Recognizing the critical need for parent-teacher communication, the No Child Left Behind Act requires that schools communicate with all families and involve them in ways that enhance students' success. The importance of parent involvement in schools and its relationship to student achievement have been widely studied. Nevertheless, many principals and teachers report that lack of parent involvement continues to be an obstacle to increasing student achievement at school. A gap exists in the research on the relationship between parent involvement in schools and the use of electronic communications as a tool to increase parent and teacher partnerships for ensuring student achievement.

This study combined qualitative and quantitative data on the relationship between parents' and teachers' perceptions of student achievement when electronic communications are used between parents and school. Data were collected through surveys and semi-structured focus group interviews with both parents and teachers of children in grades 4 to 6 at a school in North Orange County, California.

The quantitative and qualitative data analyzed for this study revealed that parents and teachers both place a high value on proactive parent involvement. Because proactive involvement does not require parents to be physically at their children's school, the question of how technology can be used to keep parents involved in their children's academic lives becomes important. The qualitative and quantitative data revealed that both parents and teachers perceived that most types of proactive involvement can be fostered through the use of technology.

As access to technology continues to expand, the capabilities for connecting parents to schools will continue to grow. As schools invest in websites, phone calling systems, parent portals, online curriculum, and other types of technologies that connect schools to home, research needs to continue to focus on the effectiveness of these technologies to increase parent involvement.