Parent Teacher Communication in the Digital Age: Tools, Tips & Strategies

While the best method of communication is in person, that’s not always possible in a school setting - especially when it comes to parent teach communications. With hundreds, possibly even thousands of students, teachers have to balance lesson planning and classroom management, with organizing events, activities, and even grading papers.

But as every teacher knows, it's not just on the educator; parental involvement is key to a child's success in the long term. And this is where being able to communicate effectively and send messages home isn't just a nice to have but a critical component in school and student success.

Almost every school community will use some form of technology to connect with parents, whether that's a range of apps or a simple social media page. If you're trying to improve parent teacher communication in your school or college, the choice and the opportunities can be overwhelming.

So, we've taken a look at some of the best parent teacher communication tools and strategies to improve parental engagement and help them to get the best results from their child's education.

What communication methods are actually best?

In 2016, Speak Up Research Project published findings that showed principals and parents have different ideas for what qualifies as an effective communication method.

Most agree that personal emails and text messages are the most effective.

65% of principals and 70% of parents prefer emails. While 45% of principals and 52% of parents feel that text messages are the most effective.

But when it comes to personal phone calls, the differences start to emerge. 70% of principals believe calls are effective, while only 36% of parents agree.

We also see that handwritten notes and push notifications are the most unpopular, gaining less than 30% support across the board.

With school portals, the story is similar; 34% of principals agree that they are effective, while only 20% of parents seem to think so.

From this data, we can take away two things:

• Emails and phone calls are very effective and parents are open to communicating via these means
• Nobody likes push notifications, even though they leverage technology.

Based on all this information, we’ve compiled a list of communication methods that both parents and teachers will find really helpful.

Best ways to communicate with parents using technology

1. Leverage school communication apps

There are a growing range of communication focused apps for education, and many of them do very similar things. Chances are you've used apps like ClassDojo, Klassly, Arbor or ParentSquare. These are all designed to streamline communication between teachers and home and make it simple to ensure that parents are getting important information.

Most of these are designed to bridge the gap between student and parent communication, sharing updates from the classroom with home. And most of these rely on a mixture on smartphone apps with email notifications - which seems to be the sweet spot for improving parent involvement (less chance of missed homework assignments or wrong dates for the school science fair).

With that being said, while these apps are some of the best ways to manage parent teacher communication, it can be easy for parents to miss key announcements if they don't spot the app notifications or if they ignore their email.

2. Emails and SMS  

Direct communication is undoubtedly one of the best ways to reach parents - especially those who might be less tech savvy. There are plenty of simple tools to help you send bulk SMS, or direct messages if necessary. ClickSend and BulkSMS are the most popular methods for these more general blanket SMS strategies.

If you're looking for a more comprehensive and education focused platform, then services such as SchoolStatus and Remind offer a great way to open communication lines with parents. You could send emails which, as we've seen, a lot of people prefer, but you could also communicate via SMS as well. Tools such as Remind can be used to create groups, send broadcast messages, and translate your communications too.

3. Social media

There are lots of apps and communication systems designed to help schools communicate with parents. But sometimes, you’ll get a more seamless communication experience when you meet people where they are. 

Facebook groups, for example, can be an easy – and free – way to encourage online school community, share information with parents, and get feedback. And because it’s a social media platform, you know they already spend time on there and will be more open to communicating. Remember to keep the groups closed (or even secret) to maintain parent privacy.

Of course you do need to bear in mind that data and privacy need to be managed with extra care on social media platforms. This means getting permission to share images of students on platforms like Facebook, and ensuring that the school community channel is set to private by default.

Of course there are also other useful comms and social media options such as Slack, Reddit or even X (Twitter) where you can share communication with parents.

4. Digital signage

Digital signage has grown to become a popular method of displaying almost anything from local announcements to promotional material, and it's well suited to use within schools. According to EdTech Review,  parents already agree that effective technology implementation is critical for students’ success - and this includes regular communication.

Digital signage makes communication visible, allowing educational establishments to share everything from upcoming events or school activities, to reminders about deadlines or available support and services.

Setting up a digital signage network for schools can be quite straightforward. All you need is a few screens in visible and high traffic areas such as foyers or waiting areas, connect to these screens with your chosen digital signage software such as ScreenCloud, and you'll be able to share up to date information quickly and easily, without any technical or design skills.

There are, in fact, many  reasons to use digital signage within a school or college setting, including:

• Easy to create and publish content remotely
• Post announcements, event reminders, congratulations and other important information
• Share images, videos and artwork from across the school
• Display real time information such as weather warnings
• Broadcast emergency alerts with instructions
• Use QR codes for access to interactive content via users own device (best suited for parents and older students)

Check out our full guide to examples of school digital signage.

5. Virtual forums and webinars

While these are popular tools for business, online forums can be a good way to connect with parents and students too. These can be particularly useful for when it comes to big events on the school calendar, or certain milestones in student life.

For example:

• The buildup to choosing specialist subjects
• Exam study tips or other educational support
• Q&A's for for parents of new joiners
• Language specific onboarding for foreign students

There are plenty of ways to broadcast these sorts of presentations, including using meeting apps such as Zoom, Google Meet or MS Teams. Online streaming tools such as YouTube Live, Twitch and Facebook are also a great way to share live presentations and allow two way communication via live chat.

For presentations which are broadcast within the school or college environment, digital signage software is a powerful tool to connect screens across the campus. For example if there is a lecture or seminar in one college campus, but you want it shared to another location or class.

If you're looking for a very underused way to connect school staff with the home environment then this can be a very useful way to share useful information with a broader audience.

6. LLMs for optimizing messaging

While this isn't a communication channel, it is a great tool for improving many parts of school communication strategies. AI tools and LLMs such as ChatGPT are very handy for improving your communications, whether you need their help researching a topic or generating ideas. Teachers can use ChatGPT in many ways, including improving their own communications. As this reddit thread highlights, one of the biggest benefits is using AI to handle specific email conversations and replies.

For example, you could paste in an email and ask ChatGPT to write a polite response that explains your perspective. Say a parent writes asking why their kid was marked down for plagiarism, or why some topics are in the curriculum. 

An LLM could help summarize the answer and put it in the most polite way possible. Just be sure to double check the email before sending...

Parent communication strategies

When managing a school communication strategy, multiple channels are the best ways to connect. With the demands of the modern world, parents are often juggling hectic work schedules alongside their child's education - which as an educator you're probably more than aware of.

Multiple research sources have found that parental involvement in the education process has a positive effect on kid's learning and their child's academic success.

When it comes to parent engagement, a mixture of direct (one to one), and broader communication using apps and email is the best way to ensure teachers and parents are on the same page.

And then unify all of your communication efforts with school digital signage to ensure minimal crossed wires.

Using ScreenCloud to improve parent teacher communication

When it comes to strategies for effective communication, digital signage has become an essential addition to public spaces around the world. And it also makes a great focal point in schools for teachers, parents and children to be able to view critical or important information.

Setting up digital signage with ScreenCloud is simple, and as we mentioned you can use readily available technology such as a TV and an Amazon Signage Stick. Or, use our purpose-built PIXI device and run your content all day, every day with no interruptions. 

Want to find out more about digital signage, or ready to get started?

Sign up for our free trial, or request a demo today.