How Generative AI Improves Parent Engagement in K–12 Schools

Why Is Parent Engagement a Challenge?

Veteran teachers can cite a long list of technologies implemented to drive parent engagement, from robocalls and texting apps to digital newsletters and learning management systems. But the struggle remains. Parents are busier than ever with jobs and family responsibilities. More effort from the school is required to successfully connect with them.

“If the communication is not directly connected to their child, parents often ignore it,”

says Nataliya Polyakovska, principal AI tech consultant at SoftServe. “A lack of personalization in communications with students and parents can lead to disengagement.”

Like many parents, teachers themselves are overwhelmed with responsibilities. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 84% of teachers feel there is not enough time during their regular work hours to do basic teaching tasks, including lesson planning, administrative work and answering emails. Unfortunately, communicating with parents and families often takes a backseat to other core responsibilities such as grading and providing student feedback.

Because of the combined busyness of parents and teachers, communication between these important stakeholders — so essential for students’ success — is neglected. 

How Gen AI Personalizes Learning and Communication

Parent engagement was one of several challenges that the Mesquite (Texas) Independent School District was trying to tackle in 2020 when it decided to create AYO, a personalized education platform powered by generative AI.

“There were several drivers,” explains Cara Jackson, the district’s CTO. “We talked about differentiation in the classroom and personalization. How do we use technology to build greater engagement? We have a lot of data. How do we use it in a different way? We wanted to focus on tailoring student learning to their passions.”

DIVE DEEPER: Technology supports personalized learning in K–12 schools.

The initial vision for AYO came from the district’s community of administrators, teachers, parents and students. Mesquite then reached out to SoftServe for technical assistance in developing the district’s vision.

AYO uses multiple district data points, including student grades, test scores, extracurricular participation and student writing to build holistic student profiles. These dynamic profiles are then used to help teachers deliver more personalized and enhanced learning opportunities to students, both inside and outside of class.

Student Data Generates Personalized Engagement Suggestions

Recognizing that simply informing parents about district news and events was not enough, the district recently introduced a new feature, Family Feed, which supports two-way communication between teachers and parents.

Family Feed directly addresses the challenge of parent engagement by using AI to provide actionable engagement opportunities for students and their families. These opportunities are then delivered in teachers’ outreach to parents. 

“We really emphasize the importance of creating something that is actionable in communication that touches on curriculum needs, skills development and identified student interests,” says Polyakovska. “Student life extends beyond the classroom. We use personalization to better connect learning with students’ activities outside of school.”

These personalized engagement activities for students and their families can include local events, certification classes and recommendations for books and videos. “Family Feed might suggest courses, such as an Adobe certification,” explains Jackson. “We have over 14,000 courses that we have vetted and can recommend. And we have books and video recommendations for students as well.”

Including personalized student information and an engagement opportunity makes it much easier for parents to directly participate in their children’s education.

“Our goal is to have families on campus with us as much as possible,” says Jackson. “We want them to engage in the education process. We want to help build a greater understanding of the education process that their children are engaging in.”

Gen AI Supports Parent Engagement and Teacher Productivity

Mesquite ISD’s AI solution helps overwhelmed teachers quickly access student information and tailor each communication to better reference details unique to individual students.

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“Teachers often communicate about student successes, and with AYO they can easily include more detailed reports on student performance,” explains Polyakovska. “They are now able to combine generic communication with real insights.”

AYO’s use of generative AI to automate an essential but time-consuming task delivers great value to teachers. “Teachers have so many responsibilities,” says Polyakovska. “Automation helps address this. It helps teachers create more personalized communications and makes parent engagement much easier. And it also supports teachers’ overall productivity, allowing them to do more each day.”

“The best part of AYO is that all the stakeholders are able to see what’s going on with the student,” adds Jackson. “Every teacher can see what’s going on with their students, across classrooms. Both parents and teachers end up more informed about what’s going on with students and better able to engage in their learning.”