Family Trends from April 12th Through April 18th

Possip received over 4,000 responses submitted by parents, family members, and caregivers this week. We read all of the praises and insights sent in throughout the week of April 12th through April 18th. If your school uses Possip Pulse Checks, you may have heard about trends from your specific school or in your community. It may also be helpful to know what topics other parents are discussing with their school across the country. Possip has schools in 26 states and we want to share our findings from all of our families. Here is a quick summary of family trends from April 12th through April 18th across the country.

 

Last week, 82% of families responded that they were happy with their child’s school, with the remaining saying they were mostly happy or not happy with their child’s school.

 

We saw a few positive trends from families across the country:

 

• Shout-outs and praises for amazing teachers and the work they are doing for students. With teacher appreciation week on the horizon, this seems to be top of minds for families. 
• Praise for school reopenings and COVID safety measures like contact tracing efforts

 

Here are the most frequently discussed feedback for schools across the country:

 

8% of all Possip recommendations to schools this week related to communicating student academic progress and grade updates to families. Families asked that teachers update grades more frequently to reflect the correct class grade and increased communication to families about how students are doing.  Here are a few representative quotes from families on this topic:

• “Cómo está mi estudiante en sus clases?” Translation: How is my student in his classes?”

• “If a child is failing a class reach out to the parent, don’t just post grades and leave it alone”

• “Teachers should be required to update grades within 24 hours of students turning assignments in.”

• “Lack of communication regarding 3rd quarter grades”

7% of all Possip recommendations to schools revolved around increasing communication to families. Families who stayed virtual wanted more communication in general and families of in-person students wanted to hear more about what learning looks like in school. Families also asked to get responses back to all emails or calls to the school in a timely manner. Here are a few representative quotes from families on this topic:

• “Need more communication about what learning looks like now that students are back for in class.”

• “When I send emails to administrator I never get a respond back.”

• “Communication with virtual students has not been good since the start of this quarter. We also have a substitute teacher for the rest of this year and communication has not been great with her either.”

4% of all Possip recommendations to schools discussed technology needs. Comments were about computers for students not working and not being able to log into virtual classes.

• “My child has not been let into the zoom meeting this week”

• “His computer not working”

• “My son laptop is broken. He said he reported it to [his school] and teachers and nothing was done. So the meantime he’s not doing his work which is unacceptable to me”

3% of all Possip recommendations to schools asked questions about scheduling. Families had questions and feedback about the school schedule, virtual learning schedule, and testing schedules. Additionally, families wanted more proactive notice of schedule changes rationale on why the current schedules were chosen. Here are a few quotes:

• “The upcoming test schedule seems a bit chaotic. Please send plenty of reminders so we can make sure our scholars are where they need to be on the right days.”

• “I truly appreciate all everyone is doing.  But it seems that the calendar on flyer app is not updated in advance… Like for the Friday on Spring break.  Email stated there were no classes and teacher conferences were only with a few.  But in reality there was school on Friday it was just ascynchronous. And I believe they did not have school that Monday following Spring Break.  Having calendar and schedules updated and accurate helps so kids do not have to miss school.”

• “Is it the state or the school that elects the testing date?  I just thought it wasn’t a good idea to schedule testing for seniors during the week and day of graduation.”

 

Here are a few suggested parent tools and resources based on what we are hearing:

• Possip Resource: Tech Troubleshooting Guide
• Possip Blog: How To Write A Teacher Feedback Email  

 

We also shared these Possip blogs with our partner schools:

 

• 4 Tips on Communicating Academic Progress to Parents Virtually: 
• Virtual Learning Tips
• Partner Spotlight on Parent Newsletters
• Messaging Difficult Decision ––This content may help you create a plan for messaging difficult schedule change decisions and rationale for them 

 

We’d love to hear from you. What else do you need or want to see? Do these parent praise and insights align with what you see?

The post Family Trends from April 12th Through April 18th appeared first on Possip | Parent Engagement Platform | School Feedback App.