School/Home Communication: Using Technology To Enhance Parental Involvement A Project for the Illinois Century Network and Governor Rod R. Blagojevich Center for the Study of Education Policy College of Education, Illinois State University Normal, Illinois January, 2004 Table of Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements iv Executive Summary v Background v Schools’ Capacity/Use of Technology for School/Home Communication vi Additional Considerations for Determining School Capacity for the Use of Technology for Schol/Home Communication vi Parent Capacity to Use Technology for School/Home Communication viii Parent and School Needs Regarding School/Home Communication viii Recommendations ix Chapter 1: Study Overview 1 Introduction 1 Schools’ Capacity/Use of Technology for School/Home Communication 3 Additional Considerations for Determining School Capacity for the Use of Technology for Schol/Home Comunication 6 Parent Capacity to Use Technology for School/Home Communication 10 Age of the Student 12 Nature of the Message 12 Parent and School Needs Regarding School/Home Communication 13 Summary 15 Chapter 2: Current Capacity and Use of Technology in Illinois Schools 17 Background 17 Study Procedures 17 Objectives 17 Results 18 Summary 23 Chapter 3: Needs of Parents for Communication 24 Background 24 Study Procedures 24 Objectives 24 Results 25 Summary 28 Chapter 4: Needs of School Personnel 30 Needs of Principals 30 Needs of Technology Representatives 33 Needs of Teachers 34 Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations 35 Chapter 6: Review of the Literature on Parent Involvement 36 National PTA National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs 36 The Effect of Parent Involvement on Student Outcomes 37 The Effect of Increased Communication on Parent Involvement 39 National PTA Quality Indicators for Standard I: Communication 41 National PTA Quality Indicators for Standard III: Student Learning 42 Technology as an Aid to Communication 42 Implementing the Use of Technology for Communication 47 Technology in U.S. Education 48 Teacher and Parent Training in the use of Technology 49 Summary 50 References 51 i Apendix 5 Appendix A: School to Home Survey 56 Appendix A-1 Technology Representative Survey with Results 56 Appendix A-2 Teacher Survey with Results 58 Appendix A-3 Principal Survey with Results 60 Appendix A-4 Open-Ended Survey Responses Listing Concerns 62 Appendix A-5 List of Examples of Best Practice 70 Appendix B: Cost Study 74 Appendix C: Parent Focus Group 75 Appendix C-1 Parent Focus Group Questioning Route 75 Appendix C-2 Group Participants Demographic Characteristics of Focus 76 Appendix D: Principal Interview Sets of Questions 77 Appendix E: Technical Representative Interview Script 78 Appendix F: Resources for Schools 79 Appendix G: Hardware and Software Requirements 80 Appendix H: Software Vendor List 81 ii Study Highlights/Abstract School/Home Communication: Using Technology to Enhance Parent Involvement • Access to the Internet: 97 percent of Illinois schools are connected to the Internet, while 53 percent of Illinois households had a computer and 47 percent of Illinois households used the Internet at home in 2001. • Availability of Technology: According to technology representatives, e-mail is available in approximately three quarters of schools; voice mail in every classroom or faculty office in one third of schools; and interactive web pages for parents to access student information in one quarter of schools. • Availability of Home/School Applications: Specific home/school applications are less available to schools than the technology itself, although it varies by type of academic information. In general, e-mail applications are more available than web-based systems. • Teacher Use of Web or E-mail for Communicating with Families: Approximately one quarter of teachers use technology to communicate some type of academic information to parents. The percentages vary by application. • Concerns: Costs, time, and data privacy were concerns across all four groups: parents, teachers, principals, and technology representatives. Parent access was a concern of parents, teachers, and principals. • Cost: Cost estimates for implementing various options are presented in the study. Cost considerations go beyond technology infrastructure and support: Nearly 74 percent of Illinois school districts were in deficit in 2002, and the number is expected to be 80 percent by the end of 2003-2004 school year. • Digital divide: Digital-divide concerns were expressed by parents, teachers, principals, and technology representatives. • Recommendations: 1. Improved school/home communication would benefit students, their families and schools; however, multiple communication methods and formats are needed to meet the varying capacities and communication needs of Illinois families. 2. Illinois can promote cost-effective solutions that build upon the variety of existing student information systems, parent communication tools, and grading systems already in place rather than mandating a one-size-fits-all system. The State should seek to provide communication solutions that meet interoperability standards and are compatible with as many current school communication systems and vendor products as is feasible. 