Digital Disclosures was designed to sort out the truth about how educators might best connect with hard to reach families in the digital age. It did this by going to the source to find out what parents, teens and professionals say about their own experience with digital technologies. The result is a 3-D view of the sector and of current and future opportunities to make a bigger impact in it.
Within education, the report focused specifically on how these issues affect first generation families in the college access pathway. Guiding teens along this pathway through the complex issues of course choices, career planning, financial aid, college selection and degree completion is one of the greatest challenges for family engagement. It involves professionals from a variety of schools, colleges and non-profit organizations in a variety of roles — counselors, program coordinators, admissions and financial aid officers — all have participated in our research. We used surveys, customized analysis and anthropological interviews to obtain new data, customized to the specific issues and population of the sector. This included:
- A new first-of-its-kind poll of professionals in the EduGuide College Access Sector Poll.
- A specialized weighting and analysis of first generation teens and parents from a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey.
- A series of in-depth personal interviews and case studies with each audience to get deeper insights into what the data really meant and where the newest opportunities could be found.
The report was generously funded by a grant from TG to enable us to equip more leaders to make better informed decisions about how to engage families in the digital age.