As attention spans shorten and schedules get more hectic, parents are more pressed for time than ever before. That means they need to be able to access key school communications faster and with less effort. There are five key things that school administrators should make sure parents always have available on demand:
- Up to date child’s academic performance: Proactive parents are no longer satisfied waiting for standard report cards. Especially parents with students who are struggling academically, need to know in advance how their child is doing, so that they can strategize on how to get them back on track in advance of the next grade report.
- School and teacher contact information: Parents need to quickly be able to contact the school and/or teacher in the event of an emergency or simply to get a question answered. Consequently, schools should be able to provide parent alerts directed to their smart phones, where they can get the information quickly.
- Calendar of school holidays and events: Calendars should be accessible instantly, so that parents can check their busy schedules against school events. They do not want to have to dig into a website or wait for a newsletter for that information.
- Forms (medical release, field trips, volunteer, etc): Forms are easily misplaced. They should be downloadable on demand.
- Homework assignments: Parents often want to check up on their child to make sure that the proclamation “I have no homework” is really true. Providing this information at their fingertips lets them stay on top of the work and their children’s after school activities.
How quickly can parents get their questions answered at your school? How easy is it for them to access information? Do they have to go to more than one place? How you answer these questions could make a dramatic difference in how engaged your parent community is.