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How often should parents and teachers communicate? That鈥檚 the question at the center of a growing push for technology that allows parents constant access to the classroom.

For a long time, parents relied solely on physical report cards and papers teachers sent home with their children to know what was happening at school. When email came along, teachers could communicate directly with parents and vice versa, but it was still time-consuming, with conversations sometimes taking days to play out.

A slew of apps are looking to change that reality through messaging platforms and digital experiences that give parents and teachers constant and instant access to each other. The apps allow teachers to seamlessly share pictures and videos, or just chat with parents about what鈥檚 happening in the classroom.

At the same time, tools like Zoom have opened the virtual doors to classrooms, letting parents watch their kids participate in spelling bees and quiz bowls. Text messaging platforms like ParentPowered send parents tips on supplementing students鈥� lessons at home. And schools continue to use social media to share updates and reach parents who might miss information through email.

The options for communicating with parents can seem endless, yet many parents remain unaware of what鈥檚 happening at school, or confused or misinformed about it. And school leaders struggle to reach certain families, especially those they really need to so their children will come to school.

Technology can improve parent and family engagement, experts say, but schools should be strategic about using it鈥攁nd be mindful of apps鈥� privacy policies as well as the reality that not every family has access to smartphones with internet access. They shouldn鈥檛 use apps to replace in-person relationships, but rather to supplement them. And teachers should be transparent about their expectations for using the tools, so parents understand their boundaries around technology that allows for constant communication.

鈥淭hese are platforms, not best practices,鈥� said Helen Westmoreland, director of family engagement at the National Parent Teacher Association. 鈥淭hey are a platform for communication, and they are only as good as what goes into them. Sometimes we see that districts stop at the platform; family engagement is 90 percent beyond that platform.鈥�

Bringing back the 鈥榲illage鈥�

Brian Prybil learned about ClassDojo when he was principal of Washington Elementary School in Moline, Ill., about two-and-a-half hours west of Chicago near the Iowa border.

A group of teachers had heard about the app as a way to improve student behavior鈥攖eachers reward students for demonstrating social-emotional skills, such as grit or empathy, through 鈥渄ojo points鈥� on the app鈥攁nd approached him about using it.

Prybil was unsure at first but told the teachers they could continue using it as long as they stuck with the in-person behavior intervention practices the school had in place.

Within a year, though, Prybil said he noticed major changes in the classes where teachers used ClassDojo.

Students there had fewer behavior problems, and parents weren鈥檛 calling the school as often because teachers were keeping in touch through the app.

Prybil held a staff meeting and suggested they adopt the app schoolwide.

鈥淎s a principal, it took me just a few moments to type to a parent and message them if they had a question, and pretty soon it became our main mode of communication,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t also became the main mode of communication for our teachers to our parents, and the kids knew that communication was happening.鈥�

Now the 7,000-student Moline-Coal Valley school district鈥檚 deputy superintendent, Prybil is working with ClassDojo to adopt the app districtwide. It鈥檚 part of a new endeavor for the company, which has always marketed to individual teachers.

School staff will be able to use the new districtwide offering more seamlessly, said Sam Chaudhary, ClassDojo鈥檚 co-founder and CEO.

Administrators will be able to access school-level data on the app鈥檚 use, such as how many families are engaging with messages, how many messages the app is translating to other languages for families who don鈥檛 speak English, and statistics on the top skills teachers are building with students. They鈥檒l also be able to send out mass messages to parents on important district developments. Soon, administrators will also be able to use the app鈥檚 鈥渟tories鈥� feature鈥攕imilar to Instagram鈥檚 feature by the same name鈥攖o showcase what鈥檚 happening at school.

Meanwhile, teachers will be able to continue messaging parents directly to share videos and pictures from their classrooms, reminders of class assignments, and any concerns they might have about specific students.

The idea behind ClassDojo, which launched in 2011, was to improve communication and strengthen connections between families and schools, Chaudhary said.

鈥淚n some ways, we鈥檙e just giving people a way to reconstruct the village,鈥� he said. 鈥淧arents can鈥檛 be there all the time and teachers can鈥檛 be home all the time. But if you can have the sense of us being on the same page, you鈥檙e rebuilding the village around the classroom.鈥�

Other technology companies operate under the same premise.

