5 Ways to Increase Parent Engagement This School Year

#Tips

Lauren Gilchrist

by Lauren Gilchrist

Lauren Gilchrist EdTech Thought Leader

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With a new school year just around the corner, now is a great time to reconsider your parent engagement strategies. Today we’re sharing five ideas you can implement to boost involvement this year.

1. Reach out first.

Encourage your district’s educators to make the first move, inviting parents into ongoing conversations about their child’s academics. When teachers open that channel of communication, parents will be more likely to follow suit, responding to inquiries and reaching out themselves when they have questions or concerns. Consider using the Message Center to get the conversation started!

Message Center tutorials and information:

Quick Hits: Message Center Overview
Teacher Power-Up (Qmlativ)
Teacher Power-Up (SMS 2.0)
Parent Power-Up (SMS 2.0)
Qmlativ Message Center Updates

2. Make parent-teacher conferences virtual.

This can be a game changer! We were so excited when the CTO of a Skyward district told us their elementary school switched to virtual conferences and experienced a 100% participation rate in parent-teacher conferences!

Can you imagine if every school achieved 100% participation? Making the switch to virtual conferences has the potential for incredible impact on parent engagement.

Ready to make the switch? Use the Conference Scheduler to get the ball rolling.

Conference Scheduler tutorials:

Teacher Power-Up (SMS 2.0)
Parent Power-Up (SMS 2.0)

3. Share the Family Access Toolkit far and wide.

We launched the Family Access Toolkit in 2016 to teach administrators, teachers, parents, and students how to get the most from Family Access. Now available for SMS 2.0 and Qmlativ users, in both English and Spanish, these Toolkits are your one-stop-shop for tutorial videos, answers to FAQs, and information about Family Access. Check out the Toolkits and share them with your students and their parents!

English Toolkits for SMS 2.0 and Qmlativ
Spanish Toolkits for SMS 2.0 and Qmlativ

4. Invite parents to download the Skyward mobile app.

These days, we do almost everything from our phones. Invite your students’ parents to download the Skyward app so they can follow their kids’ education on the go, too!

Downloading the Skyward app tutorials:

Parent Power-Up (Qmlativ)
Parent Power-Up (SMS 2.0)

5. Educate parents.

Your primary role may be educating students, but parents can sometimes benefit from a little education too. Some parents simply don’t realize the important role they play in their child's learning, especially when it comes to eLearning.

It’s the responsibility of both administrators and teachers to communicate with parents the important role they can play in helping their children succeed.

Don’t leave parent engagement up to parents! By taking steps to improve communication and simplify processes, you can make it easier for parents and guardians to get involved and boost student success this year.