Some school communications lead to delays and frustration... Flyers get lost, phone calls may go unanswered, and emails become buried in busy inboxes. These delays can lead to missed messages, and when you solely rely on these methods, it can be hard to keep everyone informed and on the same page.

Sooner or later, parents disconnect from their children’s education.

For your students to succeed and your school community to thrive, you’ll need open and effective communication between parents and teachers. A connected school community makes a classroom feel like a tight-knit family, but parents, teachers, and coaches need to be on the same page about school policies, academic expectations, school events, and countless other aspects of school life.

Two-way chat for schools changes how schools and districts manage parent-teacher interactions. By providing direct messaging, group chats, file sharing, automatic translation, and more, a parent-teacher chat tool ensures that every conversation is clear, inclusive, and efficient.

Effective School-to-Home Communications

Ever since the pandemic, parents have expected a high degree of transparency from their child’s school. They want more communication from their child’s teacher throughout the school year, but they want communication that’s highly personalized.

As younger parents become part of the school community, it’s not surprising that mobile apps, chat, and text messaging for schools continue to gain popularity.

Nowadays, 58% of Gen Z parents are comfortable texting their child’s teacher. When teachers and parents can easily collaborate, share information, and, most importantly, become partners in education, both families and teachers can support students' learning and development.

Impact on Student Success

According to a study by the American Psychological Association, students show higher academic achievement and motivation when parents engage with their children’s schooling. But that’s not always so easy when parents are busier than ever.

When a quick check-in is just a message away via a mobile app, parents can stay more involved in their child's education, and teachers can stay more connected with families, whether it’s about regular updates on homework, parent-teacher conferences, or student progress.

“When teachers understand what their students are going through personally and at home and any challenges they may have, then that improves their teaching,” said Vito Borrello, executive director of the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement, in an article for Education Week. “They’re able to support their student in ways they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”

Community Building

Good communication doesn’t just help individual students— The best apps for school-to-home communications help build a stronger school community by inviting others into the conversation through a single, unified hub that makes every conversation accessible, straightforward, and dynamically translated into their preferred language.

That tight-knit feeling every school wants takes shape when everyone in the school community is more engaged and motivated:

• Parents feel more connected to the school and more confident in their children's education.
• Teachers and coaches feel more supported by parents.
• Students benefit from knowing that their parents and teachers are behind them every step of the way.

Top Things to Look for in Parent-teacher Comms Tools

Direct Messaging for Personalized Communication

Finalsite offers parent-teacher chat that provides the flexibility of both direct and group messaging, making it easy to tailor communication for specific needs.

Direct messaging allows parents, guardians, teachers, and coaches to have individual but monitored conversations more easily. It’s especially useful for discussing student needs, progress, or concerns. This kind of direct, personalized messaging ensures that parents and guardians are kept in the loop and can respond in real-time to any issues — without the delays often seen with emails or missed phone calls.

Group Chats for Collaborative Engagement

Group messaging, on the other hand, is perfect for sharing information with multiple parents at once or for parents who want to interact with each other. For instance, if the class plans a field trip, the teacher can create a group chat to inform all the parents about the details and answer any important questions — like who’s bringing the snacks?

One-Way Chat Rooms for Efficient Announcements

In one-way chats, teachers, coaches, or administrators can send messages directly to parents’ mobile phones without needing responses, which is particularly useful for important updates like school closures, upcoming events, or announcements that don’t require back-and-forth messaging.

With one-way chat rooms, you can ensure that all parents receive the same information at the same time, providing information quickly and clearly and lowering the risk of mixed messaging.

Two-Way Chat Rooms for Interactive Discussions

Two-way chat rooms enable discussions between teachers and parents, allowing anyone in the group to send messages, ask questions, and share information. This type of communication is great for more dynamic conversations, like discussing homework assignments, classroom activities, or school policies — collaborative, open lines of communication where parents and teachers can work together to support student learning.

Auto-Created Chat Rooms for Seamless Organization

Chat rooms can be automatically created based on your student information system’s (SIS) data. This time-saving feature means that as soon as a new class or group is formed in the SIS, a corresponding chatroom is created in chat, so your communication channels are always up-to-date and relevant. Plus, the automation means smoother onboarding and more adoption for teachers and parents.

If a new sports team is added, chat will automatically create a chatroom for the coach and parents. Additionally, teachers and administrators can manually create more chat rooms as needed.

File and Media Sharing

With chat, teachers and parents can even exchange documents and images. This is particularly useful for sharing homework assignments, class schedules, or the amazing cast photo from opening night!

Emojis

What’s a chat without a good emoji? 😃 Chat includes features like emojis and profanity filtering to make communications clear and safe. Emojis can add a friendly and personal touch to messages, like a thumbs-up emoji to congratulate a student on a job well done or a smiley face to make a message more welcoming.

Administrative Oversight for a Safe and Efficient Communication Environment

And speaking of safe spaces, admins play a large role in maintaining a secure and respectful environment within chat. With role-based access, administrators can manage users and access levels, ensuring each user has the appropriate permissions.

Furthermore, one key benefit of chat is the ability for administrators to oversee and moderate all chats, enter any conversation, and see active users, helping maintain a safe and respectful environment for everyone.

Profanity Filtering

Chat’s profanity settings automatically detect and filter out inappropriate language, so you can help create a safer space where everyone feels comfortable and respected.

If a conversation between parents and teachers becomes heated or inappropriate language is detected, an admin can mediate, redirect the discussion, or take appropriate action as needed.

Breaking Down Language Barriers with Chat Translation

Inclusion is a goal for every school, and when all parents, regardless of their language, can easily communicate with teachers and stay updated on their children’s education, the entire school community benefits. 

Today, the US Census reports that more than 21% of schoolchildren speak a language other than English at home. With chat translation, when a teacher sends a message in English, for example, parents who speak Spanish, Mandarin, or any other supported language can receive the message in their preferred language.

This automatic translation feature helps ensure that all parents understand important announcements, classroom updates, and other communications without needing additional resources for translation.

However, supporting non-English-speaking families goes beyond translating messages. A parent who might hesitate to attend a school meeting because of language barriers can feel more confident knowing teachers can send follow-up messages in the parents’ preferred language, summarizing the discussion and outlining the next steps.

In group chats, where multiple languages might be spoken, translation features allow teachers to create a group chat for parents and translate the conversations to ensure that all parents receive the same important information in their preferred language. Plus, multilingual users can always choose to review the original message in the language it was written.

Key Takeaway

With direct, inclusive, and efficient conversations between parents, teachers, and administrators, two-way chat platforms provide the flexibility needed for various communication styles and preferences. From direct messaging and group chats to file sharing and translation features, they help build a more engaged and collaborative school environment where everyone stays informed, feels valued, and works together to support student’s growth and learning. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Connor has spent the last decade within the field of marketing and communications, working with independent schools and colleges throughout New England. As Finalsite’s Senior Content Marketing Manager, Connor plans and executes marketing strategies and digital content across the web. A former photojournalist, he has a passion for digital media, storytelling, coffee, and creating content that connects.