Happy New Year!
January is a unique time in the school year—a halftime, if you will—that you can use to look at the scoreboard and strategize what should change and what should stay the same over the rest of the academic year. For school communications teams, this means evaluating where you’ve been spending your limited energy and capacity and where you want to spend it moving forward.
Fortunately, we’ve got data that can help you craft meaningful New Year’s resolutions for your overstretched team. In "What Parents Want," we surveyed over 1,400 parents to uncover exactly how they prefer to receive information. If you reach them where they prefer to be reached, you’ll conserve your energy and theirs.
So pulling from our findings, here are three resolutions to help your team communicate with efficiency and effectiveness in 2026.
Resolution #1: Focus on your homepage.
The data is clear: families prefer your school website over any other channel. In fact, it is their #1 preferred choice for receiving new, non-emergency information.
The Goal: Before worrying about the latest social media algorithm, ensure your website is easy to navigate and frequently updated. If your parents know the website is the "source of truth," they will stop calling the front office, wasting their time in the pursuit of basic details.
Resolution #2: Don’t stress about social.
Our team often talks to school communicators who feel pressure to post vital updates to Facebook or Instagram, but data shows that parents aren't looking for them there. Surprisingly, social media didn’t even rank in the top five sources parents actually want to get new information from.
The Goal: Stop stressing about "reach" on vital announcements posted to social. Use social media as a window into your school's culture and brand, but rely on direct channels—like your website, app, and texts—for the "must-know" logistical details.
Resolution #3: Equip your most trusted messengers.
When asked who they trust most to communicate valuable information, 58% of parents chose teachers. This far outpaced principals (24%) and district leaders (less than 5%).
The Goal: Your most powerful communication channel isn't a platform; it’s your staff. If you have a major district initiative, don't just send a press release. Ensure your teachers have the talking points and internal updates they need to answer parent questions confidently.
These three goals are just a start, but hopefully you'll find them useful as you craft a work plan that helps you prioritize what matters—and helps your team start 2026 with a renewed sense of purpose.
One question for you
1. What is the prompt or AI use case that has most changed your work?
Email us at editor@schoolceo.com to let us know!
Two resources to help
1. New year, new webinars! Check out our Spring webinar lineup here.
2. Would you like to start your new year off with some great book recommendations? We’ve got a list for you from Apptegy’s Excellence in School Marketing Award finalists: Required Reading.
Three ideas to get you thinking
1. “In order to be useful, apps require a high degree of internal and external adoption. You not only need your staff to get on board, but you also need your audience—families and often students—to download and use them. Once you have that buy-in, your app is a direct line to your stakeholders—a tool that shouldn’t be underestimated.” — from "App-Solute Confidence"
2. “It’s often said that trust is the most powerful form of currency. If school communication has the power to heighten families’ trust in your district, why wouldn’t you go all in on making sure your communications meet or exceed their expectations?” — from "What Parents Want"
3. Your app and your website “serve as your digital headquarters. They should be user-friendly, updated often and—this is crucial—all other channels should lead back to them. Because ultimately, you want to gently train your stakeholders—most especially your parents and staff—to make those channels their primary source of information—no matter which subset they belong to or whatever other channels you’re using to communicate.” — from "Choosing Channels You Own"