Disruption to the family-school relationship
In 2020, we faced the most significant disruption to our schools and family-school partnerships in recent history. Traditional boundaries between home and school dissolved as learning moved online and the roles of educators and families merged.
For the first time, families gained an intimate view of their children’s educational experiences. They relied on schools for essential structure and content, while schools became dependent on families to create supportive learning environments at home. We also gained a deeper appreciation for schools’ vital role as a social safety net, providing food, technology, and essential resources, and the critical need for technology to bridge gaps between schools and families, ensuring access to these vital resources and continued learning.
The TalkingPoints two-way, translated family engagement platform became a lifeline for many teachers, schools, and families, rapidly expanding to serve 170% more students and facilitate five times more conversations between educators and families during the 2020-21 school year.
New perspectives gained from the pandemic
We emerged from this time with new insights into the interdependence of schools and families, the critical work schools do beyond providing instruction, and the recognition that technology is essential for fostering communication and collaboration.
“The best part of engagement post-COVID is connecting with families and establishing routines for families to count on. I have been able to create connections with families when schools did not allow visitors during COVID and have kept those relationships going throughout the following school years. I have improved my family engagement and communications to over 80% of my students’ families when it was well below 50% before.” – Justin Sklar, Middle School Teacher, Seattle Public Schools, WA
A growing need for evidence-based solutions and “doing more with less”
In the post-pandemic years, schools face ongoing challenges as they pursue their primary mission of delivering consistent, high-quality outcomes for all students. Educators are working tirelessly to rebuild behavior norms, address student attendance and mental health crises, secure community support for funding, mitigate staff burnout–which affects hiring and retention–and teach foundational skills to close academic gaps. Meanwhile, families also struggle to support their children’s academic, social-emotional, and physical needs while managing competing priorities.
Having invested in various technologies during the pandemic, district leaders are now consolidating resources and prioritizing evidence-based solutions supported by externally validated research. With the expiration of ESSER funds, districts will not be able to hire additional staff to address challenges; instead, they will need to spend their budgets wisely on solutions that work with the resources they have in place.
The past few years have been exhausting for schools and families; simply working harder is not the answer.
A powerful yet underutilized strategy
One critical strategy for addressing these challenges remains largely untapped: family engagement. A substantial research base validates family engagement as a high-leverage strategy to improve outcomes for students in ways that translate to real resource gains for schools:
In short, effective family engagement is the most underutilized superpower for improving student and district outcomes.
Today, some districts struggle to harness this superpower. Traditional family engagement practices fall short as they are typically sporadic, conducted in person, and inaccessible to some families. Further, while some commonly used interventions are resource-intensive and highly effective for a select few students, others are broadly applicable yet fail to produce meaningful improvements in outcomes.
The emergence of tech-enabled family engagement
Some districts have begun to adopt a more comprehensive model: A new approach leverages technology-based family engagement practices as a core strategy for driving student outcomes and amplifying the impact of in-person programming. This approach, known as “Universal Family Engagement”, focuses on intentionally improving outcomes for all students by fostering effective partnerships with every family. Universal Family Engagement involves integrating family engagement into district systems as a vital and consistent component, utilizing research-based best practices to strengthen collaboration among students, families, and schools.
About TalkingPoints
TalkingPoints is an education technology nonprofit with the mission to drive student success by unlocking the superpower of effective family-school partnerships. The TalkingPoints award-winning Universal Family Engagement platform helps educators improve student and district outcomes through scalable, research-based best practices for family engagement. Across districts nationwide, TalkingPoints has empowered more than five million educators and families, facilitating nearly one billion conversations that drive student success.
Named by Common Sense Education as “the best overall family communication platform for teachers and schools,” TalkingPoints leads to gains in attendance rates and academic performance, as shown by rigorous, externally validated causal research. To learn more, view our TED Talk or visit talkingpts.org.
