EdTech Leader, Kara Stern Says This Will Matter

Published January 22, 2025 on EdTech Chronicle as part of the “EdTech Leaders Say This Will Matter” series.

1. Tell us about your company and the problem it solves, or its benefit to learners or educators.

At SchoolStatus, we’re tackling one of education’s most pressing challenges: the disconnection between schools and families. We recognize that meaningful family engagement isn’t just about sending automated messages or hoping parents check a portal—it’s about building real relationships that support student success, and doing so in a way that reaches every family. Our platform breaks down communication barriers by enabling educators to connect with families in their preferred language and through multiple channels, ensuring accessibility for all communities. By combining this inclusive communication approach with actionable data about attendance, engagement, and student progress all in one place, we’re helping schools move beyond basic parent communication to create true partnerships with families, regardless of language, technology access, or ability status.

2. What is the challenge educators face today that is fixable?

Right now, we’re seeing unprecedented rates of chronic absenteeism across the country, with some districts reporting that 30% or more of their students are chronically absent. The good news? This is a solvable problem. The key lies in early intervention and building strong school-home partnerships. When schools can identify attendance patterns early and immediately reach out to families in ways that are accessible and culturally responsive, we see real change happen. Too often, schools wait until absences have already stacked up to intervene, or they rely on one-size-fits-all approaches that don’t address families’ real barriers to attendance. By combining real-time, actionable attendance data with tools that make it easy for educators to have meaningful two-way conversations with families, we can catch attendance issues before they become chronic and work collaboratively with families to remove barriers to attendance.

3. What is the challenge educators face today that will persist?

The fundamental challenge of creating genuine engagement, belonging, and connection in our schools isn’t going away—in fact, it’s becoming more crucial as today’s students navigate an increasingly complex world. Students are telling us through their attendance patterns and engagement levels that traditional school models aren’t meeting their needs. They’re looking for an education that connects directly to their future aspirations and the rapidly evolving world they’ll enter after high school. While we can improve our systems and communication tools, the deeper work is in reimagining schools to be more relevant and responsive to today’s realities. This means moving beyond industrial-era schedules and standardized curricula to create learning experiences that reflect the skills, knowledge, and competencies students will actually need in their futures.

The core work of building relationships and creating learning environments where every student feels valued and connected will always require ongoing attention and innovation. This is especially true as our student populations become more diverse and their needs more varied. Schools must continuously evolve to ensure they’re not just teaching students, but truly seeing and supporting them as whole individuals with unique paths ahead of them. Yesterday’s approach to education simply won’t prepare students for tomorrow’s challenges and opportunities.

Read the full article and other expert insights on EdTech Chronicle.