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Digital tools to improve communication with parents:

1.ClassDojo

https://www.classdojo.com/                      https://www.youtube.com/c/classdojo\: great video

ClassDojo is a communication and classroom management tool that connects teachers, students, and families to strengthen the community. It offers key features such as real-time chat, student information and records, student management, gradebook, and course management. (Chiarelli et al., 2015)

Features

Communication and engagement: Instant messaging, language translation, and teachers can communicate with parents in real-time.

Behavior Management: A Point system allows students and parents to track behavior points. Classroom tools include teaching aids, a random student selector, a noise meter, a group maker, and a classroom timer.

Student portfolios and progress tracking: Digital portfolios, portfolio sharing, and progress reports.

Social and emotional learning: Provides resources, videos, and discussion prompts to support students'  development and character building.

Benefits:

Key features include real-time parent communication, positive behavior management, free access to basic tools, an easy-to-use interface, time-saving tools, and multi-language support.

Disadvantages

The point system can create an environment where students are motivated by external rewards; displaying the point system on the classroom screen might lead to unhealthy competition.

It requires internet access, which may not be readily available to all parents.

I use ClassDojo in my classroom and really enjoy it. It promotes positive behavior. I use it to assign points for teamwork, participation, and helping others. It allows me to give instant feedback to students and keeps my parents informed.

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2. ParentSquare

https://www.parentsquare.com/      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOaxk_u0mqA  :Video on ParentSquare

ParentSquare is a web-based platform that consolidates secure communication from the district, schools, classrooms, and activity groups into one system, eliminating the need for parents to monitor multiple communication channels.

Features

Centralized communication platform for schools, families, and community members.

Provides tools for instant messaging, mass alerts, and personalized newsletters through email, text, app, or voice call.

Customizes newsletters via email, text, app, or voice call.

Develops event calendars and volunteer sign-ups to coordinate parent participation.

Benefits: Replaces manual methods and multiple apps with a single centralized platform for announcements, alerts, and updates, saving time; translates messages to bridge language barriers; delivers relevant updates and notices based on student, grade level, or group, making information more useful; prioritizes the privacy and security of personal information.

Disadvantages

There is a risk of connecting the wrong account to a student, which can lead to confusion for users. There's no simple way to message a group of students without first exporting their IDs. Some users feel that the strong, district-wide branding of the app diminishes the personal connection between families and their individual schools.

I don’t think I would use ParenSquare in my classroom. I believe it has its limitations; it may overlap with a school's existing learning management system (LMS), resulting in unnecessary duplication of tools and potentially causing confusion for users.

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3. PowerSchool

https://www.powerschool.com/              https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyx2EEeONitePOJww0mpCbA :Video on Powerschool

PowerSchool is an online platform that provides a parent portal for detailed access to their student's grades, attendance, and assignments. Its features include a comprehensive assessment, curriculum, and learning management system to help educators connect learning to student outcomes.

Features

A student information system features that include grading, attendance tracking, and student data management.

Communication tools for parents and teachers.

Analytics for data-driven decision-making and personalized learning tools.

Exceptional program management for students with unique needs.

Advantages

Students can view their grades and identify areas where they need extra help, fostering better engagement and communication. It provides real-time updates and has features that calculate grades, manage data, and support individuals' instructional plans.

Disadvantages

According to users, there are steep learning curves, and it lacks content organization and has a cluttered interface. In 2023, reports of data and security breaches from 2020 surfaced. (PowerSchool Software Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2023 Software Advice, n.d.)

PowerSchool appears to have many great features. The online gradebook, which incurs an additional cost, would allow me to enter and track grades, making it easier to monitor student progress. It also helps communication with parents through a parent portal. I was disappointed to learn that it lacks content organization and about the 2020 data breach, and I don’t think it's a program I would trust with my students' data.

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4. Seesaw

https://seesaw.com/       https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYUfnb7MIsGald-Xtig9Umw :Great video explaining the product

Seesaw is an online learning platform for students in PreK-6 that functions as a digital portfolio and communication tool, enabling students to share their learning through photos, videos, and drawings, while also allowing teachers to assign activities and provide feedback. (Get Started with an LMS Demo | Seesaw, 2025)

Features: User-friendly and highly accessible for young children; digital portfolios; assignment creation; differentiated instruction; and communication with parents.

Advantages

Students can showcase their learning through various forms of expression, including photos, videos, drawings, text, and voice recordings.

Students can practice skills in school and at home and receive real-time feedback.

Teachers can create customizable assignments with instructions, visual aids, and multimodal content.

Teachers assign activities to specific students or groups, adjusting to their individual needs.

