Frontline developed this guide to help you get up and running with the best practices for using SMS in education. Frontline has helped a huge range of educational institutions build messaging into the way they communicate - from rural schools in Papua New Guinea to Harvard in Cambridge. And, of course, we've made our share of mistakes along the way. We wrote this to help you avoid making the same mistakes. That way, you can focus on building a better education and we'll focus on keeping you on message.

1. FOR EDUCATION
T H E
M E S S A G E
F R O N T L I N E

2. WELCOME TO FRONTLINE!
a note from our team
Hey there!
Welcome to Frontline! We're excited you're here.
We've developed this guide to help you get up and running with the best practices for
using SMS in education. Frontline has helped a huge range of educational
institutions build messaging into the way they communicate - from rural schools in
Papua New Guinea to Harvard in Cambridge. And, of course, we've made our share
of mistakes along the way. We wrote this to help you avoid making the same mistakes.
That way, you can focus on building a better education and we'll focus on keeping you
on message.
Frontline helps educators engage parents, streamline administration, and improve
learning outcomes - all through tapping the power of SMS. We build professional grade
information management tools, specifically tailored to the world's most used
communication platform: messaging. Our platform makes it easy to focus on the
conversations that need your attention and automate the things that don't. Sign-up and
send your first SMS within minutes - all without writing a line of code.
We hope you'll join the growing community of Frontline educators, from Arkansas to
Azerbaijan. Still on the fence? Let us know how we can help!
o/
Sean + the Frontline team
info@frontlinesms.com
F R O N T L I N E S M S . C O M / E D U C A T I O N

3. YOU NEED
SMSTOUSE
WHY
use SMS on a regular basis
5.8 BILLION PEOPLE
of Facebook & WhatsApp
SMS HAS 4X THE REACH
(and 90% open SMS within 3 seconds!)
SMS HAS AN OPEN
RATE OF 98%
REAL-TIME DATA
Stay connected,
even where the Internet doesn't

4. We know parents, teachers, and schools
are the foundation of a good
education. We also know that keeping
them all connected can be tough.
Messaging reaches parents directly -
bridging the gap between home and
school, parents and teachers, and
notifications and deadlines.
Frontline makes it easy to send tailored,
actionable messages so everyone stays
engaged in building a better education.
ENGAGE PARENTS
01:

5. SMS should be short, clear, and actionable. That way, parents can receive, read, and
respond immediately - cutting communications that used to take days down to
minutes, feeding responses directly into your dashboards and database.
Everyone suffers when bad communication results in missed opportunities. With
Frontline, you can automate smart reminders, making sure that parents get the
help and information they need before the deadline. Every deadline made means
one more opportunity, building trust - one message at a time.
SAVETIMEWITHGROUPMESSAGINGANDAUTOMATION
THE POWER OF FRONTLINE
Frontline brings modern, professional data management to mobile messaging, so you can
bring high-quality, low-cost communication to parents, students, and teachers. Whether
you're reaching 10 or 10,000, there's no better way to do it than the platform they use
most on the phone already in their pocket.
Frontline's award-winning winning technologies will help you get more value from your
community in less time - getting everyone on the same page, one message at a time.
HOW EDUCATORS ENGAGE PARENTS WITH FRONTLINE
Schedule PTA meetings
Send report card notifications
Deliver tardy and absentee notices
Quickly send emergency/crisis
notifications
Step-by-step walkthroughs for
admissions & financial aid
Coordinate extracurricular activities
Report on class performance,
behavior, and assignments
Create parent support networks
Send school closure reminders
Coordinate fees, permission slips,
scholarship applications and more!
SMS BRIDGES THE GAPS IN PARENT COMMUNICATION
BUILDTRUSTTHROUGHCOMMUNICATION

6. BEST PRACTICES FOR COMMUNICATING WITH
PARENTS OVER SMS
Setupopt-innewsfeedsforparents
Most parents want to connect with schools, just on their own terms. Setting up separate
news feeds, delivered with messages, helps parents stay involved with the things they're
interested in - and saves wasted effort contacting them about the things they're not.
Allowparentstopickthefrequencyofcommunication
Some parents may want to receive communication daily, while other's prefer weekly
updates - or just when their input is needed. Create options for different preferences,
balanced with the needs of the student and the school.
Make sure that parents have clear instructions for how to opt-out of particular
communications and to request other forms of communication, like email or a phone call.
Offeropt-outsandalternatives
Setclearexpectationsandframenextsteps
Every text communication should be clear about how long it should take, what kind of
response you want, and when it's concluded. That way, participants can plan when and
how to respond. Also let them know what next steps look like.
Makeiteasyforparentstoconnectwitheachother
Good education messaging helps parents form groups and support networks, in addition
to direct communication between parents and teachers. One way to help is setting up a
"parents only" threads using Frontline autoforwards, so groups can communicate to their
peer group, all at once.
Haveavoice.Apolitevoice.
Even schools need a "voice" - make sure whoever manages your messaging is thoughtful
about keeping a constructive tone and responding directly. Also, don't forget to be polite! A
little bit of courtesy goes a long way toward keeping parents engaged.
Beactionoriented
Messaging is best when it's tied to an action or decision - engage parents at key moments
when your notification, reminder, or question has the most value.

7. 02:
STREAMLINE ADMIN
Lots of school's communication habits
were designed before instant digital and
mobile. Frontline uses professional
messaging to streamline administrative
processes, saving your team hours
of tedium, data entry, and wasted time.
Streamlining administration improves
parent satisfaction, staff efficiency,
and student learning outcomes.

