Research shows that a 4:1 ratio of positive to constructive messages builds trust, strengthening family-teacher partnerships, and makes it easier to partner with families when challenges arise. However, this is not often the frequency at which many teachers communicate with families. Even though many teachers know they “should” be sending positive messages, many don’t have the time or don’t prioritize them.
To encourage teachers to send more positive messages and help them build awareness in the balance of messages they’re sending, TalkingPoints is introducing the ability to tag and track positive messages. On the home page, teachers will be able to see the count of total positive messages they’ve sent, as well as the number of families who have received a positive message. They will also be able to see a detailed view of how many positive messages they have sent to specific students. This includes any quick kudos sent. Another new feature that supports positive engagement with families.
When will positive message tagging and tracking be available?
The positive message tagging and tracking feature will be available for back-to-school 2025 as part of TalkingPoints Foundations.
Who will have access to positive message tagging?
Positive message tagging and tracking will be available in the TalkingPoints for Teachers web and mobile apps for teacher-level users who are associated with a school or district using TalkingPoints.
Where can partners access and utilize positive message tagging and tracking?
Once released, users of the teacher product will be able to tag messages as positive from the compose modal (when sending a new message), as well as in message threads in both the web and mobile apps.
Positive message tracking will be accessible through the home page on the web version of TalkingPoints for Teachers only. Users can select the tracker to see detailed information about how many positive messages they have sent and to which students.
How does it work?
Tagging: When a user creates a new direct message in the compose modal or in an existing message thread in the web or mobile app, they will see a thumbs up icon near the bottom of the modal window.
Web:
Mobile:
Select the thumbs up button to indicate when the message being sent is a positive message. When the thumbs up button is selected it turns it blue and the message will then be tagged and tracked as a positive message when it is sent.
Tracking: On the web home page, there is a new area on the right side that shows positive message tracking information, including how many positive direct messages (DMs) the teacher has sent in the last 30 days and to how many different families.
Selecting ‘SEE ALL’ in the positive message tile opens the ‘Positive Messages’ page, which shows a detailed view of how many positive messages each student has received in the last 30 days.
Is positive message tagging available for Direct Messages, Announcements or both?
Only direct messages can be tagged as positive because positive messages are more impactful when they share specific information about a student.
Can teachers see a list of students who have not yet received a positive message?
With the initial release, the positive messages page will only be able to show students who have already received a positive message. However, teachers will be able to see the fraction of students (e.g., 7 of 90) who have / have not yet received a positive message in the last 30 days at the top of the page.
How does the positive message tracking count work?
Positive messages:
If a single direct message is sent to multiple students, it will count as a separate message for each student.
If a single direct message is sent to multiple family contacts for a single student, it counts as one.
Total number of families (shown on the positive messages page): We used the existing logic from the “Family engagement insights in last 30 days” section of the home page to calculate this information for positive message tracking so the two numbers will match. The calculation does not include:
students in legacy groups
students who have no active contacts (all contacts are invalid, opted out, unsubscribed, or left chat)
in a rare edge case, if a teacher sends a positive message to all of their rostered students AND positive messages to students in their legacy group within 30 days, it could appear that they have sent positive messages to more families than they have (ex. “You’ve sent 55 positive messages to 50 (of 48) families in the last 30 days.”)
Can you track positive messages on mobile?
Currently, the ability to see how many positive messages you’ve sent is only available in the teacher web view. However, the count on the web does include any positive messages tagged and sent from the mobile app.
Does the count I see on the home page increase immediately after I send a new positive message?
If a user sends a positive message while on the home page, they may notice that the count does not increase immediately. Users need to refresh the page or navigate away and come back in order for the count to increase.
Can school admins see teacher positive message tracking information anywhere?
No. Currently, positive message tracking information is only available to individual teacher-level users through their home page.
Can you see tracking history beyond the last 30 days?
No. Currently, positive message tracking information is only available for the last 30 days.