Education Week - September 16, 2015 - 16

DIGITAL DIRECTIONS > Tracking news and ideas in educational technology
www.digitaldirections.org

Home-to-School Digital Interactions Are Focus of Research
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

school, and district levels.
Yet even as proponents of those tools praise
their ability to break down walls between
schools and families, some say there are risks
that the information exchange will overwhelm
teachers and parents, and discourage them
from engaging at all.
Others say that unequal levels of web connectivity at home prevent poor families from
being able to engage with teachers in the same
way that more affluent parents can. Advocates
for closing that digital divide say that educators need to use a variety of communications
to ensure they reach parents from all economic,
cultural, and linguistic backgrounds.
"Any tool that I can leverage to help [students] learn a little bit more is enticing to me,"
said Joseph Vincente, a 10th grade chemistry
teacher at East Side Community High School
in New York City, who has experimented with
reaching parents through text messages and
others means. Some forms are "like an alert, a
notification," he said, which creates "a different feel to the communication."

thew Kraft, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of education at Brown University.
Parent-teacher communication tends to be more
effective, he said, when it provides parents with
"specific information on how they can support
their [children]... in school and outside of class."

Content and Frequency
While he acknowledges that his research is
not conclusive, Kraft believes it will contribute
to schools' understanding of what factors-
such as the quality of messages' content and
their frequency-make parent-teacher communication most effective.
Daisy Marino, a former 4th grade English/
language arts teacher at Warren Elementary
School in Warren, Texas, started sending basic

text messages about upcoming tests, class
activities, and field trips to parents two years
ago. She used a platform that is now known
as Remind, a free text-messaging service that
has more than 30 million users since launching four years ago, according to co-founder
and CEO Brett Kopf. Other providers, such as
Kaymbu and Tadpoles, offer similar services.
Marino taught three classes, each with
about 25 students. Over time, she began sending more dynamic messages each week to all
of her students' parents, such as pictures of
grammatical passages and spelling lists.
She would also send personalized messages
to certain parents, about after-school sessions
and class party duties. While she said she did
not send messages about individual students'
academic struggles, to avoid misunderstandings, she said she notified parents individually
"when their students had really great days."
"I wanted to make sure all of their parents
were getting the information that they needed
to make the child successful in class," said Marino, who now works as the district's instructional technology specialist.

One parent who regularly received Marino's
texts was Jennifer Spearman. The messages
allowed Spearman to stay informed about
what time the class would be returning from a
field trip and help her kids study despite having missed class due to illness. The mother of
three school-age children said the technology
has "kept the lines open" with their teachers.
Before her kids arrive home, "I already
know what to expect," Spearman said.

