Let’s face it — school updates via crumpled paper notes and once-a-semester PTMs just don’t cut it anymore. In a time when everything is just a tap away, parents expect more visibility into their child’s education. And rightly so. That’s where education technology tools for parent engagement are stepping up — making it easier than ever for schools to connect with families in real-time, without the chaos.
From instant messaging with teachers to tracking homework and behavior patterns, these tools aren’t just fancy add-ons. They’re changing the game. If you’re an educator, administrator, or even a curious parent, this blog will walk you through the top tools and smart strategies that are helping schools build trust, boost collaboration, and put student success at the center of it all.
So let’s dive in — because when parents are truly engaged, students win.
Related: Education technology required for better management in schools
How does education technology benefit parents?
As of June 2022, India has a total of seven Edtech unicorns.
The Edtech industry in India is expected to reach a valuation of USD 30 billion in the next decade.
Sources
With the effect of the pandemic and the uncertainty attached to students attending schools physically, the industry has definitely seen an enormous boom.
The lockdown has given a simple yet effective solution by taking the help of learning technology. The Ed-tech applications have surged up to 30% and are expected to grow more.
EdTech Tools That Are Redefining Parent Engagement in Schools
1. Kinvolved
This attendance-focused app allows schools to send SMS messages about student absences or tardiness. Parents can respond instantly, making it more collaborative than punitive.
2. SchoolStatus
A communication platform that shows teachers each student’s academic data and then lets them engage with parents through email, text, or calls — all logged in one place.
3. ParentSquare
Offers secure, unified communication: messages, forms, calendar invites, volunteer sign-ups, and progress updates — all in one app. It’s FERPA-compliant and widely adopted by U.S. school districts.
4. Brightwheel
Originally designed for preschools, Brightwheel enables teachers to share real-time photos, updates, and attendance with families. Perfect for early learners.
5. Edulink One
Used by many schools in the UK and US, Edulink One combines messaging, homework tracking, attendance, behavior logs, and parental feedback into a single dashboard.
How do education technology tools for parent engagement help?
With technology integration as their core, Edtech start-ups today are reforming the sector and considering the maximum involvement of students as well as parents in the process.
These immersive models, education technology tools, are built to gain the advantage of teachers as well as parent engagement in the learning curve. The first school of a child starts from home and the impact is long-lasting. Parents act as robust support systems for children and they tend to learn a lot of social skills and emotional intelligence at home.
Learning Management Systems(LMS)
Parents can get involved in the learning process by simply providing an email and getting updates on how the child is performing and what the significant areas are that need attention.
They help to get a better understanding of highlighted areas where parental guidance is needed.
Parents can collaborate using these systems to know parents of children taking the same courses and can raise common concerns if any.
The progress of a student’s learning can be easily tracked while they perform their routine tasks and if some are overdue, the parents can immediately take note.
Also Read: How to choose the right LMS for your school?
Learning Applications
While the LMS is managed by the school administration, there are learning applications that the parents can easily access. These are a source of real-time learning without any geographical boundaries.
Educational Websites
Educational websites offer parents an opportunity to be present during the learning of concepts and engage in the process. No matter what the age,
Parents can actively participate in the learning process and spend time together understanding various concepts on diverse topics.
Better parent-teacher-student loop
With the presence of collaboration tools, the loop between parents-teachers and students gets stronger. A study suggests that eLearning helps students to retain more information than offline. By augmenting technology with education, tutors are given access to services so that they can excel in the field and become good leaders. Providing timely and accurate information leads to maximum convenience and visibility for parents.
Some ideas to increase parent engagement through Edtech
1. Training parents
Before using any new tools or classroom technology, parents need to be trained too. The school community or administration can easily have short sessions where they explain to parents how to access accounts and what services they can avail of. Making the process easier and more accessible helps to enhance the participation of parents.
2. Blogging
Blogs and small posts are really informative and involve less effort and time to read. Creating a blog that is exclusively accessible to parents helps the parents to know more about what is being taught. Parents can also have discussions over the blog to improve any existing processes.
3. Building a platform with exceptional communication tools
Communication is the key to a successful platform. The messages or any information that is conveyed should be accessible by the parents and the administration as well. Keeping the kids involved in these messages helps the tutors to know how far the kids are participating and also be relieved that the parents know about the progress of the child.
Conclusion
Education technology can help to boost parental involvement and result in better performance of children. The learning experience can be enhanced if we have a better connection of all learning sources for a child. Analytics and data management are used increasingly to assess the development of a student and inform parents of the progression. Real-time access can be easily provided to parents. Collaboration tools are used consistently to gather data by ed tech companies to increase parent outreach and make learning a holistic experience.
