We Speak Your Language! Translate School Communication
Why Translation Matters for School Communication
At Actionaly, we believe every family has the right to partner in their child's education at school. Home language should not be a barrier. When parents understand the information they receive from school, they can more effectively support their child. That's why federal law requires schools to communicate information to limited English proficient parents in their preferred language about any school program, service, or activity. And yet, many families don't get the translation or interpretation services they need regularly, if at all. Parents are missing out on valuable opportunities to engage when they only receive communication in English due to lack of translation support.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we knew educators struggled to find translators in a timely fashion for classroom-level communication. During distance learning, the volume of written and electronic communication to families increased dramatically, while in-person translation options disappeared. At the same time, absenteeism for English Language Learners increased significantly during the pandemic. Thankfully, evolving translation technology offers a way to level the playing field for these families, giving them a chance to engage more fully in their students' lives at school.
A Key to Equitable Engagement
We are proud to offer our educators and families instant Google translation of all text viewed and sent through Actionaly. School staff can write communication in English and rest easy knowing that members of the community will receive translated notifications and message content. Parents can even respond to chat messages in their preferred language, enabling fast, two-way communication across language barriers!
Setting Preferred Language
If you already use Actionaly, please reach out to families and let them know about this feature. Actionaly users can easily change their language preferences to enable automatic translation.
Language settings can be found in account settings. Parents can select from over 100 languages! For parents needing more support, administrators can change any community member's language preferences on the school admin dashboard.
Learn More About Engaging Families of English Language Learners
Actionaly wants to be part of the solution to issues of equity and access by making it easier for schools to build a welcoming school culture for all families. For more information on supporting and communicating with families of English Language Learners check out this amazing online resource.