Multiple Resources

To communicate well with all families, and
not just advantaged ones, studies suggest that
teachers must use multiple resources, said Joyce
Epstein, a research professor of education and
sociology at Johns Hopkins University. Epstein is
also the director of the National Network of Partnership Schools. The organization works with
schools, districts, and state leaders to develop
research-based programs for family involvement.
One teacher who takes that multi-pronged
Teachers and district officials around the
approach is Vincente, who, with Remind, uses
country communicate via text messages
a combination of email, text messages, and
and alerts with parents through Remind,
phone calls with parents to discuss the academic progress of students he advises. The mix
a messaging platform.
of methods gives Vincente confidence he's reach'Light-Touch' Exchanges
ing more parents than he otherwise might. He
There is a strong body of evidence that stualso uses Remind to communicate directly with
Whittier College Poets 14-15 12/4/14
Whittier College Poets 14-15 11/4/14
dents perform better academically when parents
his students, and help those who are struggling.
are deeply involved in their education. Yet much
"[It] has allowed me to feel like I'm serving
Tonight 5-6pm is our Common Core
There is a math test on Thursday.
of that research was conducted before computerstudents exactly the way I need, in a way that
Panel Discussion. We will answer some
Concepts will include factors,
based technology was prevalent in homes and
I wasn't able to do before," Vincente explained.
of the most pressing Common Core Qs
multiples, factor trees, and
schools. The research also lacks data on how
Both parents and school officials need to be
that [arose] last meeting.
fractions. Students are encouraged
students' academic performance is affected by
selective in choosing the right technologies to
to study.
parents' tech-based interactions with teachers.
keep them connected, Epstein said. Parents
A working paper released last year by reshould select the portals they will pay attensearchers at Harvard University addresses
tion to, "as opposed to every possible commusome of those gaps. It found that frequent textnication," she explained. Schools, in turn, have
messaging between teachers and parents was
to be careful not to overload parents, but inlinked to improved student academic outcomes
stead share the most meaningful information
SMS Tigers 5
4/29/15 at 6:48pm
when the content of those electronic exchanges
in a targeted way, many researchers agree.
was focused on educational goals.
Some districts are not only encouraging
Give your kid a high
A separate study, conducted by the Harvard
teacher-to-parent communication through
five! The kids did
2014-2015
1/17/15
Graduate School of Education in 2012 found
technology-they're actually implementamazing these past
Friday is Family Friday. A math
that student engagement in a summer school
ing platforms to facilitate those exchanges.
two days in the ELA
program increased when families received daily
The San Francisco school district's new
specialist from the district will be
portion of the ACT
phone calls and written text messages from
web platform from SchoolMessenger
talking to parents about the "new"
Aspire!
teachers. A third study, published in a National
makes it possible to send text messages
math. Hope to see you there!
Communication Association journal in 2008,
and emails to families.
concluded that emails between teachers and
Though "it is still an imperfect sysparents led to increased homework completion.
tem," according to spokeswoman Gentle
But it also found that for some students'
Blythe, the district hopes it will make
Sun, Jun 14, 1:27pm
emails to their parents might have hinmaintaining contact more seamless.
Please RSVP yes or no for the
dered their performance, because they
Programs like READY4K!, another textJune 15th meeting if you haven't
If you are going to SLI,
resented the exchanges or relied too
messaging platform, similarly strive to support
already! We are ordering pizza
please be sure to bring a
heavily on their parents for help.
this interaction. It was developed for parents of
and need to know numbers by
check
tomorrow.
It
will
be
Parents tend to connect with teachers
preschoolers by researchers from the Center for
5pm Sunday
made out to NWHS.
via technologies that are convenient, and
Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University
in many households, the tool of choice is
in partnership with the San Francisco district's
the smartphone. Ownership of those deearly education department. The platform-
vices has spiked, from 35 percent of U.S.
which relies on providing parents with small,
adults in 2011 to 64 percent in 2015, according
specific activities to build on existing family
to the Pew Research Center.
routines-is intended to lead to increased parSun, June 14, 6:51PM
Mon, June 15, 2:22PM
In the Harvard working paper, parents of
ent engagement in early literacy activities and
Be sure to bring your own
Attached is the Community
high school students in a credit-recovery prolearning gains. The system is now being used by
drink tomorrow and any other
Service Form you can find it on
gram received personalized text messages from
schools in 20 different states, CEPA officials say.
snacks for the meeting.
teachers each week. The "light-touch commuUltimately, the best technologies for conTwitter too @NW_StuCo http://
nication," as the researchers described it, was
necting teachers with parents have to work
rmd.me/6SPP1
linked to fewer students dropping out of school
on several fronts, Epstein said. They have to
and failing to earn course credit. That was esbe easy for both sides to use, and they have
pecially true when messages included concrete
to allow for messages that are personalized to
examples of how students could be more sucthe needs of individual students.
SOURCE: Remind
cessful, which the researchers concluded led to
Some parents "will [want] to say, 'Enough,'
more productive support from parents.
and others will say, 'That's wonderful,' " EpWhen teacher-to-parent communication is
stein said, "and that's what we really have to
too generic, or focused only on positive aspects
try to understand."
of student performance, schools are "missing an
opportunity to provide guidance on areas for imLibrarian Holly Peele and Library Intern Maya
provement, which all students have," said MatRiser-Kositsky contributed to this story.

QUICK COMMUNICATION

16 | EDUCATION WEEK | September 16, 2015 | www.edweek.org

http://www.digitaldirections.org http://www.rmd.me/6SPP1 http://www.rmd.me/6SPP1 http://www.edweek.org

Education Week - September 16, 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - September 16, 2015