Introduction

• As a teacher, you are strongly dedicated to the success of your students. To ensure that each student has the best chance of success, you need to maintain ongoing communication with his or her parents. However, because both parents and teachers are busy, finding an effective method of communication can be difficult.
• In the past, teachers often communicated with parents using papers sent home from school, phone calls or emails. However, these methods are resource-intensive and not guaranteed to be seen. Text messaging, on the other hand, is making a strong impact by allowing you to maintain an open dialogue with parents in a more effective and efficient manner.

Why Is It Important to Communicate with Parents?

• Communicating with parents on a regular basis offers many benefits for students and teachers alike, including:
• More parent involvement. – When parents are communicating with teachers on a regular basis, they are more likely to become involved in their child’s studies and other school activities.
  Improved performance. – According to Harvard Family Research Project, ongoing communication with parents and increased parent involvement can improve student performance over time.
  Efficiency for teachers. – Teachers need to communicate with parents for many different reasons. However, because teachers are responsible for so many students, communicating with each parent individually can be time-consuming. Text messaging allows teachers to communicate with parents more efficiently, which leaves more time for their other tasks.
  Fewer phone calls or emails from parents. – SMS messaging keeps parents informed about their children’s activities, which cuts down on the number of questions teachers will receive via email or on the phone.

Benefits of using SMS for Communication

• SMS messaging is an ideal choice for busy teachers who want to communicate with the parents of their students on a regular basis. Some of the specific benefits of SMS include:
• Flexibility. – The majority of adults own a cellphone, so teachers can use this technology to communicate with most or all of their students’ parents. In addition, teachers can use SMS to communicate about a variety of topics, including grades, upcoming events, parent-teacher conferences, and more.
  It’s Instant – When you send a text message to a parent, it is received almost instantly. Because most people check their phones frequently, the message is likely to be read soon after it is received. In many cases, parents will read messages immediately.
  Efficiency. – Texting is quick and it conserves resources. When teachers use SMS to communicate with parents, they don’t need to waste ink, paper or their time.

Using SMS Effectively

• As a teacher, you can use SMS to communicate with parents about almost anything, including PTA meetings, holidays, schedule changes, cancellations, grades, and absences. You can also use this technology to collect information from parents, remind them to turn in important paperwork or discuss behavioral problems. Text messaging can be used to send the same message to all parents, to send personalized messages to individual parents, or to send a specific message to a select group of parents. Teachers can also receive messages from parents with this technology.
• Text messaging can be a very effective tool for teachers, but it is important to choose the right platform. Before choosing a provider, schools should consider the available features, cost, and reputation carefully. For more information on how integrating a text messaging software will boost communication between teachers and parents, click here!

Ken Rhie

• Ken Rhie is the CEO of Trumpia, which earned a reputation as the most complete SMS solution including user-friendly user interface and API for mobile engagement, Smart Targeting, advanced automation, enterprise, and cross-channel features for both mass texting and landline texting use cases. Mr. Rhie holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. He has over 30 years of experience in the software, internet, and mobile communications industries.

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