Learning and Pedagogy / Sep 19, 2022
Four Steps to Make Education a Family...
Getting parents involved in their child’s education is crucial to the success of that child, but other…
6 min read
Generally speaking, when it comes to communication, every teacher knows it can be a challenge just to reach parents. Now, if you do reach them, keeping them engaged is yet another issue. As you know, ever since the COVID crisis, there have been incredible learning losses and widened achievement gaps for your students. On top of these things, you’ve got the added task of helping parents support their child through remote, hybrid, and in-person learning. Considering it all, it’s important to have the right teacher-parent communication app to easily communicate, connect, and share with families, wouldn’t you agree?
Which Teacher-Parent Communication App is Best?
In this guide, we’ll help answer that question so you can find the best communication platform for you and the families you serve. We totally understand you may have different needs compared to other educators. So, we put together a comparison chart of all the popular features of teacher-parent communication apps- ClassTag, Remind, Class Dojo, Talking Points, and Seesaw- so that choosing the best one is simple and stress-free!
As you review the teacher-parent communication app chart below, consider these questions:
- What time-saving features are most important to you?
- Do you prefer a platform emphasizing teacher-parent communication or one that is more student-centered?
- Would an integrated system that enables funding donations for classroom supplies be helpful?
- Would you prefer to use an all-in-one communications app or download several that perform individual tasks?
How is ClassTag Different From Other Teacher-Parent Communication Apps?
To understand how ClassTag is different from other communication apps, let’s explore what each one offers. While all of them have good qualities, our goal is help find you the best!
Student-Centered vs. Teacher-Parent Focused
To begin, ClassDojo and Seesaw are student-centered platforms while ClassTag connects whole families through its communications capabilities. Specifically, ClassDojo attempts to make “happier classrooms” by focusing on student behavior management while Seesaw students show their learning through a shared digital portfolio.
Finally, both Remind and Talking Points offer two-way communication with parents and students, and do so simply through text messaging. With ClassTag, in addition to texting, you can communicate across multiple modes according to parent preferences.
Between ClassDojo, Seesaw, Talking Points, and Remind, while students are somewhat in the loop, communication with parents is secondary. However with ClassTag, engagement soars for the entire family because robust teacher-parent communication is the main focus.
Donations for Classroom Supplies
The Remind, Class Dojo, Talking Points, and Seesaw apps do not have an option for parents to help teachers get much-needed items for their classrooms. With ClassTag’s Classroom Fund, you can get class supply funding support in just a few mouse clicks.
Your Classroom Fund allows you to curate and share a list of supplies you’d like to buy through ClassTag. You’ll experience support as parents view your list and give any amount they’d like towards your supply purchases. Then, those funds become available immediately for you to get your desired items. It’s super fast and super simple to create your own ClassTag Classroom Fund.
Free Everything!
When reviewing this comparison chart, one of the biggest and most notable difference is that ClassTag literally checks all the boxes by way of features. Best of all, with ClassTag, all of these features are 100% free in an already 100% free app. It’s safe to say that this price is definitely teacher budget-friendly!
For the rest of this guide, you’ll get answers to the following questions about the ClassTag teacher-parent communication app difference:
- Which Teacher-Parent Platform is the Most Accessible?
- Am I Able to Share Student Work with Parents?
- Which App is Best for Google Schools or Google Classroom Educators?
- How Can I Schedule Events and Conferences and Get EVERY Parent to Attend?
Which Teacher-Parent Platform is the Most Accessible?
Access to technology plays a major role when it comes to communication and engagement effectiveness. Your teacher-parent communication app should definitely cater to this fact.
One Way or Many Ways to Communicate?
With ClassDojo, Seesaw, Talking Points, and Remind, conversations between teachers and parents can only happen as long as parents are physically using the app. However, use ClassTag and you can reach parents not only through the app, but also through their choice of text, email, website, and yes- even through traditional paper!
What About Language Barriers?
It goes without saying that properly serving ELL parents can be challenging when it comes to your communication efforts. Well, ClassTag removes the language barrier and automatically translates your messages into over 100 languages. Talk about effective and inclusive communication!
Reaching Hard-to-Reach Parents
Finally, ClassTag also gives you smart, actionable alerts and recommendations ensuring you are able to connect with those harder-to-reach parents. With read receipts and parent-engagement stats, you can find ways to support those who aren’t receiving messages or who aren’t participating. Overall, ClassTag gives every user the power of equal access all around.
Am I Able to Share Student Work with Parents?
ClassTag, ClassDojo, and Seesaw all have the option of using student portfolios. Conversely, Remind and Talking Points do not include the functionality of portfolios to share student work.
Storage and Sharing Capabilities
ClassTag’s virtual portfolios, called “Student Backpacks“, not only allow you to house and share student work, but they also provide a safe and secure way to store important documents like IEP or 504 plan copies. As well, parents are also able to upload documents to their child’s Backpack for you to view. That’s a lot of two-way accessibility packed into one app! As a final bonus, Classtag allows parents to respond to stories about student work. What a way to help promote community, collaboration, and family engagement!
Which App is Best for Google Schools or Google Classroom Educators?
At Classtag, we completely know just how important it is for teachers to have access to a free stack of tools. So, we’ve designed our platform to seamlessly integrate with the full Google suite.
Google Integrations
ClassTag’s integration with Google Classroom and Google’s suite of tools keeps parents in the loop without any added frustration for you.
You’ll save valuable time with roster-syncing as you’ll only need to add parents and students once. Remember that automatic language translation? Teachers can direct message ClassTag parents in any language without ever having to leave Google Classroom.
Finally, ClassTag helps streamline file sharing, scheduling, and conferencing through integrations with Google Drive, Meet, and Calendar. Teachers and parents using ClassDojo, Seesaw, Talking Points, and Remind would need to learn a multitude of platforms to accomplish everything ClassTag does all-in-one.
How Can I Schedule Events and Conferences and Get EVERY Parent to Attend?
ClassTag makes scheduling events and teacher-parent conferences a breeze. With a quick and easy set up and automatic reminders sent to parents, your families are sure to get an “A” in Attendance.
Quickly Set Up Conferences
When it comes to conferences, ClassDojo and Seesaw do not have a function available to set them. However, ClassTag offers conference scheduling capabilities allowing teachers to set meeting times that they want. Then, you send those options out to parents through the app and the recipients get to choose the slot that works best for them. It’s a scheduling win-win for all!
Simple Event Scheduling
As for events, the Remind and Talking Points apps do not include event coordination with time slots. But with ClassTag, teachers can quickly create an event, like a class party or talent show, and send an announcement about it to all parents through the app. An added benefit with this is that you can also create sign ups for your event like class volunteers, field trip chaperones, or snack duty.
Help Parents Sync Up Times
Most convenient of all, whether a conference or event, with Classtag’s chosen time slots, they’ll automatically sync with Google Calendar and conferencing link will be added through Google Meet. It doesn’t get much simpler to help parents to keep track of where and when they’ll attend something for their child’s school.
So, Why is ClassTag the BEST Teacher-Parent Communication App?
ClassTag’s features are designed to make things simpler and more efficient for both you as an educator and for the families you serve. Whether it’s the ability to send any kind of message in any language, getting donations for class supplies, easy conference and event coordination, or effective Google integrations, ClassTag is a smart choice to help you connect with everyone on every level. So, make teacher-parent disconnect a thing of the past by choosing ClassTag as your all-in-one communication platform!
Still curious? Classtag is free for you forever and that’s a price that’s worth your time. Go ahead… give it a try!
Join our amazing teacher community at ClassTag!
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