This is the beginning of our five part series on the “Who, What, When, Where and Why of Mobile Apps for Schools” sign up up for our newsletter for more of this series.
We’re halfway through the school year and like most of us, you have probably already encountered more than a few communication challenges with your student’s parents. Luckily, mobile app technology for your school can help to relieve unnecessary communication issues and pave the way for smoother sailing well into the future.
New and ever-evolving technology has changed the way people expect to receive information and that includes from their child’s school. They want it in real-time, as soon as it happens, and they want it sent to them wherever they are, via their favorite device.
A recent study from Common Sense Media shares that on average, parents of children ages 8 to 18 consume screen media for more than nine hours each day. Let’s be honest, we all are on our mobile devices several hours a day checking email, scheduling events or posting on social media. Similarly, parents have grown accustomed to a world where business and personal interactions alike take place over their phone and they are growing increasingly frustrated when they can’t be connected with their child’s school in the same ways. They expect to be able to access a calendar at the click of the button or receive important information from the school immediately. Increasingly, email is overloaded with spam, and the Thursday Folder is increasingly dated as schools try to reduce costs and become eco-friendly.
As former NSPRA President, Ron Koehler pointed out in a previous study,
“Consumer needs are changing. The backpack folder is no longer the primary source of information for parents. They want and prefer instant electronic information… and they want it now.”
Parents rely on schools to provide:
- Curriculum descriptions and information on instructional programs
- A calendar of events and meetings
- Information on student safety
- Educational program changes and updates/curriculum updates and changes in instructional programs
- A community for parents and teachers to facilitate conversation about needs and progress
In this fast-paced, on-the-go world, a mobile app for your school is not only the best way to meet the communication needs of the parents in your school, it can also help increase student success at your school.
Studies show that when parents are engaged with their child’s school, there is:
- Higher academic achievement
- Increased attendance rates
- Positive student attitudes and behaviors
- Increased student readiness and interest in their work
- Increased parent satisfaction with teachers
- Higher teacher satisfaction ratings
Additionally, it proves that, as educators and administrators you are serious and invested in the academic success of your students. So, before the next communication issue comes up at your school, consider how a customized mobile app for your community can ease ever-present parent to school engagement tension.
You can learn more about how we are reinventing communications to increase parent engagement here.
Up next in our “Who, What, When, Where and Why of Mobile Apps for Schools,” read about who, in addition to parents, benefits from your school’s mobile app.