“Ciao!” and “Hola!” and “Hi” echo off the hallways. It’s a lovely sound of children from different backgrounds coming to learn together every day. But engaging and empowering families can be challenging with emerging English speakers. It can be especially challenging when your school or district may have students speaking dozens of languages.
Ensuring those families feel their voice is heard is critical to students’ success. We spent some time talking with Keller ISD in Texas about how the use of Possip has helped them hear from more multilingual families in their district and other added benefits from this tool.
Cate Reed, seasoned administrator, current Senior Vice President of Teach For America, and Possip Reporter, explores the power of using Possip with multilingual families.
The Possip team spent some time with Mara Betancourt Coker, Director of Language Acquisition at the Keller Independent School District, discussing their district’s work with emergent bilingual families and using Possip to improve family engagement.
Engaging multilingual families can be challenging but critical.
Keller ISD serves a diverse population with over 4,200 emergent bilingual families speaking over 65 languages. Translation for that many languages creates logistical and time challenges. Initially, the district struggled to engage more than 10% of their families using in-house surveys, which often needed clarification due to multiple languages being displayed simultaneously.
However, with Possip, the district saw a significant increase in engagement, with 32% of families responding and 80% of responses coming in languages other than English. With over three times as many families sharing their voices, the district has much more confidence that they understand trends and feedback from a far greater number of their constituents.
Possip enables simple, easy-to-access technology that ensures families can be engaged easily and effectively regardless of their primary language.
Possip greatly enhanced the district’s efforts to engage these families since it allows parents to respond in their native languages. Families saw short and simplified questions in their chosen language, significantly decreasing their ability to engage on a deep level. This ease of use and accessibility increased response rates and more meaningful, specific feedback from families, which had been challenging to obtain with previous methods.
Mara emphasized that the success of Possip in Keller ISD is due to its accessibility, particularly through text messaging, which made it easy for parents to participate and provide feedback. The vast majority of families use cell phones, so they can use a tool that everyone has, without worrying about computers or access to wifi. Having the responses automatically translated through Possip ensures families have a voice and provides the district with valuable insights to improve their services for emergent bilingual students and their families.
The use of Possip also has regulatory benefits that can assist districts and schools.
When deciding if Keller would continue to use Possip, their decision was also influenced by its ability to meet Title III requirements for parent engagement. Title III aims to ensure that English learners (ELs) and immigrant students attain English proficiency and develop high levels of academic achievement in English. The tool was initially introduced to the district through a pilot program by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) focused on improving services for bilingual families. The positive results and the alignment with federal requirements made it a natural choice to continue using Possip, funded through Title III, to ensure ongoing engagement with bilingual families.
Keller ISD sees Possip as a win-win for everyone. Families can easily share feedback, schools can better engage with families, and the district can utilize Title III funding to continue the surveying.
Conclusion
For further reading on related topics, consider exploring the following resources:
- Encouraging and Sustaining ELL Parent Engagement
- Ways to Support Multilingual Learners – Literacy Partners
By using Possip, with the ability to translate into dozens of languages, you can better set up multilingual families to be an active part of your school community.
