Increasing Parent Response Rates

Parents and guardians are busier than ever, but their voice needs to be heard now more than ever in schools. Here are some strategies for increasing parent response rates. Possip schools can implement these to hear from more families by gaining investment, showing appreciation, and focusing on the Possip Champions in your community!

1. Message Possip’s Purpose Clearly

One of the most crucial first steps to getting families on board with Possip pulse checks is to clearly state the purpose of sending Possip pulse checks, and remessaging this routinely. If families understand the meaning behind the text messages and that you are valuing and reading every response, their investment will increase significantly. Make sure all of your families know the WHY behind sending Possip pulse checks – and the WHY for them responding. Here are a few questions to begin reflecting on as your crafting your Possip purpose statement to send to families:

• What was the reason your school moved to doing specifically Possip pulse checks?
• Why text messaging? 
• What do you hope to be able to do with Possip pulse check data? 
• Why is it important for your school to hear family voice?
• Why as a parent is it important to share their voice and feedback and praise?
• How will Possip pulse checks positively impact the school community if families respond consistently? 

 

2. Keep Pulse Checks Relevant

Routines are helpful for families when it comes to communication. Possip pulse checks are a perfect example of a consistent routine communication source. We ask a few baseline questions about parent happiness, praise for the school, and feedback for the school. Schools can make the pulse checks more relevant and keep parents engaged in responding to pulse checks by using Bonus Questions at the start or end of each pulse check. Bonus questions allow parents to feel like they are sharing their input on topics that are current and meaningful. Check out this article on the Possip bonus questions and how you can add them to your pulse check. 

 

3. Provide Appreciation and Incentives to Families

Showing gratitude for responders helps them understand that their voice is being heard and it is valued. Schools can reach out to a handful of families who responded each week via phone, email, or other communication method just to personally say “thank you” for taking the time to respond. Parents are busier than ever so providing praise and encouragement to them during this time is a benefit for so many reasons and will spur them on to continue taking the pulse checks. They may even talk to their friends at the school and other parents can become your very own Possip publicizers! Also, by focusing on the parents who are responding, schools can learn so much from them and make such positive momentum in the community through those important voices. 

 

Incentives are also a powerful tool and motivator for families. A few ideas to start thinking about boosting response rates include:

• Having a grade-level competition and the grade level with the most parent respondents wins a community prize (i.e. “virtual movie night” or “free dress day” or a big longer of a recess time one day)
• Provide raffle prizes to families who respond and pick one winner every month for school swag or something families would appreciate
• Write public shout-outs to families that shared their name in an upcoming school newsletter for “top Possip responders” or get their approval to share an actual praise quotes in an upcoming family communication 

 

Incentives don’t have to just be prizes, though. It could be a community incentive of reaching a goal together as a school for hitting a certain response rate and using a visual to track Possip metrics. For example, in front of the school (if doing in-person school), have a visual showing your Possip goal and how much you have left to reach your goal. Think one of those thermometer fundraiser trackers! Humans love to see visual progress towards a goal and will see that the school is putting this goal as a priority for the community.  

 

4. Use Multiple Methods of Publicizing Pulse Checks 

Families may need reminders in multiple ways to respond to the pulse check. Schools can increase response rates by reminding families to take the survey on their social media sites (instagram, facebook, twitter), sending out an email or robocall to families, putting a reminder in a parent newsletter the day before or after sending a pulse check, or sending a reminder on apps like class dojo or talking points. The more methods of reminding parents to take the Possip pulse check and the important purpose of Possip, the better!

 

5. Tell Them What You Heard

Make sure to close the feedback loop after a Possip pulse check and tell the community what you heard. This helps them get invested and understand that someone is actually reading these text messages families are sending in. At Possip, we have a product offering that does this for school leaders called the 360 script. The 360 script pulls out trends in praise and feedback from the pulse checks that week and puts them in family-friendly language so schools can easily share that quick message back to the community to increase investment. If you are interested in learning more about our 360 offering, reach out to caitlin@possip.com. 

