Case Study: Flyer Connect’s Impact on Scuola Vita Nuova

Jessica Digiovanni, Scuola Vita Nuova’s principal, had a challenge that many schools face: she struggled to effectively engage all families at her school. Scuola Vita Nuova (SVN) is in the heart of Northeast Kansas City, and their student body represents a variety of cultures and languages. Almost 70% of students speak a language other than English at home, including Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, Arabic, Burmese and Swahili.

Previous Solutions Added More Work, With Less Than Ideal Outcomes

“Family engagement is really important at SVN,” Digiovanni said. “With that comes some challenges in any setting. At our school, we were finding that sometimes our traditional modes of communication, such as paper flyers, were a waste of time and money.” When Digiovanni opened students’ backpacks, she would find crumpled up papers and flyers that never made it to the hands of their parents.

Robocalls and emails also proved ineffective. “If parents didn’t answer the call in that moment, we couldn’t be sure they were getting the message, and email was just not a mode of communication that our families regularly used.”

Despite the effort and time Digiovanni and her team spent on family communication, families and students took the brunt of ineffective systems. Families were missing out on really important information regarding their child’s education and important school events.

Implementing Flyer Connect: Getting More Results for Less Work

SVN rolled out Flyer Connect for both the main office staff and teachers to better communicate with families. The school uses the calendar sync function to keep families up-to-date on events and activities, and the resources tab gives families access to academic and social tools.

From parent surveys and teacher interviews, Lean Lab Ed measured overwhelmingly positive results for both families and staff.

• 86% of families feel extremely informed about school information with the Flyer Connect app
• 80% of families receive more frequent communication from the school with the Flyer Connect app
• 70% of families are more aware of how well my child is progressing along academic standards with the Flyer Connect app.

The study shows that the Flyer Connect app fosters:

• Immediate action: “Flyer Connect has been a great support in collecting paperwork needed for students to attend field trips. Right after the notification, parents will stop and drop off the paperwork at SVN or provide it to their students.”
• Quick access to information: “Families are able to see event information immediately via their phone, instead of having to wait via the mail to get a notification or via their students.”
• Family-Teacher connections: “It gives a bridge to teachers to share a message and know that parents will be able to understand in their native language.”

Click here to see more details from Lean Lab Ed’s research study.

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Originally published at https://www.flyerconnect.org on March 2, 2020.