What languages will the messages be in?
English and Spanish. Parents will receive messages in Spanish only if you provide Spanish as a parent’s communication language; otherwise, they will receive the messages in English.
Can parents opt out?
Yes, they can opt-out by replying STOP to a text message at any time, after the first introductory message is sent. We'll give them an opt-out message at the end of every message. If they request to be opted out prior to you activating the Student Snapshot, you can remove the parent’s cell phone number from the Platform.
Will parents know they will start receiving text messages? Who will the messages be sent from?
Before you activate the feature, we suggest that you communicate this new feature and benefit to your families. After you activate the feature, the Platform will send an introductory message to your parents letting them know that they are enrolled in Your Student Snapshot from your school. The introductory message is:
"Welcome to Your Student Snapshot from [your school’s name in the Platform]! To support [StudentFirstName1], we’ll text you about your child's coursework & progress with tips & questions to aid in supporting your student(s). Approx 2 messages/week/child. Msg&Data rates may apply. Text HELP to learn more. Text STOP to end msgs."
What happens if a parent replies?
As is common with automated text messages, no one will be on the other end of the text message in order to respond. If a parent replies, they will receive an automated response that asks them to contact their school or mentor.
"Thanks for your msg. This number is not staffed so we're unable to reply. Contact your child's school or mentor with questions / concerns. Msg&Data rates may apply. Text HELP to learn more. Text STOP to end msgs."
Can I select which parents I want to receive the Your Student Snapshot?
All parents of students with student Platform accounts who have a valid cell phone number in the Platform and have not unsubscribed will receive the Student Snapshot. Therefore, you can control which parents receive and don’t receive messages by either including or excluding a parent’s cell phone number in the Platform. We would strongly encourage you to ensure all contact numbers are up to date in the platform in order to give parents the choice themselves. Parents can unsubscribe at any time by replying STOP to the messages.
Can I or my parents select which messages we / they want and don’t want to receive, and the frequency of the messages?
At this time, schools and parents are not able to choose which text messages to receive or the frequency of those messages. Messages are designed to keep your families up-to-date on your students’ coursework and academic progress in a way that supports student growth and self-direction without overwhelming the families.
How many messages will my parents receive? What if they have multiple children?
Parents will receive, on average, 2 text messages per week per child based on their student’s own academic calendar and performance. If a parent has multiple children in your school or another Summit Learning Program school that has activated Your Student Snapshot, they will receive separate messages for each of their children.
Why are we automatically enrolling parents into Your Student Snapshot instead of allowing each parent to opt-in?
More parents will participate and more parents and students will benefit from the Student Snapshot by automatically enrolling parents into the program. Multiple studies show the benefit of automatically opting parents in. For example, in a parent texting program study at a large school district:
Parents who were automatically opted-in have an opportunity to opt-out. 96% of parents remained enrolled and students’ grades increased and course failures decreased.
Under “standard” opt-in enrollment, where parents could enroll online, less than 1% of parents enrolled and there was no effect on academic outcomes.
Under “simplified” opt-in enrollment, where parents could opt-in by replying “start” to a text message, only 7% of parents enrolled and again, there was no effect on academic outcomes.
Also, in the opt-in scenarios, the parents who opted-in were the parents of the higher-performing kids, while we aim to provide equitable access to information for all of our families. Source: Education Technology Adoption (Bergman & Rogers, 2017).
Are Your Student Snapshot compliant with FCC rules & regulations?
Yes, in 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stated that schools are permitted to send communications that are closely related to the educational mission of the school or official school activities. Schools may only share parent contact information if doing so complies with their own policies and applicable law. Your school has shared your parents’ contact information with the Summit Learning Platform and activated the Your Student Snapshot feature to provide the text message service to your families and keep them informed about their children’s academic progress and coursework. Summit Learning will not sell or rent any personal information to any third party for any purpose – including for advertising and marketing purposes. Summit will not use the text messages for purposes that are not related to the educational mission of the school.
My parent says they are no longer receiving messages. What should I do?
If they were receiving messages before, but then the messages stopped, they may have accidentally unsubscribed. Ask them to text “START” to the number that was messaging them, and they will be resubscribed.
You can find the number that was messaging them by looking into the history of the texts that they have received by following the steps below.
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Click Setup.
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Click Parents.
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Find the parent whose messages you want to see. Click on that parent's first name.
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You will see the Your Student Snapshot message history. Learn more about this feature here.
My parent changed their phone number. How can I edit the number on file?
Please visit this Helpdesk article: Where can I create and edit parent/guardian accounts? For instructions on how to edit and create parent accounts.
What if I change a project or deadline in the Platform? How does that affect the messages?
The messages are written to be generic enough so that project changes will not affect them. The messages pull real-time data from the Platform, so if project due dates are changed, for example, the message will reflect the most current information.
What time will the messages be sent to families?
In most cases, messages will be sent on weekday afternoons and early evenings. Message timing is subject to change without prior notice.
Can I see the messages that my families are receiving?
You can also see a log of messages sent to individual parents by following these instructions:
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Click Setup.
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Click Parents.
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Find the parent whose messages you want to see. Click on that parent's first name.
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You will see the Your Student Snapshot message history. Learn more about this feature here.
What phone number will the text messages come from?
The phone number is auto-generated by the text messaging service provider and may vary parent by parent, so it’s likely that different phone numbers will be messaging different families in your school. We, unfortunately, cannot provide you a set phone number in advance.
How can I get my parents to opt back into the messages if they unsubscribed?
We encourage you to review which parents have unsubscribed regularly in the Parents Setup page in the Platform by looking at the SMS Student Snapshot Active column. You can send the below message to parents who are not active. Note: If you don’t know which number(s) has been sending your parents text messages, please submit a Helpdesk ticket.
"We noticed that you are currently not subscribed to our Your Student Snapshot service. We encourage you to participate to stay informed about your child’s academic progress and coursework. The texts are personalized to your child’s own academic calendar and performance. If you unsubscribed, you can rejoin by texting START to [insert number]. You can opt-out of the program at any time by replying STOP. Learn more about our Your Student Snapshot program.
To participate in the program, we must have a valid cell phone number for you. If you are unsure if you’ve provided one to us, please [insert directions for parents to verify / update their cell phone number]. The messages are available in English and Spanish. If you prefer to have the messages in Spanish, please let us know so that we can set that preference"
How will this affect my school’s communications with parents?
Our goal is to enhance your parent and family communications and engagement activities by providing parents with information to prompt engagement with their child on academics. This is not meant to be a substitute for your current school or mentor / teacher communications to families, which is critical to building relationships and partnering with your families. If you or your teachers are sending the exact same automated information to your families through another channel, you should consider stopping those communications if it’s repetitive and doesn’t add additional value. However, for example, if you are sending the same information via email but with more detail, then it may be valuable to your families to have both, since SMS texts provide a quick reminder and action for the parent to take and the email provides more context.