Seesaw, for example, offers the same instant messaging capability as ClassDojo, but operates more as a learning management system for elementary schools that also includes lessons, data on student progress that parents can track, and the ability for teachers to assign activities.

It gives parents real-time updates on student progress in different academic areas. Teachers can send videos and photos to parents showing students participating in reading or math activities. Students can also have a hand in deciding specific activities and memories to share with parents.

Seesaw has more closely connected parents to their children鈥檚 education, said Tiffany Wood, an instructional technology specialist at the Mid-Del school district in Midwest City, Okla., east of Oklahoma City.

鈥淭eachers get to build that sort of digital scrapbook with kids,鈥� Wood said. 鈥淏ecause parents can鈥檛 be in the classroom鈥攖hey have to work; that鈥檚 not an option鈥攏ow parents can be a part of that educational experience.鈥�

Bringing parents into student learning

The major benefit to platforms like Seesaw and ClassDojo is that they provide parents with a digital look inside the classroom that they wouldn鈥檛 otherwise have. If used well, parents gain a deeper understanding of what their kids are learning, through pictures, videos, and messages, and they become part of the process, realizing a core goal of effective parent engagement.

That was the idea behind ParentPowered, a platform that provides parents with weekly text messages with activities, insights, and learning opportunities, so they can continue the learning at home with their children, said Terri Lynn Soutor, the company鈥檚 CEO.

ParentPowered specifically aims to serve parents and families who might otherwise have a difficult time becoming engaged school community members. They might speak a language other than English, have multiple jobs, or have other barriers that make it difficult to connect with the school.

Those families 鈥渁re the ones that are most in need of this high-quality kind of support,鈥� Soutor said.

Unlike Seesaw and ClassDojo, ParentPowered鈥檚 platform is technologically basic. It sends text messages to parents鈥� phones that parent and family engagement researchers have designed to provide caregivers with actionable tools they can use at home with their children. The thinking is that this form of participation will ultimately get them more engaged in their students鈥� education and more comfortable coming to school in person.

When districts partner with ParentPowered, they can either automatically sign all parents up for the platform, giving parents the ability to opt out, or have parents opt in. The goal is to make it as easy and accessible as possible, not requiring parents to download anything or even have access to Wi-Fi, Soutor said.

鈥淥ur approach is really around making the guidance for families, parents, and caregivers very easy and accessible, using the most equitable and research-backed technology that reaches every family鈥攁nd that is text messaging,鈥� Soutor said.

Accessibility limits are one of the primary downsides to the apps because not every parent has internet access or a smartphone, said Catharyn Shelton, an assistant professor of educational technology at Northern Arizona University.

鈥淚 always, with tech, want to ask who benefits and who doesn鈥檛?鈥� Shelton said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 just such clear ways that privileged parties benefit and others do not. While there are opportunities for increased accessibility through offering different channels of communication, there鈥檚 other people who are left out.鈥�

The app-based platforms are aware of this limitation, but they argue their products compensate for some of those problems.

ClassDojo and Seesaw offer language translation, for example, so parents who don鈥檛 speak English can write to teachers in their native language and the app translates the messages to English.

The platforms can also reach parents who are overseas for work or other reasons, said Matt Given, Seesaw鈥檚 CEO.

鈥淭hey can see what鈥檚 happening with their student in real time and it doesn鈥檛 have to be a game of telephone, getting the information to the parent that鈥檚 overseas,鈥� Given said.

Still, it鈥檚 largely up to teachers and school and district leaders to get parents logged on. A small handful of parents of Moline-Coal Valley elementary students don鈥檛 use ClassDojo, Prybil said.

鈥淲hen you get down to that last 5 percent of your families, a lot of it is just reaching out, which we should do anyway,鈥� Prybil said. 鈥淚f that family can鈥檛 get on, then we need to reach out, and ClassDojo just accelerates that reach-out.鈥�

Maintaining student privacy

A top concern about apps like ClassDojo and Seesaw should be student data privacy, said Shelton, of Northern Arizona University. Anytime pictures or videos of students are shared through an internet-based platform, the adults involved should research those apps鈥� security and privacy policies.

Shelton鈥檚 1st grade daughter鈥檚 teacher uses ClassDojo, but is careful to share pictures or videos of students only in a section of the app that鈥檚 restricted to parents from the class she said. Shelton said that makes her more comfortable.