8. Frontline connects parents' communication directly with your database, meaning real-
time data without the hours of data entry. We make it easy to automatically track and
follow-up on administrative processes, like student absence notifications, parent
signatures on permission slips, and logistics, so you don't have to. We help give your
team the time to focus on the students, parents, and tasks that need them most.
MANAGE,AUTOMATE,ANDMEASUREDATAINREALTIME
HOWONESCHOOLFREEDUP98% OFEMPLOYEES' TIME
The Bursara Center for Behavioral Economics is a research and testing organization that saved
98% of its outreach time by using Frontline. In order to coordinate that many test takers, the
team included 2 full-time staff, who spent 8 hours a day reaching out to between 150 and 200
people. With the use of Frontline, it took one person less than 30 minutes - freeing them up to
focus on important things, like their research.
Messaging made it possible, Frontline made it powerful. Like the Bursara Center, school
administrators spend hours on inefficient and laborious communication practices. With the
right tools, messaging can improve efficiency, satisfaction, and even leaning outcomes.
STREAMLINEDAY-TO-DAYADMINWITHFRONTLINE
Deliver permission slips, attendance
notifications, and report cards
Organize events
Deliver financial aid reminders
Conduct quick surveys to measure
parent, teacher and student satisfaction
Every school is different, so our team and
tech are flexible. We'll tailor to solve
whatever challenges your team faces.
Want to learn more? Get in touch!
services@frontlinesms.com
FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS: FREE UP
TIME BY STREAMLINING ADMINISTRATION

9. When students can access the information
they need, engagement leads to learning.
Frontline makes it easy to answer
questions, automate FAQs, send
assignment reminders, and organize extra-
curricular activities, all via messaging.
Messaging can also be a channel for
students to ask for information and help
that may be awkward in class or in-person.
IMPROVE LEARNING OUTCOMES
03:

10. HOW TO ENGAGE STUDENTS AND IMPROVE
LEARNING THROUGH SMS
LINKCOMMUNICATIONTOCONTENT
SMS is a powerful way to connect with students - and it is also a powerful way to connect
students with additional materials. Whether it's a relevant link, a homework reminder, or
additional content that explains a difficult concept, there's no better bookmark than a
mobile inbox. Use Frontline to make sure students have what they need to excel.
Improving learning is about improving engagement, which SMS does asynchronously
and at scale. Here are some of our best practices for improving student learning.
DEVELOPMEANINGFULINCENTIVES
Extra-curricular messaging creates new opportunities to encourage engagement with
subject matter. With Frontline, teachers can send extra-credit activities, set up flash polls,
and offer prizes for creative engagement. Our tools create a supervised, professional
messaging space, for students, teachers, and administrators. Frontline gives teachers
better, safer tools to offer extra choice, credit, and incentives for creative learning.
Parents are an important part of learning. Messaging opens a direct channel, that makes it
easy to give parents the information they need, without giving out a teacher's personal
phone number. Good, safe communication helps schools run and students excel.
PARENTSAREYOURBESTLEARNINGADVOCATE
OFFERPUSHANDPULLCOMMUNICATION
Sometimes, the right information finds us at the right time - but more often than not, we find
it when we need it. With Frontline, educators can push content AND make it possible for
students and parents to ask for what they need via text, when they need it.
HOSTVIRTUALOFFICEHOURS
With Frontline, teacher availability isn't limited to the classroom. Messaging can
give parents and students a safe and private space to ask questions. By opening a safe
space to ask more questions, schools can identify and address gaps in learning.

11. GET
STARTED
W I T H
F R O N T L I N E

12. HOW TO GET STARTED WITH FRONTLINESMS
CLOUD.FRONTLINESMS.COM
CREATEORIMPORT
CONTACTS
YOU CAN START EXPERIMENTING WITH A FREE ACCOUNT - SIGN UP AT:
CONNECTTOAMOBILE
NETWORK
We have the most connection options in the
world. You can use a web-based services
like Twilio or Nexmo, or even integrate
directly with a mobile phone network. If you
have an Android phone, download our free
app, FrontlineSync, from the Google Play
store.
You can import contacts into
FrontlineCloud with popular services like your
Google or Apple address books, or through
popular file formats like .csv (comma separated
value) or .vcf (VCard). You also have the option
to manually enter new contacts or have people
register themselves via text.
BUILDYOURFIRST
ACTIVITY
Activities are tools within Frontline
that automate the actions the platform
takes. You can configure Activities to do
almost anything you want, like triggering an
automatic reply to an incoming message or
Missed Call. Advanced Activities offer a
wide range of options, which you have
access to at Pro and above.
SENDANSMSWITHIN
MINUTES
Now that your mobile network is connected,
you've imported contacts, and created an
activity, you can send your first message!
We recommend doing a test to yourself and
your colleagues. The entire onboarding
process takes just a few minutes so you can
focus on what matters: engaging with your
community.

13. CHOOSE THE PLAN THAT WORKS FOR YOU
CONTACT US FOR CONSULTING SERVICES
LOOKING FOR MORE HANDS-ON ASSISTANCE?
Sometimes all you need is a little
planning. We'll make sure the
stage is set for your team to be
successful. We'll help you
connect to a mobile network,
import contacts and setup your
activities to help you get started.
Ourteamhasadecadeofaward-winningexperiencehelpingorganizationsaroundtheworldleveragemobile.
In addition to getting you started we
recognize every team is different,
and this package is designed to
bring you customization. At this level,
we will develop training for your
team, design tailor-made activities
and we'll set you up with the mobile
connection that best fits your needs.
We help organizations grow their
business and their operations
using effective mobile
engagement. We can support
with content, analytics,
responsive design and platform
customization to ensure you
achieve your goals and go on to
the next one.
START BUILD GROW
/o

14. G E T C O N N E C T E D
F R O N T L I N E S M S . C O M / E D U C A T I O N
E D U C A T I O N @ F R O N T L I N E S M S . C O M