This week our Partner Spotlight is on STRIVE Collegiate Academy based in Nashville, TN. Their wonderful Founder and Executive Director, LaKendra Butler, shares parent feedback updates in STRIVE’s weekly communications, which include parent calls and a parent newsletter shared via text and email. Read our Q&A with LaKendra to learn strategies for closing the parent-school feedback loop and meeting parent needs. Please let us know if you want to connect with her to learn more!
Possip: What inspired you to create a parent newsletter that includes updates on parent feedback?
LaKendra @ STRIVE: I actually got the idea from Possip originally. When we first started Pulse Checks, I got a template from Possip. When we get the feedback, the template we use allows us to show snapshots of positive feedback, questions asked by parents, and our responses to those questions. This helps us answer parent questions without calling every single parent.
Possip: What are some best practices for creating a parent newsletter?
LaKendra @ STRIVE: Every week, we have three touch points we use to contact parents: emails, text messages, and phone calls. When we get feedback from Possip’s Pulse Checks, we transfer it to our weekly newsletter called the “Corner Ticket.” If our kids were in person, they would typically get a copy to take home. On Sundays, parents get a call with the highlights. They also receive a text with a link to the newsletter and an email with it as well.
Possip: How do you measure the success of your parent newsletter?
LaKendra @ STRIVE: We measure success by paying attention to parent comments in the following week’s Pulse Check. We want to use parent comments to gauge if their questions are being answered. We want to be intentional– I’m all about not using too many systems, so whatever we can utilize to indicate what’s working is helpful and at this time, Possip is our system. We’re also working with Caitlin from Possip’s Experience & Support team to increase our parent response rates.
Possip: Are there any other ways STRIVE Collegiate Academy shares out parent feedback?
LaKendra @ STRIVE: If there are specific questions that need follow up, we directly answer them in partnership with our grade level culture leaders. I get the report and help disperse who does what. We have team leaders who cover different Possip buckets and those leaders are responsible for responding to parent feedback on their respective topics.
We use a few other strategies to gather parent feedback. Before we partnered with Possip, we developed an internal mid-year and end-of-year survey. We created that to understand what we’ve done well and ways to improve. We still use this survey. Additionally, once a month before the pandemic, we hosted “First Fridays,” where parents are able to meet with me for breakfast. During First Fridays, we shared what we’d noticed, what we’d heard, and adjustments we’d made–what we present out is guided by feedback we’ve received from school constituents.
To see other Partner Spotlights visit: https://possip.com/category/spotlight/
