication and engagement platform.

Of course, change is never easy, especially across 20 different campuses. To facilitate a smooth transition, we used a “roadshow” approach to introduce the new solution district-wide. Now we have 99.6% contactability rates, full translation capabilities in 190+ languages, and we’ve given our teachers the autonomy they really needed for school-home communications.

Here are five key benefits we’ve seen since making the move last year:

1. Empowers teachers with direct communication. Teachers were frustrated with the lack of control over communications. In the past, they had to ask a district administrator or other staff member to send communications out on their behalf. Now they can reach out to a grade level, a specific classroom, or some other targeted group of recipients. We’re empowering teachers to become self-sufficient and resourceful, allowing them greater control over their teaching environment.
2. Instant and reliable translation. It used to take us so much time to translate using Google Translate, which still required someone to double-check everything (in the translated language) before we could hit send. We don’t have to waste time on that anymore. We can send communications in English and trust that recipients will get it in their preferred language.
3. Increased parental engagement. ParentSquare empowers parents by opening up the lines of communication with teachers, administrators and staff. Teachers can easily see what parents are engaging with and what they want more of. We know right away what they are and aren’t interested in and I also like being able to discreetly turn comments on and off depending on the feedback and subject at hand.
4. Keeps you connected to what matters most to families. I like to keep an ear to the street and see what parents are engaging with and we can now do that very easily. Recently, the district used the platform to share the details of a few staffing changes. We were able to see just how much the recipients appreciated that type of communication and that was huge for us because we’ve never communicated like that before. Moving forward, we’ll use the same approach whenever important updates need to be shared.
5. Stay a step ahead of the social media rumor mill. This front-end-loaded news strategy also helps head off misinformation or “rumor mills” that may spin up on social media. By requiring a login to access important updates, the platform helps ensure that families receive accurate, verified information directly from the district (versus what they might read on Facebook). We want them to come to us for information and know that ParentSquare is their source of truth.

The Transformative Power of Good Communication

By prioritizing teacher autonomy, seamless multilingual communication and authentic engagement with our families, we’ve not only overcome the constraints of our former system but we’ve also cultivated a more informed, cohesive school community. The tangible benefits—empowering educators to proactively manage information flow and community sentiment—underscore the transformative power of a well-implemented school-home communication strategy.

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