 

6. Utilize Possip Champions

Use your family members who respond to Possip pulse checks consistently to hype up Possip to other parents. Schools could even create marketing materials for Possip with those family members or share their testimonials on social media outlets. The more that families see members of their own school community backing Possip and the benefits of it, they will be more likely to get invested and respond.  This could even look like just asking a few parents to reach out to 10 friends formally or informally and make sure they respond to Possip that week! 

Another way to utilize Possip champions is to ask them what the school can do to increase response rates. They probably have some awesome ideas to try. They also are able to tap into their parent perspective to think of effective strategies for your specific community. Use your Possip champions to build more investment in hearing family voices! 

 

7. Invest Your Teachers in Possip

Get your teachers invested in the purpose of Possip, too! The more that families see everyone at the school referring to Possip and hearing about how the school uses the data, the more families will utilize the tool. Many families also give specific teacher shout-outs in Possip pulse checks that can. These get teachers excited about investing parents in Possip. Possip truly has positive benefits for everyone in the school community! 

 

8. Correct Contact Information & Target Non-Responders

Make sure you have correct family contact information in your system. This is a huge barrier to seeing as much success as possible with respondent rates for Possip. Schools or districts can have a campaign to gather new contact information and try to get up to date data for all families. Schools can even target non-responders to see if that contact information is now incorrect or if there is another reason families are choosing not to respond. Getting that data is important to understanding your community and making the most out of Possip pulse checks!

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Engaging and Retaining Staff

Through staff pulse checks we see teachers and staff members have a diversity of thoughts and feelings about their satisfaction – and what is being asked of them during this time. Some are excited and ready for this time. Others are struggling with what is being asked of them this year – and truthfully, every year. That is what inspired this blog on engaging and retaining staff.

I started to write this blog to help those working with teachers and staff continue and grow their support of teachers and staff. As I penned this blog I found myself convicted – as a leader of our team. I had to stop to consider all of the needs outside of our work that might be top of mind for my team members. I found myself thinking about some of the things that are top of mind for me – as a human, a mom, an employee.

So as you think about supporting staff and teachers, here are a few ideas:

Create formal and informal mechanisms for ongoing feedback and conversation

Possip is a great formal mechanism for a routine pulse check. It can help create equity – where you hear from everyone and everyone has an equal (or more equal) chance to share. So we believe a formal and routine mechanism is critical. But schools can use other formal mechanisms or tools as well.

In addition to formal mechanisms, you also need informal and more organic mechanisms. Informal mechanisms can include intentional meetings, places, and spaces where teachers, staff and administrators come together. With virtual work there aren’t as many “water cooler” conversations….or parking lot conversations.

What are informal ways to learn about the needs and ideas of those on your staff?

Does every one of your team members have a routine and weekly conversation where they can answer the question – how are you – to a person? No really, how are you? Here are some questions we recommend to get the second answer underneath how are you? https://possip.com/questions-to-build-staff-culture/ 

Consider policies and practices through a hierarchy of needs

While talk about “self-care” is common, the reality of how to do it is hard. As you’re thinking through systems, policies, and practices, consider some of these questions.

• Do teachers or staff have what they need outside of school? Particularly this is an important consideration for first-year teachers and assistant teachers or other staff member who may face financial vulnerabilities. Do they have the food, shelter, and physiological needs cared for?
• Does your staff feel physically safe at school? Do they feel healthy? Do they team feel like their family is safe?
• Are they learning and growing – and able to grow and become professionally their best version of themselves?
• Do they feel connected and a sense of belonging – to both their school community and to an external community? Do they feel cared for and connected?
• Does your staff end their days with some sense of accomplishment and achievement? Do they feel successful?

You don’t need answers to these questions, but as you consider opportunities or gaps in your culture or policies, these questions could help consider the mental or physical, or emotional space your team members may be in.

