MSD Wayne Township

MSD Wayne Township: English Learner Parent Participation Doubled at Orientation

Location

Indianapolis, Indiana

Type

District comprised of 20 public PK-12 schools

Students

16,865 ENLL: 17.4% | FRL: 75%

A Diverse Community Needed a Better Approach

MSD Wayne Township wanted to improve their ability to reach families in their community, in a way that was easier for parents, teachers and schools.

70+ Languages, 60+ Countries

Serving approximately 5,000 families with English as a second language, MSD Wayne Township needed a way to enable 2-way communication with parents in their preferred language, so there were no barriers to their involvement in their students’ school life.

Resource Intensive

Having diverse messaging systems took up time and energy for staff and teachers, learning how and when to use them and keeping parent information up to date. The district used SchoolMessenger for mass notifications (i.e. early dismissal, site threats) as well as a custom mobile app, social media channels, email, print mailings and websites. Teachers and Schools used additional tools for classroom communications such as Remind and Dojo which required senders to keep contact information up to date.

Complexity for Parents

The district’s strong commitment to involving their parent community had resulted in many apps, tools, and platforms. It was challenging for parents to set everything up and then remember where to go find what kind of information. There was a constant learning curve.

Difficulty Measuring Engagement

With multiple messaging systems managed at different levels, there was no way for the District or schools to gauge overall parent engagement, or understand which families were out of the loop.

One Platform from Superintendent to Classroom

The district selected ParentSquare to provide a cost-effective, user-friendly solution for all MSD Wayne Township staff, parents and teachers. ParentSquare provided MSD Wayne Township with an online platform and a mobile app supporting 2-way, multi-language communication from the District Superintendent level, all the way down to the classroom.

Breakthrough Engagement Across the District

MSD Wayne Township has embraced ParentSquare, from the Superintendent to the building administrators and classroom teachers. Here are a few of the improvements they’ve experienced.

98% parent contactability across the district

Even measuring contactability before ParentSquare was difficult. After syncing their SIS with ParentSquare, it was easy for schools to identify invalid emails and phone numbers for parents and take action. 

Increased parent-teacher interaction

Thelma Webb, Systems Database Manager at MSD Wayne Township, observed that teacher-to-parent communications increased right from the beginning, as the ParentSquare platform was easy to use.

100%-200% increase in English learner parent participation at school orientation

Every year, the Language Assistance Program (LAP) organizes parent orientations for new English Learner families. This past year, after using ParentSquare to communicate in families’ preferred language, William Esquivel, LAP Parent Liaison, was excited to report that parent attendance more than doubled – and sometimes tripled – for all schools across the district.