Your motivation to take attendance every day

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This blog post is part of our “Guide to Family Communications” series, based on the stories we collected while assembling our 2016–2017 Impact Report.

Daily attendance tracking allows teachers to spot early warning signs, plan interventions, and monitor improvements. Teachers and leaders benefit from learning how to make a habit of taking attendance each day, reviewing the data regularly, and learning to let the data inform conversations with students, teachers, and families.

Educator perspectives on how Kinvolved helps

The Kinvolved team partners with school systems to strategize ways to boost utilization rates and make attendance data more accurate.

Ms. S. worked with her Kinvolved coach to send weekly emails to her teachers that include attendance rates, the effect of KiNVO usage on attendance, students who are improving their attendance, and teachers who take attendance in 100% of their classes each week.

As the result of a Kinvolved coaching session, Ms. B. now sends out monthly attendance newsletters: “I spotlight teachers with high utilization, and once other teachers see it, they think ‘Ok, I want to use it too.’”

Putting it into practice

  • Teachers: Participate in Kinvolved professional learning sessions to increase your comfort with KiNVO, learn its full feature set, use the software with fidelity, and increase your usage.
  • Leaders: Work with the Kinvolved team to learn and understand the barriers that prevent teachers from taking attendance daily, then receive tailored suggestions about how to boost teacher utilization.

Engagement for educators on the go

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This blog post is part of our “Guide to Family Partnerships” series, based on the stories we collected while assembling our 2016–2017 Impact Report.

When parents try to reach a teacher or administrator over the phone, they’ll likely reach a phone ringing at an empty desk or have to leave a message that won’t be received until after dismissal. The resulting games of phone tag cause frustration and can undermine important relationships.

“If you call my desk, you’d never reach me,” says Harlem dean Mr. W., who is constantly away from his office and walking around the building providing student support.

Educator perspectives on how Kinvolved helps

KiNVO makes it easier for parents to reach school staff during their hectic days. For Mr. W., this close connection strengthens relationships: “Through text, I’ll get it and be able to text back. You’re not waiting until the end of the day to get what you need.”

Educators can also reach parents in real time, without being intrusive, via KiNVO’s text messaging feature, ensuring parents get the information they need no matter where they are. Mr. G., a guidance counselor in the Bronx, described being able to get in touch with a mother as soon as he realized her child was cutting class. When the parent saw the text, she called Mr. G. “from her cell phone, while standing on a street corner”—and solving the problem did not have to wait “until she got home and saw a missed call.”

With KiNVO, Ms. S. at a Brooklyn high school appreciates that she can ping parents when a tardy student shows up. “As soon as they come in, I take out my phone and send a quick message: ‘Just walking in.’ It takes ten seconds and it’s something I wasn’t able to do before.”

Putting it into practice

  • At the end of each day, sort by unread messages your Kinbox—your KiNVO message inbox—to be sure you reply to anything that may have slipped through the cracks.
    • Pro tip: To save time, sign up for daily notifications of unread messages.
  • Create in KiNVO a template bank of your commonly used messages, then simply customize your notes with the student’s name before sending.
  • Perform and narrate your KiNVO activities, such as swiping to take attendance or texting a positive message to parents, in front of your class. This will help you develop a routine while also building student investment in what you’re doing.

Kinvolved Hailed as a “Changemaker” among B Corporations

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Kinvolved Hailed as a “Changemaker” among B Corporations

Today, Kinvolved was awarded a place on the Best for the World: Changemakers list, which acknowledges positive impact and behavior change among Certified B Corporations across all categories on the B Impact Assessment. This comes on the heels of winning two other Best for the World awards.

All honorees are featured on bthechange.com. Thank you all for acknowledging our contributions—we’re proud to be among these amazing Changemakers!

How to reach students’ greatest influencers

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This blog post is part of our “Guide to Family Communications” series, based on the stories we collected while assembling our 2016–2017 Impact Report.

Phone calls and letters get sent to a single designated contact that, even if up-to-date, might not be the most effective influencer to provide the support a student needs.

Educator perspectives on how Kinvolved helps

Because KiNVO allows multiple contacts per student, teachers can loop in multiple relatives and guardians who may have substantial influence over the child.

Ms. N., a Brooklyn high school teacher, worked with one student’s grandmother to add more family members to her contact list. “If that student is out, it’s clear she’s cutting class—now, any available family member can help deal with it,” she explains. The expanded circle brought drastic results: “I sent two text messages, and suddenly she was getting to school before the first-period bell!”

For Ms. S., a high school teacher in Harlem, when she learned that a parent who was supposed to be receiving automated phone calls was deaf, she switched to text messaging and added another contact to the student’s account. Just by adding another family member, “the child’s attendance went from 38% to 68% in four weeks.”

Putting it into practice

  • Add as many contacts as you need per student, then customize which contacts receive which messages in which format.
    • Pro tip: Be sure to customize the language settings for each individual.
  • As you get to know your students, ask where they spend their evenings and mornings so you learn which family members are closest when students are doing homework assignments or waking up.