Communication

System Improvement
Process for
Customers- Carver
Community School
Emily Roeder
EDL 272 FBLE
Carver
Elementary
422 students
182 ELL students- 43%
13 languages
2nd lowest school in DMPS on attendance
Nearly 100% free/reduced lunch

“At Carver, students are challenged to learn with a

growth mindset, encouraged to do their best, and
motivated to achieve success in a safe, caring
environment.”
1) providing students with essential knowledge, skills, and abilities
2) ensuring each student reaches their maximum potential through
enriching relationships
3) working in partnerships with students, families, and community to
create connections that increase student success
What is the problem?
Over the past few years in the building, there have been growing discrepancies from
teacher to teacher as well as building-wide on how to communicate home. Within Carver
alone, teachers use Talking Points, SchoolCnxt, Infinite Campus, Parent Square, email,
phone calls, texts, ClassDojo, Remind, and Seesaw. This creates many issues for
customers including:
• Complications for families with students in multiple classes, grades, or even different buildings
• Barriers for ELL families
• Puts more pressure on students to communicate messages home on behalf of the school
• Adds pressure on district translators to formulate and communicate messages on behalf of the teacher or
school
• Decreases in engagement for customers
• Lowers satisfaction of the educational experience
Theory:
If students/families have one
universal form of communication,
there will be a constant increase
in family engagement and
satisfaction in the learning
process within two years.
Timeline:
This process will take two years to complete from the
time of surveying families to seeing results from
communication improvements over time (2023-2025).
Year one will include the survey for families, collecting
data from staff and building survey questions, consent
from the district on platform usage, and providing
training for families over the summer, at the beginning of
the school year, and getting out video tutorials. Year two
will include implementation of the tool and gathering
data through sampling to measure effectiveness.
 Action Plan:
1. Surveying families for initial feedback on the best communication methods
using current methods.

2. Utilizing the top scoring communication methods to complete an affinity

diagram with staff and translators, weighing pros and cons, and gathering
teacher preferences.

3. Creating satisfaction and engagement survey questions on the selected

communication platform

4. Seeking district approval on communication plans.

5. Communicating to the community the selected platform and plan for

improvement using all current methods of communication.

6. Training customers (in the summer and before school starts) regarding
how to use the selected tool as well as creating a video tutorial on "how to"
use the platform.

7. Gathering feedback through sampling (run chart) on the use of universally

selected communication platform and the customer’s experience.
Engagement and satisfaction surveys will be sent out randomly every
Assessment Processes:
The first assessment data collected will come Initial Survey to Be Sent Home in Home
Language:
from the survey (in their home language) sent out
to families for initial feedback, preferences of • Description of All Listed Platforms
communication platform, and with descriptions on • Rank Options 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Choice
each platform. An affinity diagram will be used to • Talking Points
assess results from staff regarding their • SchoolCnxt
preferences of platform usage. Staff will create • Infinite Campus
questions together to formulate the satisfaction • Parent Square
and engagement survey sent out to families (10 • Email
each week= sampling) over the course of the
• Remind
2024-2025 school year to track and gather
• Seesaw
results/feedback on the selected platform over • Comment Section
time.
Resources Needed:

1. Surveys for customers on technology usage

2. Affinity diagram for staff
3. Technology (computer or cellphone)
4. Communication platforms (FREE to staff and customers)
5. District approval of platform usage
6. Tutorial video of the selected platform
7. Staff (including translators) and schedules for training
8. Satisfaction and engagement survey on communication platform

Responsibilities:
The biggest responsibility of administration will be to gather all data to make informed
decisions. Admin will oversee the communication to customers, staff, and district on the purpose
and end goal of the PDSA improvement process. Admin will work with staff through the process
of building the satisfaction and engagement survey to seek desired outcomes. Community and
staff will be allowed the opportunity to give feedback and partake in the process.
 Communication Plan:

The whole point of this plan is to improve communication. The

plan involves utilizing all current methods of communication
used in the building to get the word out to the community. Once
a decision has been made on the preferred platform, the same
methods of communication will be used to share findings and
the plan. Then, trainings will be set up for families on technology
usage in the summer, at the beginning of the year, as well as a
video tutorial to ensure everyone knows the plan moving
forward. This form of communication will be used permanently,
unless numbers indicate the desired results are not being met.
 References
• Community - Des Moines Public Schools. Www.dmschools.org. https://www.dmschools.org/quick-links-community/
• Des Moines Public Schools. Des Moines Public Schools. https://www.dmschools.org/
• Des Moines School Board - Des Moines Public Schools. Www.dmschools.org. https://www.dmschools.org/board/
• DMPS Elementary Office of Academics. DMPS Elementary Office of Academics. http://elementary.dmschools.org/
• Elementary School Based Monitoring. DMPS Assessment, Data, and Evaluation.
https://data.dmschools.org/elementary-school-based-monitoring.html
• Home - Carver Community School. Carver. https://carver.dmschools.org/