The Power of Parent-Teacher Communication for Student Success

A few best practices for building an effective two-way communication strategy

By Melissa Hite Last Updated: Jan 2025

As I look back on the winter break, I’m thinking a lot about conversation and connection. Whether you spent time with family or saw friends who were in town for the holidays, you probably spent quite a bit of time talking—or at least listening.

Conversations make us feel connected with the people we care about. But what if you get stuck in a one-sided conversation—one where the other person monologues on and on, while you can barely get a word in? In those cases, the opposite can happen—you feel disconnected and frustrated. You may even start to wonder if that friend or relative really cares about you—after all, if they did, wouldn’t they want to hear what you had to say?

With all that in mind, put yourself in the shoes of your district’s parents and families. Are they stuck in a one-sided conversation with your schools? According to research from SchoolCEO, more than half of parents receive communication from their child’s school district multiple times a week or even daily—and that’s not even counting messages sent directly from their child’s teacher. But these communications aren’t often meant to start conversations. They’re announcements, updates, or other need-to-know information—not invitations to build a relationship.

We know you're interested in what your school community thinks. You certainly care about them. So why is parent-teacher communication so one-sided most of the time? We don’t have to tell you that strong family engagement is crucial to student success. It can help districts reduce chronic absenteeism, improve literacy, and more. But to be really engaged, parents and guardians need to do more than passively receive school communication; they need to actively participate in the conversation. Here are just a few best practices for building an effective two-way parent-teacher communication strategy.

Your parent-teacher communication strategy should include smartphones.

First, let’s talk about where your two-way communication is taking place. Right now, your teachers’ back-and-forth conversations with families may be happening primarily in person at dedicated events like parent-teacher conferences. But as you know, not all families attend these events. Research shows that parents of high school students, for example, attend parent-teacher conferences less often than their counterparts in lower grades. And for many families, there are real barriers getting in the way of in-person conversations—lack of child care to lack of reliable transportation to inflexible work schedules and more.

You shouldn’t rule out in-person conversation as a communication method—but you can’t rely on it as your only avenue for teacher-parent communication. Instead, think about communication that meets your families where they are: on their phones. Did you know that 91% of U.S. adults now own smartphones? It stands to reason that smartphones provide a more reliable—and more inclusive—avenue for parent-teacher communication than in-person meetings.

Consider investing in a teacher-parent communication app that integrates with your district’s mobile app. After all, if most of your district’s parents own smartphones, why wouldn’t you make phones the center of your two-way communication strategy?

Learn more about Apptegy’s parent-teacher communication platform

Unify all parent-teacher communication into a single, branded platform.

Of course, you may already be centering smartphones in your district’s two-way communication strategy—but that’s not enough. In many districts, the platforms on which digital parent-teacher communication takes place vary wildly from campus to campus or even from classroom to classroom. This is a problem for a couple of reasons.

First, let’s consider the family’s perspective. Imagine you’re the parent of a high schooler, trying to stay in touch with five or six different teachers. Each of those teachers uses a different platform to communicate with you—whether it’s email, text or one of dozens of teacher-parent communication apps. To keep track of your child’s progress, you have to download (and check) multiple apps—or worse, sort through hundreds of emails and text messages to find the ones related to school.

And that’s just one child at one campus—what if you have two or three, all at different schools? With so many communication channels to keep up with, it’s no surprise that parents and guardians might lose track of even the most important conversations.

But this communication free-for-all isn’t just a problem for your families; it’s also a problem for your district’s brand. Whenever a parent opens an app like Remind or ClassDojo, they’re building a relationship with those brands—not your district’s. Why would you pay a vendor to build their brand when instead, you could be building your own?

That’s why we recommend keeping all two-way communication in your district to a single platform that’s branded to your district. This way, parents don’t have to sift through dozens of emails, texts or apps to find conversations with their child’s teachers. And even better, they’re building relationships with your district’s brand—not an ed tech vendor’s.

Your parent-teacher communication should accommodate all your district’s languages.

It’s also key to consider what languages your families speak. Depending on your district’s demographics, failing to accommodate non-English speakers could be alienating a significant segment of your families. After all, about 22% of school-age children in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home—indicating that their parents probably don’t speak English as their primary language.

Inclusive two-way communication means making sure everyone can participate in the conversation, no matter what language they speak. For in-person conversations—whether at parent-teacher conferences or home visits—be sure to have a formal interpreter available to accommodate non-English speakers. For digital communication, invest in a parent-teacher communication app that provides automatic translation so that everyone can communicate in real-time.

Your parent-teacher communication should be positive.

Traditionally, teacher-parent communication happens primarily because something is wrong: A student’s grades are slipping or they’re misbehaving in class. Imagine interacting with someone who only ever tells you what you’re doing wrong—and never what you’re doing right. Would you look forward to talking to that person? Probably not.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly how some parents and guardians feel about interacting with their child’s teachers. When someone criticizes your child—even if the criticism is kind and constructive— it’s hard not to take that as a comment on your parenting. But what if teachers communicated just as often about what a student is doing right?

SchoolCEO’s research found that the more positive communication parents and guardians receive, the more they trust their schools. Balancing necessary negative conversations with positive ones not only keeps families satisfied with the district—it also builds the kind of positive relationships that encourage families to communicate back. That way, when teachers do need to address falling grades or misbehavior, parents are more likely to engage in that conversation with trust.

How Apptegy can help

Bring parent-teacher communication into one place.

Apptegy’s two-way messaging solution meets your families where they are: on their smartphones. And because it integrates directly with your district’s mobile app, parents will never wonder where to find important conversations with their child’s teachers. All the while, your brand—not ours—stays at the center of your parent-teacher communication strategy.

Invite everyone into the conversation with Translations.

Our platform, integrated with Google Translate, offers the ability to automatically translate any message quickly and easily across both desktop and mobile. No matter what language families speak at home, teachers and guardians can stay on the same page—nothing gets lost in translation.

Focus on the positive with Behavior.

Apptegy helps everyone celebrate the positive. With Behavior, teachers can allocate points to their students for classroom participation, good behavior, and demonstrating your school’s values. Parents and guardians can see that positive behavior right in the app, allowing them to stay connected with their child’s points and achievements.

Want to know more? Learn about our two-way messaging and parent-teacher communication solution here or chat with a rep!