Making Virtual Connections

Abstract

A student’s transition into a school starts well before he or she walks through the front doors or sits down at a desk. There are multiple strategies schools can use to smooth students’ transition and make families feel welcome before they arrive at the school. Since many of these strategies involve technology, they are presented in their own chapter. The first impression many schools leave on incoming families takes place in front of a computer, tablet screen, or mobile phone—not face-to-face. When a family is moving to a new community, one of the first things many parents— and students— will do is search online for the district or school and try to gather some basic information about the enrollment process, the neighborhood, and the achievement scores. “During my most recent move, I spent time on the school website to get a feel of how the school ran and what classes were available,” says Eraina, a student featured in Chapter 3. “This was helpful and made the transition not so shocking and confusing.” Parents might also search for information on courses or activities for their children and even read teacher profiles if those are available. Parents want to cushion the transition process for their children as much as possible; they want to be able to answer their children’s questions about the new school. School and district websites don’t, however, always make that process simple. Sometimes registration information is not easily found on a homepage, and parents might end up on pages that say “under construction” when they try to dig for more details. Some schools and districts provide email addresses for key staff members; others don’t. And, sometimes, staff members have left their position or the district, but their contact information is not updated. School Webmasters is a Mesa, Arizona-based company that develops and administers websites for schools and districts. A December 2014 blog post on the company’s site entitled “Do Parents Use Your Website?” offered this advice: In this digital age, parents looking to find a school for their child are likely to visit your website before ever visiting your campus.