In partnership with Change Research, and on behalf of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, we asked 440 parents nationwide in April 2020 about how they are staying up to date on their children’s education amid widespread school closures. Consistent with other surveys, we found that a solid majority of parents are at least somewhat satisfied with educators’ communication to date—an impressive feat in an unprecedented crisis. We also gained interesting insight into parents’ fears for the future and sources of information that led us to the following recommendations for school communications:

Recognize that teachers will always be your primary spokespeople. Nearly three quarters (74%) of parents report getting school-related information from teachers multiple times per week, and more than half (52%) are in touch with teachers at least once daily. Parents trust teachers and teachers know how to get in touch with parents—anecdotally, they are often the only ones with contact information for the hardest-to-reach families. It’s important to have a plan to keep your school and/or district leadership visible and in touch. But if you want parents to get school- or district-wide information, make sure you are keeping teachers informed and empowered to share your updates.

Reach parents on local TV and Facebook. After teachers, Facebook and local television news are parents' most frequent sources of school-related information—ahead of even direct communication from principals or administrators. These sources may be even more critical in reaching parents who are hard to reach by email or phone. By contrast, Twitter can be a useful tool in reaching journalists, opinion leaders, and policymakers, but if your best parent-friendly content is on there, it is missing its intended audience.

Harness the power of community. Email is parents’ most frequent source of direct information from schools with school-run platforms like ClassDojo a distant second. Such a heavy reliance on digital platforms raises obvious questions about how to reach parents who do not have reliable internet access. Roughly half (49%) of parents say they know families without reliable internet. Asked how those families are primarily getting information about school, most respondents cited word of mouth.

Efforts to narrow the digital divide are crucial, but in the meantime, so are workarounds. Consider making explicit asks for your constituents to reach out to friends and family to share critical information. Also consider building in-person delivery of learning materials into your delivery of food and other critical emergency relief efforts.

Look ahead and set expectations. Parents' general satisfaction with school and district communication to date is a tremendous credit to teachers, principals, and district administrators. At the same time, families are afraid of what lies ahead. Seventy percent of all parents and 81% of parents from lower-income households (<$50,000) have “very serious” or “somewhat serious” concerns about their school’s plan for returning this fall. And most parents say they have not heard enough about when school is likely to open or policies on student evaluations and promotions. Ninety percent say their have children have transitioned to remote learning, but roughly four in ten crave more information about expectations of both students and parents with that learning.

It’s natural that parents are getting the most information about pressing issues, but now is the time to start getting ahead of tough questions about grades, summer, and next year. It’s ok not to have all the answers yet. Parent responses suggest a strong understanding that we are all figuring this out as we go. But setting regularly scheduled times for updates and telling people when to expect more will go a long way toward easing anxiety.

Keep it simple. Many parents have added school and childcare to their already-full plates. Some with children in multiple grades report receiving as many as a half-dozen emails a day from different teachers or spreadsheets with hundreds of lines of resources to sort through. Err on the side of keeping your communications short, sweet, and simple to use.

Start planning now for the summer. Parents cite teachers as their most important and most frequent sources of information. In normal years, that parent-teacher dialogue likely tapers off dramatically in the summer when teachers are on break and parents know what to expect. In a year that is anything-but-normal, what will fill the vacuum? Will students be engaged in distance learning and teachers expected to continue the relationship? Will you need a plan for more frequent outreach from districts or principals?

Stay human. Eighty percent of parents say their level of worry about the pandemic’s effects on educational progress is at least a five out of ten and a plurality (27%) said ten out of ten. Forty percent of parents from lower-income households and 22% of all parents say they have already lost their jobs. Another 17% of all parents fear they will. Nearly three-quarters (72%) are “very” or “somewhat” concerned that their child will get sick. In the rush to disseminate critical information, don’t forget to acknowledge parents’ very real pain and fear.