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Miriam Altman, co-founder of Kinvolved, steps on to the New York Launch Pod to discuss the founding of her company that elevates student attendance in schools and provides text message alerts to family members about absenteeism or lateness.
As a teacher in a New York City public school for three years, Miriam saw first-hand that classroom attendance was inconsistent and the problems with chronic absenteeism and lateness. However, once Miriam started establishing a relationship with the parents her students’ attendance increased. Understanding that teachers are over-burdened and that each class represents over a 100 parents, the idea for Kinvolved was hatched.
On her first day at the Wagner School at NYU Miriam met her Co-Founder, Alexandra Meis. Both Alex and Miriam were passionate about education and family involvement. While in graduate school the co-founders were able to understand the need for the product and made time to start the company with the first Beta launching in 2012.
With Kinvolved’s app Kinvo, if a student is late or absent, a text message or email (in a number of different languages) is sent to that student’s parents allowing them to know what is happening in real time as opposed to traditional methods which let parents know at the end of the semester. The result: three in four teachers who use Kinvo have reported increased student attendance, with 93% reporting improved communication with families. What’s more, the app takes a fraction of the time to take the roll versus the traditional Scantron sheets that some schools still use allowing for more classroom instruction.
Go behind the scenes of the start-up that has double bottom line of making money and carrying out a social mission to improve attendance in under-resourced communities, and hear about the challenges and opportunities of working in New York City public schools, the largest district in the United States.
