How This Title 1 School Connects With Nearly 100% of Parents Without Email, Flyers or Calls

The Challenge

Pocahontas Area Elementary is a Title 1 school in Iowa. In the past, teachers were using a mix of email, paper notes and phone calls to reach parents. Maintaining multiple methods of parent communication was time-consuming for teachers, and many parents still remained out of reach.

The waiting for the exchange process was always a concern. – explains Leslie Aden, who teaches 5th and 6th grade.

The Transformation

Susan Oehlertz is the area’s technology integrationist, who spotted the problem and saw an opportunity to bring innovative thinking to the district.

I recommended ClassTag to all teachers for all their communications because we had so much success using it with parent teacher conferences – explains Susan. Once teachers experienced how easy it was to set up conferences, they embraced the new tool and started to explore other potential uses of ClassTag.

Susan learned that using the same digital tools across classrooms makes technology adoption easier for everyone and lessens the learning curve from year to year. It also significantly improves parent communication and participation.

The Implementation

Leslie Aden uses ClassTag to send announcements and reminders regarding class parties, field trips, and upcoming quizzes. Being able to send a last minute note and get an immediate response has proven extremely useful when harsh winter caused scheduling changes.

ClassTag has given me the tool to reach all parents simultaneously. They feel really informed and like the ability to check messages right on their phone. It did take work to reach 100% of the parents. Was this effort worth it? Absolutely! – Leslie

The Results

 75%+ of parents connected in each classroom, with many classrooms reaching 100%.

 Many teachers achieve 100% parent-teacher conference participation.

 Increased parent participation and volunteering.

 In our elementary building, we are all “talking” the same language and using the same communication tools. – Susan

ClassTag is the free, easy-to-use parent communication platform that lets teachers effortlessly engage with parents and earn ClassTag Coins when parents and teachers communicate, volunteer, or attend school events like parent teacher conferences. Now teachers can not only improve parent engagement, but get much needed supplies while doing so. Explore ClassTag today!