Teachers use SchoolStatus Connect to keep families in the loop, build relationships, and manage day-to-day classroom communication, all from one place. This article walks through how you'll navigate Connect as a teacher.
Home Page
This is where your Connect session starts. Your homepage gives you an at-a-glance view of what's happening across your classroom(s): recent announcements, upcoming events, and quick links to your district, school(s), and classroom(s) under My Places.
The dashboard at the top of your homepage also highlights your own communication activity, so you can see at a glance how connected your families are :
- How many of your announcements have been read, across all of your classrooms
- How many families you're connected with, compared to how many you've invited, across all of your classrooms
- How many days it's been since you last reached out to families
It's a quick way to check in on family engagement and make sure no one's falling through the cracks.
Announcement Hub
Learn more about the Announcement Hub; click here.
Activities
Use this section to create events for your classroom, school, or district, and to request volunteers or items from families. Families will see the event's date, time, and location, and can sign up to volunteer directly from the event.
This is also where Parent-Teacher Conference sign-ups live. Once you've set up conference slots, families can pick a time that works for them and change it later if needed.
You can use the location filter to see events/activities for your classrooms and schools.
More information on navigating the Activities tab can be found here.
Classrooms
On this page, you will see a list of classrooms you are connected with. The list shows the classroom name, the Period, and the Grade. You can click the classroom name to view the specific classroom page. Click the Filter box to show specific classrooms.
From your classroom's settings, you can customize the classroom's theme and photo, add quick links for families, and adjust how parents are able to interact with your classroom (for example, whether they can comment on announcements).
For more information on updating classroom settings, click here.
To learn more about creating and setting up classrooms, click here.
Directory
The Directory gives you quick access to the students and guardians in your classroom. From here you can:
- View contact information for each guardian
- Call or text a guardian directly
- View a student's Backpack
- Check a family's engagement log (whether they've viewed recent announcements or messages)
What you see in the Directory depends on which level you're viewing:
- District Directory: You'll only see staff members here, not students or families.
- School Directory: You'll only see families for the students rostered to you, unless your account has Family Access permission, which lets you see all families at your school, not just your own roster.
More on navigating the Directory: click here.
Library
Use the Library to share class photos, videos, and files with the whole class. You can also upload directly to an individual student's Backpack to share something privately with just that student's family, like a report or a piece of their work.
Click here to learn more about navigating the Library.
Conversation
Conversations are two-way messages between you and a guardian, or a small group of guardians, similar to a group text. Unlike Announcements, guardians can reply, and you'll see the full back-and-forth in one thread.
Guardians are notified of new messages by push notification right away. If they haven't seen the message in Connect within about a minute, it's also sent by email or SMS, depending on their notification settings.
Shared phone numbers: When multiple guardians share a phone number, Connect adds a short label like "For [Recipient Name]" at the start of the text so it's clear who the message is for.
Note: We’ve added a short label (e.g., For Dennis) at the start of most system-sent SMS messages. This helps clarify who the message is for and which account it belongs to when multiple users share the same phone number in Connect.
For more information on Messaging and Conversations, this section of our help center will cover everything you need to know.
Phone Calls
Connect also lets you call guardians directly from the app. Find the guardian in your Directory and open their profile card. You'll see a phone icon there; click it to start the call.
Calls are made through a private, secure Connect phone number, so your personal number is never shared with the guardian. Depending on your district's settings, calls may also be recorded for documentation.
Click here for more information on 1:1 Calling
Personal Settings
From your avatar, you can manage your own account at any time. This is where you can:
- Update your account information, or request an update if it's synced from your district's system
- Set your communication preferences, including notification channel (email, SMS, push) and language
- Set up your office hours, so families know when you're available
- And more
Click here to return to the main menu - or ask for help!