TCEA 2017 Coverage

ClassTag Releases Automated Newsletter Functionality to Augment Communications

• By Richard Chang
• 02/08/17

ClassTag, a free parent engagement app for teachers and schools, has released a fully customizable and automated newsletter functionality to augment its communications and scheduling capabilities. The announcement was made during the TCEA conference in Austin, TX this week.

More than 50 percent of teachers report an inability to reach all parents and “wasting time and paper on newsletters” as their biggest challenges, according to ClassTag’s recent online survey of K–12 teachers. Another 20 percent are frustrated by the lack of visibility into who is reading the newsletters, according to the same survey.

ClassTag’s Weekly Update has been designed to replace labor-intensive paper newsletters. An e-mail newsletter with an overview of all upcoming activities can be sent weekly to parents invited by the teacher to his/her class at a time and day determined by the teacher. Teachers can add custom content or sit back, knowing that ClassTag keeps parents in the loop, according to a news release.

Additionally, teachers are able to print the newsletter with one click so they can reach all families and print a few copies only for those who need it.

The automated newsletter functionality aims to address the problem of broken communication between teachers and parents.

“There are two big problems interconnected here,” said ClassTag CEO Vlada Lotkina in a statement. “On the one hand, we have parents who don’t have internet and email access, frequently change phone numbers and don’t have smartphones to download the apps. On the other hand, parents want to get relevant and concise information vs. a generic newsletter that takes a long time to read only to find that 10 percent of content might be applicable to them. We are addressing both of these problems as each newsletter is personalized to a parent with relevant information.”

As part of ClassTag’s platform, teachers and schools also get complete visibility into who is reading the newsletters, as well as overall level of readership and involvement using ClassTag’s Statistics.

ClassTag is exhibiting at TCEA this week in booth 2660. For more information, visit the company’s website, or download ClassTag on iTunes or Google Play.