Is a Focus on Customer Service the Answer to School Engagement?

Source: 

Dive Brief:

• Some districts are now thinking about parents and students as customers, subsequently focusing more on providing good customer service in order to increase engagement with ed tech products like K12 Insight's "Engage" and "Let's Talk" tools.
• By thinking of schools as businesses and tracking feedback from "clients" (parents and students), districts can better understand concerns and priorities from the communities they serve.
• Two-way communication also makes parents and students feel like they are being listened to, appreciated, and respected, with their children's needs being considered and addressed.

Dive Insight:

This approach has already been used for months now in North Carolina, where school administrators are also using K-12 Insight's cloud-based platform "Let's Talk." The software is offered on the state Department of Public Instruction's website as a communications portal for parents and the public. Washington state is following suit. In the Kent district, kiosks have been constructed in low-income communities to inform parents about school news and information.

Wendy Robinson, superintendent of Indiana’s Fort Wayne Community Schools, previously penned a piece for District Administration called "Turn your district into a customer service machine" that covered similar ground. Districts should remember that although implementing tech to help communication can help, it's also not a be-all, end-all. Robinson's advice for giving good customer service is steeped in the simple concept of listening and attending to community needs.