3. Illinois should make use of the existing Illinois Century Network (ICN) infrastructure to provide a menu of support services from which schools may selectively choose based upon their priorities, capacity, and needs. Steps toward implementation include assuring a basic level of access and capacity for all schools; providing services to support the activities for which technology is most useful to increase parental involvement; and helping schools share best practices related to school/home communication. 4. State-sponsored school/home communication initiatives must recognize the current financial constraints under which Illinois schools are operating. To address cost issues, the state could provide financial support through targeted grants tied to specific goals that seek to increase the frequency of school/home communications from current levels. 5. School/home initiatives will need to address issues related to personnel time for training and implementing home/school communication systems. Support will be required for schools to train iii personnel and parents in order to accomplish reasonable goals to increase the frequency and extent of school/home communication. 6. In collaboration with parents and families, schools should establish policies and practices that establish a framework for school/home communication related to student academic performance and development to ensure consistent expectations. Explicit policy goals would also help schools identify budget priorities. 7. Any new statewide program/initiative must recognize the cultural and economic differences in the schools and homes across the state and the potential for technology to widen the digital divide rather than close it. iv Acknowledgements The Center for the Study of Education Policy sincerely thanks the organizations and individuals who contributed to the School/Home Communication: Using Technology to Enhance Parental Involvement project. In all, over 825 people participated in the project. Without this support, School/Home Communication: Using Technology to Enhance Parental Involvement research and the opportunity to address issues raised by this report would not be possible. Project Funding The Illinois Century Network (ICN) provided funding to the Center for Application of Information Technology (CAIT) at Western Illinois University and the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University to work on the project outlined by Governor Blagojevich. Contributors School/Home Communication: Using Technology to Enhance Parental Involvement project depended on the participation of educators and parents in project activities. A special thanks goes to: • Illinois Century Network staff for providing funding and hardware and bandwidth assistance; • Parents who participated in the focus groups; • Principals, teachers, and technology representatives who completed surveys; • Technology representatives who participated in the interview; • The Illinois Principals Association and principals who participated in the listserv interview; and • WIU’s Center for the Application of Instructional Technology for assistance on software issues. The Center for the Study of Education Policy - Illinois State University Established in 1995, the Center for the Study of Education Policy provides information and research on education issues to Illinois education policymakers and practitioners. The mission of the Center is to perform research and public service related to current and emerging policy issues affecting PreK-16 education. Important to the mission of the center is the intersection of research and practice as represented by publications, conferences, and service to educational, professional and governmental organizations. The Center is located in the College of Education at Illinois State University. Policy researchers in the College, the Department of Educational Administration and Foundations and in other units of the University conduct policy research studies, surveys, workshops and seminars dealing with a wide variety of policy issues and problems in education. The Center for the Study of Education Policy appreciates the opportunity to serve Governor Blagojevich and the Illinois Century Network through the School/Home Communication: Using Technology to Enhance Parental Involvement project. The following Center staff members served as consultants for the project, designed and implemented project activities, compiled and analyzed project information, wrote project reports, and provided support for the project: Amee Adkins Kenneth W. Fansler Kelly Hall Edward R. Hines Ross A. Hodel Patricia Harrington Klass Christopher A. Kozik D. Michele Maki H. Neil Matkin Sheila J. Pruden Linda Wall v Executive Summary School/Home Communication: Using Technology to Enhance Parent Involvement Background The research is clear that parents’ involvement in their child’s education improves outcomes in areas such as learning, attendance, behavior, and graduation rates. Although almost any parent involvement brings improvements in student outcomes, parent involvement with their child’s learning at home is most helpful in increasing student learning. Increased and meaningful communication between home and school enhances parent involvement. Illinois schools are using various forms of technology to increase school/home communication, including voice mail, e-mail, school and classroom websites, and web access to individual student information such as attendance, grades, and student