Offer ways for team members to be known

One constant we hear – from family members and school and district staff – is a desire to be seen and known. There are many ways to make people feel seen and known. Here are a few ideas:

• Insure structures like grade-team meetings or department meetings – are happening routinely. This helps make sure team members feel known and connected.
• Use the information you get from Possip pulse checks or other systems to share shout-outs with team members, departments, or areas.
• Whip-around questions. People like to joke about whip-around questions, but they work! Just as cheesy camp songs still work in building community and fun, whip-around questions work too! At Possip we are pretty proud of our whip-around questions. We’re sharing a few of our favorites here: https://possip.com/favorite-whip-around-questions

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The Second How Are You: Questions to Build Staff Culture

Written by Shani Dowell, Possip Founder

  

I admire people who aren’t people pleasers.  That’s not my ministry.  I am a people pleaser. 

 

So that means even when people ask me “how are you?” I’m not looking to bother them with how I actually am.  Folks got their own problems, they don’t need mine.  And it’s fair.  “How are you?” is a formality.  It is a polite conversation.  While I want people to be honest with me, I can appreciate that someone might want a warning before people REALLY tell you how they are!

 

So I recommend a second, how are you?  This really indicates to someone that you are willing, able and ready to share how you really are.  We shared some tips about how to get kids talking a few years ago https://possip.com/7-tips-get-kids-talking-first-days/.  I borrow some inspiration from this for getting team members talking.  Here are a few questions to build staff culture that might help you learn more about how a team member is doing:

 

• How are you?
• How are you feeling about your work?
• Where are you feeling successful?:
• Are there places you are struggling?
• How’s your work with {insert grade or class or subject or special project?}
• What’s your pulse or sense on how the team is doing?
• How’s your {insert a close friend, spouse, partner, kids}?
• Have you gotten to do anything fun recently?

 

We share these ideas because our partners sometimes hear from staff members that they may not be doing great.  But it can still sometimes be hard to get someone talking about really share what is hard for them.  We hope you can use these questions to build staff culture and engage your team members.

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Family Trends from Week Ending March 5

During the week ending March 5th, over 20,000 parents or caregivers responded to a pulse check with their parents’ praise and insights. We know parents and family members hear from their school after Possip pulse checks – but you may wonder what else is happening across the 26 states where Possip partners with schools, districts and families. Take a look at an overview of parent praise and insight from across the country.

Last week, 64% of parents 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 themes across the country:

• Specific shout-outs to teachers who have supported their children during virtual learning
• Praise for districts that are in the process of reopening school or recently moved to in-person learning
• Continued feedback and comments about school reopening plans and future or current COVID safety protocols
• Requests for more communication from teachers and the school overall
• Feedback for teachers around academic progress communication, virtual classroom management, and substitute teacher effectiveness

 

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

• Blog: How to write an email with feedback to a teacher: https://possip.com/teacher-feedback-email/ 
• Blog: 5 Ways Parents Can Support Strong Teacher Communication Virtually https://possip.com/5-ways-parents-can-support-strong-teacher-communication-virtually/ 

 

We also shared these resources with our partner schools…

• Free Resource: COVID-19 Communication Parent Newsletter Template: https://app.hubspot.com/documents/5933397/view/94080897?accessId=82f822
• Blog: Parent Teacher Communication During COVID-19: https://possip.com/parent-teacher-communication-during-covid-19/ 
• Blog: 6 Tips on How to Communicate So Parents Listen and Hear: https://possip.com/parent-communication/ 

 

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

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Possip Spotlight: Using Staff Pulse Checks to Inform Decision Making

This week’s Possip partner spotlight features a conversation with Teach for America Indianapolis Managing Director of Leadership Development, Brea Porter. Brea shares how TFA Indy has used Staff Pulse Checks to inform decision making. One of the primary ways they’ve encouraged participation in Pulse Checks is by letting their team know why they’re using Pulse Checks, and how they plan on leveraging their feedback and praise to drive decision making.

Read our Q&A with Brea to learn some strategies you can use to keep the feedback loop between your team and leadership transparent and open!

Possip: You mentioned you had a staff meeting to talk through how and why you are sending Pulse Checks to them. How did sharing your learning goals with your team increase their participation?

