Innovation

TalkingPoints is the only organization focusing on a technology-based solution to family engagement for under-resourced, multilingual communities. TalkingPoints is fundamentally redesigning how educators and families work together to build meaningful relationships in support of their students.

We are constantly improving our product and our model to make sure we have the greatest impact on student success in under-resourced communities.

Innovation

Our approach

TalkingPoints leverages technology to provide a low-cost, scalable and impactful approach to tackle the barriers to family engagement. By harnessing cutting-edge technology like machine learning algorithms and natural language processing, we believe we can build a stronger family engagement practices and home-school connection in support of student success.

Innovation in improving translation quality

TalkingPoints is the only platform investing in the highest-quality translation, contextualized for education, using human translators and machine learning/AI. As a nonprofit, removing barriers to building meaningful home-school relationships is central to our mission. We offer seamless, two-way translation in 150 languages and take a multi-pronged approach to continuously enhancing translation quality.

Our Translation Difference
Innovation in improving translation quality

Innovation for accessibility

As a nonprofit committed to ensuring that our platform is able to serve the most under-resourced communities, and be accessible to all, we are working on:

Continued use of text messages
Mobile phones are ubiquitous even for under-resourced communities, although internet or device access may not be. We are committed to continuously providing text messages as a channel of communication to ensure all families have access to home-school connections.
Text to speech
Our family-facing mobile application allows for text-to-speech conversations, to reach and serve those families who may not be literate in their home languages.
Multimedia captioning
To further bridge home-school connections, and support distance learning needs, we offer technology teachers can use to send videos with captions translated in to families' home languages.

Innovation for building capacity

Based on the dual-capacity building framework for strong family-school partnerships, we believe in building capacity and knowledge, and empowering administrators, educators and families in a relevant, personalized and convenient way. What we’re working on to make it relevant and personalized:

Topic classification of conversations

Using natural language processing, we are investing in a topic categorization tool to understand the pulse and topic of conversations between educators and families. This will enable:

  • Overview of how families are engaged with the school communities
  • Data-driven decision-making and capacity-building for school systems
  • Relevant and personalized in-app guidance and coaching

Data for personalization

We measure feedback and actions of families and educators to refine what in-app coaching content is helpful and useful to build capacity, and for whom, allowing us to eventually personalize the experience.

Research partnerships

We are committed to understanding, measuring and furthering our impact through research partnerships, and spurring innovation for the field.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR RESEARCH →