As we head into the summer months, Possip is still hearing from families about information they need to close out the year and feedback, questions, and insights about next year. This past week, Possip received over 2,100 responses submitted by parents, family members, and caregivers this week. We read all of the praises and insights sent in throughout the week of May 24th through June 1st. Even if you are a Possip parent that heard back trends from your school, we hope it is helpful and encouraging to know what topics other parents are discussing with their school across the country. Here is a quick summary of family trends from May 24th through June 1st.

Last week, 55% of families responded that they were happy with their child’s school, with the remaining saying they were mostly happy or not happy with their child’s school.

We saw a few positive trends from families across the country:

The majority of praises from families this year and again this week continue to be appreciation for teachers and staff members. Families shared how thankful they are for teachers and how they have supported students. A few representative comments from actual families this week:

• “ Agradecida con las maestra por todo su buen trabajo hacia los niños y todo el personal por la paciencia que an tenido TRANSLATION: Thankful to the teacher for all their good work towards the children and all the staff for the patience they have had.I praise them for being able to keep staff and students safe during this pandemic”

• “Thank you for being a good school. My daughter has finals this week and feels well supported by her teachers. That’s very important especially given the additional stress that end of course tests can create”

• “JUST KEEP BEING THE AMAZING SCHOOL AND STAFF YOU ARE”

Families also sent in praise about additional support the school is providing during this time, whether it be food distribution, safe community events for students, or providing summer resources. Here are a few comments from families:

• “The food pantry preCovid was awesome and the pantry is more awesome afterCovid.”

• “Praise for the prom event”

• “Thank you for the summer workbooks”

Here are the top two most frequently discussed feedback for schools across the country:

Over 12% of all Possip recommendations to schools this week related to academic needs. Families discussed wanting more communicating in regards to academic progress, sending grade updates to families, missing assignments, and providing more academic support for struggling students. Families asked questions about more tutoring options for students, questions about their student’s academic progress or grade. Here are a few representative quotes from families on this topic:

• ”I just don’t feel like my child is getting the help they needs and have fell behind”

• ”A tutor program for kids who has a hard time learning or understanding the different subjects in school.”

• ”We are hoping the kids will have access to Iready and Reflex during the summer.  And any additional resources would greatly be appreciated…”

• ”Pandemic hit us hard, and my concern is not all of them got the knowledge we were supposed to achieve and I wonder if the school is willing to provide any kind of support or guidance at least during their freshman year in college to comeback and open their door with any kind of help, whatever they might need”

9% of all Possip recommendations to schools revolved around increasing communication with families. Families are asking to receive more communication from the school and responses to messages they leave for teachers. Here are a few representative quotes from families on this topic:

• “Some not all staff members are hard to contact. I want better communication in regards to my child.“

• “I wish teachers would contact me when I leave messages“

• “[The school] need to do better with communication , work better with the kids and have some type communication with parents “
• “More communication”

We shared these blogs with our partner schools…

• Here are helpful resources to consider during summer planning to improve communication to families Possip Resources on Family Communication
• 4 Tips on Communicating Academic Progress to Parents VIrtually
• As you go into summer planning for next school year, here is a resource that may be helpful if you want to increase family response rates to Possip. 

We’d love to hear from you. What else do you need or want to see? Do these parent praise and insights align with what you see?