Historically, our organization has relied on lengthy quarterly surveys and frequent Google Survey forms to capture data about our member experience. Especially during the COVID-era, it seems like we started to push out more surveys than ever before just to get a read on how our people were doing. From the user perspective, it was perceived that we were constantly collecting input, but there was no through line that connected that input to the changes we were making for our organization. By sharing our POSSIP learnings with our network, they were able to see much more clearly how big of a role their input plays in both the day to day and long-term decisions our team makes. I believe this conversation allowed folks to truly feel heard, and demonstrated that their voices are valued by the decision-makers of our organization.

Possip: Has sharing findings and impressions from Pulse Checks with your staff been impactful?

Not only did sharing our findings from Pulse Checks increase the level of participation in general, but it allowed for our members to be a part of our decision making and planning processes. The accessibility and optional anonymity of Pulse Checks has allowed our folks to be vulnerable and engage in perhaps deeper, more thorough conversations than before. We’re able to gather insight from all perspectives, not just those who are willing and able to attend monthly focus-group meetings.

Possip: How did you go about doing this?

First, our leadership team had to get really clear on why we were collecting this data in the first place – what was our objective in having our members complete these Pulse Checks? Next, we wanted to make that reasoning available to our broader community, including offering a space for questions and comments to be shared. Then, we were finally able to share some of the insight we collected alongside how it has impacted our current planning, and what it could mean for us as an organization long term. Our members were appreciative of our level of transparency, and this conversation truly created a positive shift in our community culture.

Possip: What best practices or other takeaways would you share with other partners about staff Pulse Checks?

I think the advice we would offer is to be as intentional as possible about the Bonus Questions that you design for your Pulse Checks – they should feel timely and relevant to current context. Also, push yourself and others to be as transparent as possible about how the data you’ve been collecting has and will impact future planning and initiatives. From our experience, increasing that level of transparency with our members has increased member participation and strengthened our community.

Special thanks to Brea for the Q&A!

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Favorite Whip-Around Questions

Trying to connect teachers – staff – and even students – can get stale.  Our team loves using whip-around to keep us connected – and constantly getting to know each other better.  Here are some of our favorite whip-around questions – and some of these are great ones for students also.

 

• What is your favorite hobby you want to do when you retire?
• Guess the height of a team member or classmate you haven’t met in person yet?
• What is a movie you can watch again and again?
•  What is a word or phrase you know in another language? Where did you learn it?
• Tell us about one of your childhood friends and what you learned from them?
• If you could attend an NPR Tiny Desk concert by one musician/band, who would you select and why? 
• What is your favorite app on your phone? Or which one do you use most?
• What nonprofit would you choose to endorse if you could only pick one?
• If you were speaking at a TEDx conference or something similar, what would you talk about?
• What sound brings you peace? 
• What did you do this weekend?
• White holiday lights or multicolored holiday lights?
• Favorite family recipe?
• What is a proud achievement or accomplishment from middle or high school?
• Do you snooze your alarm or not snooze?

 

We’d love to hear from you.  What are some of your favorite whip-around questions?  Email us at hello@possip.com.  

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Family Trends from Week Ending February 28

During the week ending February 28th, over 33,000 parents or caregivers responded to a pulse check with their parent praise and insights. Below are trends in comments from families across the country taken directly from our Possip reports. Take a look at an overview of parent praise and insight from Possip families:

Last week, 73% of parents 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 themes across the country:

• appreciation for school staff members and their continued focus on student success and well-being
• comments, questions, and feedback about COVID safety measures being taken on campus during in-person learning
• continued requests for academic support for students who are struggling academically and need additional support from teachers
• feedback about school communication and requests for parent follow-up on student-specific topics

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

• 5 Ways Parents Can Support Strong School-Home Communication
• Feeling unsure when to share feedback to your school? Check out this blog: When to Reach Out to The School

We also shared these resources with our partner schools:

• How to Use Your Report Reading Team to Follow-Up With Parents Quickly
• Effective Hybrid Learning Tips
• How Schools Are Effectively Communicating During This Time

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

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