鈥淵ou have to weigh out the risks and benefits of offering up our kids for these tech platforms, to profits and for potential online predators to get lots of information about them and their community,鈥� Shelton said.

ClassDojo is designed to ask for as little identifiable information about students as possible; students can be identified by initials or nicknames or avatars rather than by name, gender, email, address, or student ID number.

The app also deletes 鈥淒ojo points,鈥� which students earn from teachers by advancing in social-emotional skills like 鈥済rit鈥� or 鈥渃uriosity,鈥� after a year, and students鈥� entire profiles are deleted after a year of inactivity, a ClassDojo spokesperson said.

Seesaw restricts access to student videos and photos to people who work directly with students, usually parents and teachers. The platform also works across the world and has to operate under the strictest privacy laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that exists in some European countries, Given said.

鈥淲e are obsessed with [privacy] to a very significant degree,鈥� Given said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a big part of our job, that responsibility.鈥�

Data privacy concerns are especially prevalent with social media platforms, Shelton said. Photos posted to such platforms can be easily shared, and districts should ensure that they鈥檙e only featuring students with signed media releases on those platforms, she said.

Going beyond the technology

Sharnae Oden, a 3rd grade teacher at Stevenson Elementary School in Southfield, Mich., uses ClassDojo to communicate with students鈥� parents. But ClassDojo isn鈥檛 the only platform teachers at the school use; some use Remind or Clever, which operate in a similar way.

Oden said the app has been instrumental to improving parent engagement. Rather than calling or emailing parents, or hoping messages make it home in 3rd graders鈥� backpacks, Oden can use the app.

鈥淭here鈥檚 not enough time in the day to get to every single thing,鈥� Oden said. 鈥淭he best way I can try to manage that communication is ClassDojo. We can instant-message each other versus trying to set up a time to meet or trying to meet on the curb after school, which is not always the most feasible time.鈥�

Oden said she occasionally deals with parents who need a lot of support and communication. The app has helped her navigate those situations and kept her from getting frustrated with those parents, she said.

Oden primarily uses the app to contact parents when they don鈥檛 have time to meet in person. Sometimes, she鈥檒l message parents to remind them of upcoming school events or assignments, or she鈥檒l ask when they have time to visit the classroom for a deeper discussion if their child is struggling.

That kind of interaction is difficult without ClassDojo, Oden said, as many parents might not check their email or have time for a phone call at work. Oden uses ClassDojo for her own son, who also attends Stevenson, and said it鈥檚 also been helpful from the parent perspective.

In Midwest City, Okla., Seesaw has been especially helpful during parent-teacher conferences in the district of more than 12,000 students, Wood said. It allows students to show their favorite lessons and activities to parents during the conferences, and parents get recommendations through the platform on how to further their children鈥檚 learning.

The platform 鈥渓ets the kid present all of the things that they know they鈥檙e good at and all the things that they鈥檝e done,鈥� Wood said. 鈥淭he parent can then be like, 鈥楬ey, my kid knows they鈥檙e getting this, my kid knows that they need to practice this. Now, I can have those conversations at home.鈥欌��

That approach鈥攗sing the app as a starting place to connect with parents rather than the only communication method鈥攕hould be the ideal for educators, said Shelton and Westmoreland, the National PTA director.

Schools should look for tech programs that 鈥渁lign to the classroom curriculum and say, 鈥極K, your child is learning about adding unlike denominators this week. Ask them this question at home,鈥欌�� Westmoreland said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 very different than sending out the mass message of, 鈥楥ome to the school tomorrow to pick up your child鈥檚 uniform.鈥欌��

Teachers should also be careful to set and communicate firm boundaries with technology that allows parents constant access through messaging, Shelton said. They should set specific hours for when they鈥檒l read and respond to messages.

鈥淚ntroducing app-based communication may set bad expectations among caregivers that teachers should be always available to communicate whenever caregivers need,鈥� Shelton said. 鈥淭he reality is that teachers are paid professionals with official working hours. So when teachers communicate with caregivers outside the work day, it is essentially free labor.鈥�

The National PTA advises educators to get feedback from families to inform decisions about which platforms to use, to invest in texting services like ParentPowered that have greater accessibility, to partner with vendors to improve implementation, and to be transparent with families about the technology platforms.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the starting place for good family engagement, not the ending place,鈥� Westmoreland said.