portfolios; however, this use is not consistent or widespread. In his February 2003 State-of-the-State address, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich called on all Illinois schools to adopt the National PTA standard for parental involvement to ensure that communication between home and school is frequent and meaningful. The Illinois Century Network (ICN) provided funding to the Center for Application of Information Technology (CAIT) at Western Illinois University to develop applications and the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University to survey schools across Illinois to determine the extent of the use of technology for communicating with parents of students in Illinois schools. The major findings are presented below. Schools’ Capacity/Use of Technology for School/Home Communication Internet capacity across the state varies widely. In considering a school’s capacity for using Internet technology applications for home/school communications, a number of factors need to be considered beyond equipment. These include availability of various forms of software applications; the ability to use that technology; and the actual use of that technology. Other major considerations include costs, human resources, training, and time. Finally, the school’s capacity for using Internet technology depends on the families’ access. Access to the Internet An ICN study of Illinois schools indicates 97 percent reported being connected to the Internet, 84 percent of them connected with ICN. Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau for 2001 indicates that 53 percent of Illinois households had a computer and 47 percent of Illinois households used the Internet at home. In this study, principals reported on average over 96 percent of teachers have access to the Internet in their classrooms. In contrast, only 55 percent of parents have access to the Internet. Availability of Technology Table 1 indicates e-mail is available to the majority of schools; voice mail in classrooms or faculty offices in around one third of schools; and web pages for parents to access student information in approximately one quarter of schools. Ranges provide low and high-end estimates of actual availability. Table 1 Available Technology: Internet Access Reported by Principals; Available Technology Reported by Principals (n = 191), Technology Representatives (n = 219), and Teachers (n=373) Internet Access % Reported by Principals Teacher access to Internet in school 96 Parent access to Internet 55 Available Technology % Reported by Principals, Tech Reps, & Teachers Fax machines to send or receive parent information. 74-84 E-mail system for parent correspondence 63-73 vi Voice-mail system for parents to DIRECTLY contact each teacher 42-50 Telephones & voice-mail in every classroom or faculty office 27-35 Interactive web pages for parent access to forms or student information 26-34 Video, CDs, or other stored media to communicate with parents 13-25 Community access television channel to communicate with parents 12-23 Two-way video equipment/connection to communicate with parents 02 Availability of Home/School Applications Technology representatives, principals, and teachers were asked to determine web and e-mail capacity by selected types of information. The percentages indicate much less capacity for disseminating information in comparison to access. For academic information such as daily homework, teacher feedback on progress, and grades, applications are least accessible on the web. Static information such as schedules and meetings are generally more accessible on the web as are general learning resources such as links to district contacts, newsletters, and policies and handbooks. Thus, schools had more capability to send information that remains fairly constant via web or e-mail, while they were less able to send more individualized or frequently changing information. Teacher Use of Technology for Communicating with Families Teachers were asked if they actually used either web pages or e-mail for communicating with families. In response to that question, up to one third of teachers reported using web pages or e-mail to communicate depending on the types of information listed. Because the academic information is the most critical type of information to communicate to families for increasing parent involvement, a closer look at teacher’s use of the web or e-mail for those specific types of academic information is helpful. Table 2 Comparison by Type of Academic Information of Teacher Perceived Benefits, Reported Availability by Web and E-mail Format, and Teacher Reported Use of Web or E-mail for Communicating with Families Tech Reps n = 219 % teachers % all groups % all groups % teachers Principals n =191 reporting option reporting reporting reporting use of Teachers n = 373 as 1 of 5 most available on web available by e- web or e-mail useful. mail Clas homework & asignments 63 41-43 37-47 26 Student clas expectations, agendas, or goals 50 34-4 28-48 28 Frequent fedback on daily or wekly academic 48 17-24 34-51 25 progress Student behavior other than on report card 41 09-17 24-46 19 Report card grades 24 15-18 15-30 09 Student atendance other than on report card 17 16-48 25-31 08 Standardized test scores and interpretation 15 15-23 14-25 06 Individual student schedule 09 20-32 28-4 15 As can be seen from Table 2, the four types of