Setup and Inviting Students
Q: Who can invite students to join TalkingPoints and participate in Student Messaging?
A: District Admins, School Admins, and Technical School Admins can initiate the invitation email.
Q: What email will student invitations come from?
Q: What is the subject line of the email?
"Sign up for TalkingPoints to communicate with your school"
Q: Can the unique 12-digit code that a student receives in their invitation email (to be used to join TalkingPoints) be used multiple times?
A: No, the code can only be used once.
Q: How long is the unique verification code valid?
A: It is valid until activated.
Q: What happens when a student is in multiple schools?
A: Students who are in multiple institutions may receive multiple invitation emails. They will need to link to each school independently to participate in student messaging at each school.
Q: How can I add new students who turned 13 after the initial data sync?
A: The nightly data sync will bring in any new students who meet the DOB eligibility requirement. Use the filters to send an invitation to any students marked "not invited".
Q: What happens if a student doesn’t complete the invitation and joining process?
A: Until the student successfully joins TalkingPoints their status will be either “Not invited” (because they have not yet been invited - the invitation email has not been sent) or “Pending” (because they received the email but have not yet joined). They will also be ineligible to use group codes until they join TalkingPoints with their unique student code.
Q: How will staff members know when a student is confirmed and can be messaged?
A: The student status will say "Text" or "App" to indicate their preferred method of communication. Their student detail page will show a green graduation cap next to the student's name.
Q: Will families know when students have joined TalkingPoints?
A: Not at this time, but we have email templates for you all to share with teachers, students, and families that student messaging is now available.
Q: Is Student Messaging available on any version of the apps?
A: Student messaging functionality will be available on the latest apps, please update the Family and Teacher apps.
Q: How do I see how many students in a class or group are in a specific status (e.g. pending, not invited, text, etc.)?
A: Follow the steps below
Go to the 'Students' tab
Filter by class or group and student status
Use the top checkmark to select all students on the page
`If there is only one page, all selected students will represent the total students in the class or group
If there is more than one page, the blue bar number will show the count for the number of students selected on the page AND the number of students that match the filter (the 'select all X# of filtered students')
Q: Are students able to receive TalkingPoints emails?
A: At this time, student emails are used for verification purposes only and students will not receive TalkingPoints emails if your district currently has the Admin Family Connect package.
Editing Student Information
Q: What languages does TalkingPoints support for students?
A: For the initial release, all students will initially be set to English. Although students will receive their email invitations in English, we will also provide PDFs of the emails in the top six languages (Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese) that districts/schools can share with students to help them through the sign-up process.
Students who choose to use SMS text can ask their teachers for assistance to change their language or sign into the mobile or web app and change their language. If they would like to continue receiving messages via SMS text, they must log out of the app.
Students who sign up via the family app will be able to set their language to any language we currently support for families when they sign into the app. They can also change their language in the app.
Q: Can staff members change student language?
A: Yes, staff members can change student language. Additionally, students may change their preferred language by following the steps in the articles:
Q: If a student gets a new phone number, how can they change it (both SMS + app)?
A: District admins, school admins, and technical school admins can edit confirmed student phone numbers directly in the platform.
Please note that this will create a new message thread, so please download any messages before changing the phone number.
If you need any of the messages from the old phone number, please write to the support team or your Partner Success Manager.
Changes for Staff
Q: Are analytics available for student messaging?
A: Student messaging analytics are only available at the district admin level at this time.
Q: How will staff know if students can be messaged?
A: Confirmed students will have a green graduation cap next to their name. They will also have a "text" or "app" status in the class views.
Q: How will staff members know who they are messaging?
A: Staff can use the filter dropdown menu in the compose a message box to choose whether they want to message students only, family contacts only, or both student and family contacts. The default will be family contacts only.
Q: Will student phone numbers be visible?
A: Admins will be able to see the full phone number. All other staff members will see the last 3 digits of the phone number.
Q: Will students see staff phone numbers?
A: TalkingPoints never collects or displays staff phone numbers. The phone number that SMS text users receive is a TalkingPoints-generated phone number that students can save to contact staff.
Student Functionality
Q: How will students receive messages?
A: Students will choose how they would like to join TalkingPoints and receive messages either via SMS text or by using the TalkingPoints for Families app. Learn more.
Q: When students receive their first SMS message, who does that message come from (i.e. the school or the district)?
A: It depends on who sent the email invitation - School Admin or District Admin. The welcome text messages will detail who the message is coming from and students can save the phone number accordingly. District messages are one-way and students will need to wait for another staff member to initiate conversations. School messages are two-way and students can reply to their school right away. They will still need to wait for other staff members to initiate conversations in order to get the staff member's phone number.
Q: Can students see messages sent to or from family contacts?
A: No, all communication with students will be between teachers and staff and the student only.
Family contacts using shared messaging on the TalkingPoints for Families app can continue to use shared messaging, but students will not be included.
Q: Can students message each other?
A: No, student messaging is designed to improve communication between school/district staff and students.
Q: How can students join new groups?
Students can use the group code once they are confirmed students. Learn more.
Group Codes
Q: Can students use group codes to register for TalkingPoints?
A: No, group codes are used to group students and they can only be used by confirmed students who have already joined TalkingPoints. If a student who has not signed up for TalkingPoints texts the group phone number with the group code, they will get an error message.
Q: Who can generate group codes?
A: District Admin by accessing the school site and creating a school group. School admin and Technical School admin by adding school group. Any staff members added to the group can use the group code that has been generated. Learn more.
Q: Can family contacts use group codes?
A: No, only confirmed students can use group codes. If a family contact texts the group phone number with the group code, they will get an error message.
When a student joins a group via group code, their whole student profile (including any family contacts) can be messaged from the group. Additionally, admins who create the group can add student profiles directly to the group without using the group code.