Families can leave comments and reactions on student work and engage with classroom activities.

The platform offers support for multilingual families through text translations in over 100 languages.

Disadvantages:

Some users find the platform's design clumsy and unintuitive.

Users have reported issues, including broken hyperlinks and the inability to move activities into folders. Setting up and managing Seesaw can be time-consuming for teachers, including printing parent invitations and managing student editing permissions. (Be Careful with Seesaw, 2020)

After a virtual tour of Seesaw, I like this product and would use it in my classroom. It is user-friendly for the younger grades. Seesaw's portfolio-based approach will enable me to track and assess student progress, provide timely and constructive feedback through comments, and send work back to students for revision. It also simplifies communication with my students and their families.

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5. TalkingPoints: Provides a communication platform for families and schools, featuring a two-way, multilingual communication tool that bridges language gaps between teachers and parents to support student success.

https://www.commonsense.org/education/reviews/talkingpoints

Video on TalkingPoint https://talkingpts.org/talkingpoints-explained/

Features

The core function is its ability to translate messages between families and educators in over

150 languages.

Parents can receive class-wide announcements, homework reminders, and updates on their child's progress.

Advantages

A multilingual communication tool that bridges language gaps between teachers and parents to support student success. It provides real-time insights and data to help schools and districts enhance engagement and allocate resources more effectively.

My classroom is very multicultural, so the TalkingPoints platform would help me to break down

The communication barriers between myself and my students’ families.

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Google Docs: A web-based word processor that enables users to create, edit, and format documents online.  It is cloud-based so that documents can be accessed from any device (Google, 2015)

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/

Teachers can work together and share lesson plans, assignments, and materials in person or online. They can coordinate activities, send announcements to students, and grade assignments together, which includes data that supports educational decisions.

Google Docs can support collaboration for developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive instruction by allowing teachers to work together on inclusive lesson plans, view student contributions, respond, and it can accommodate diverse languages.

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Zoom: A communication platform that offers video and audio conferencing, team chat, and phone services. Users can host and join meetings with features like screen sharing, recording, virtual backgrounds, and breakout rooms.  (WebWise, 2020)

https://www.zoom.com/

Zoom can incorporate the appropriate use of data to guide educational decisions when collaborating with colleagues about student needs. It uses polls to collect quantitative data on student comprehension, social-emotional needs, or class feedback in real-time. (Engaging Students through Zoom | Academic Continuity, n.d.)

Zoom can promote collaboration for developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive instruction by

encouraging deeper reflection on students' individual needs, interests, and cultural and linguistic

backgrounds. This can be achieved through creating breakout rooms for small-group collaboration and

Using screen sharing to provide diverse materials accessible to all learners. Zoom enables educators to integrate multiple perspectives and cultures, while also allowing students to interact in a flexible environment.

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Professional Development: helps individuals stay updated in their field, improve job performance, and

advance toward their career goals.

Professional development can include or support the proper use of data and guide educational decisions

When working with colleagues on student needs, by focusing on collecting and analyzing student data to

Identify specific learning gaps and strengths.

Professional development teaches educators how to analyze and interpret different data types to identify

trends, track progress, and customize instruction, ultimately providing more effective and personalized

support for students.

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Trello: a visual and collaborative project management tool that helps individuals and teams organize and prioritize projects and tasks using boards, lists, and cards.  ((2022) Trello for Education: Best Practices for Teachers and Students, 2022)

https://www.youtube.com/@trello-demo

Trello can promote collaboration for developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive instruction

by conducting a deeper reflection on students' individual abilities, interests, and cultural and linguistic

needs, and by providing centralized data, visual progress tracking, and an activity log or comments

section to record teacher and colleague observations, data points, and insights regarding a student's

needs and responses to strategies.  (Trello for Educators | Trello, n.d.)

Trello can promote collaboration for developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive instruction by encouraging deeper reflection on students' individual abilities, interests, cultural, and linguistic needs. It enables educators to create detailed student profiles that showcase their abilities, interests, and cultural backgrounds, allowing for collective reflection on how to best support diverse needs.

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Grade group meetings: collaborative sessions where teachers teaching the same grade often invite specialists to participate in the discussion.

Grade group meetings can support the proper use of data and guide educational decisions when

collaborating with colleagues about student needs by sharing student learning, best practices, and

planning instruction, intervention strategies, and assessment review.

Grade group meetings can promote collaboration to support developmentally appropriate and culturally

responsive instruction by encouraging deeper reflection on students' individual abilities, interests, cultural

backgrounds, and linguistic needs.