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FASTalk boosts student engagement and achievement by engaging diverse families
FASTalk (Families and Schools Talk) is an evidence-based tool for schools to activate the power of families to improve student achievement. FASTalk helps teachers send curriculum-aligned learning activities to families by text message in their home language. FASTalk connects the key adults in a student’s life--parents and teachers--by promoting meaningful, regular two-way communication about classroom learning in a way that is easy and accessible, and powerfully impactful on student achievement.
When schools use FASTalk students succeed. In 2018-19, FASTalk helped four times as many Kindergarteners who recognized less than 25 percent of their letters and sounds in the fall meet midyear literacy benchmarks, compared to students not using FASTalk. FASTalk increases parents’ confidence in their ability to support their child’s learning and their knowledge of ways to support learning at home. Parents also found that FASTalk enhanced teacher communication and their connection to the classroom.
Teachers also report FASTalk is benefitting students, reducing key barriers to parent-teacher communication, and saving time. What is remarkable is that FASTalk builds the capacity of teachers to engage families and increase student achievement while taking less than one hour of teacher time over the course of a school year.