academic information teachers perceive as most beneficial for supporting communication with families include class homework and assignments; student class expectations, agendas, or goals; frequent feedback on daily or weekly academic progress; and student behavior other than on report card. However, only about half of the number of teachers who perceive technology useful actually use technology for that option. The top uses of voice mail were discipline, homework, and general information. There is consistency among school personnel, parents, and literature about the applications that are the most beneficial to students’ academic success. This consistency is encouraging, in that a common understanding helps in setting priorities and goals as schools must balance choosing among providing basic services, meeting federal mandates, balancing budgets, and selecting limited activities and services. vii Additional Considerations for Determining School Capacity for the Use of Technology for School/Home Communication Additional factors determine a school’s capacity for using Internet technology applications to enhance parental involvement: costs, human resources, training, and time. When asked about concerns related to implementing the use of technology for school/home communication, time, cost and data privacy were mentioned by all four groups: parents, teachers, technology representatives, and principals. Table 3 shows other concerns included parent access, network security, training of school personnel, and parent use. These will be briefly addressed. Table 3 The Top Concerns with Implementing an Internet-Based School to Home Communication System Possible Major Concerns Technology Reps Principals Teachers Parents Time X X X X Cost X X X X Data Privacy X X X X Parent Access X X X Network security X X Training of school personnel X Parent Use X Cost Of major concern to all groups questioned are the costs associated with implementing or expanding the use of technology for school/home communication. These include the initial costs for hardware and Internet connection, which most schools have, but also the cost of implementing, maintaining, and upgrading student information system, electronic grade book, and parent communication tools to allow parents to access that information over the Internet. Schools may need server and workstation upgrades or purchases, as well as upgrades to the existing systems. The full study provides detailed cost estimates. For comparison, in North Carolina, with 1 million students attending 2,223 schools, the initial state investment in a statewide implementation was $54 million. Districts had additional expenses in terms of training and necessary hardware/connectivity upgrades. After three years, only half of the districts had the SIS installed, and slightly more than 10 percent had the electronic grade book. The parent communication tool was scheduled for later implementation. In this study approximately half of teachers had access to voice mail. Initial installation costs to provide limited voice mail to those teachers are estimated in the full report. This excludes ongoing maintenance and service fees as well as costs for security and privacy of data, and training. Nearly 74 percent of Illinois school districts were in deficit in 2002, and over 25 percent have been in deficit for more than three years. The number expected to be in deficit by the end of the 2003-2004 school year is 80 percent. There were 100 school districts (of 893) on Illinois’ 2002 Financial Watch List, with 183 additional districts in the next most severe category, the Financial Early Warning List. In addition, there is a wide disparity in funding per pupil between the highest and lowest poverty districts: In 2002, th Illinois was ranked 49 of all 50 states in the funding gap; in 2003 it was last. Although some schools can afford to implement technology for school/home communication, other schools are making deep cuts. Human Resources Schools will need knowledgeable personnel to set up, maintain, and upgrade the communication systems. They also need to assure security and data privacy. Security and privacy are of vital importance to both the school and parents. Ongoing surveillance is needed to keep the systems safe from spam and virus. Finally, technology personnel will need to provide ongoing training for school personnel and for parents to use the systems. viii Time Time was the major concern mentioned by technology representatives, principals, teachers, and parents. As is indicated in the North Carolina example, time is needed to implement any communication system; in their case after three years the system was less than half completed. Also to be considered is the time necessary for school personnel to implement, maintain, and use the system. In addition is the time needed for training, data entry, creating and maintaining classroom web pages, recording voice mail messages, and for e-mailing families. With No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requirements, school personnel have multiple demands on their time. Parent Capacity to Use Technology for School/Home Communication Of particular concern to parents, principals, and teachers is the parents’ access to and ability to use technology for communication. Principals estimate that 55 percent of parents have access to the Internet. Even with Internet access in the home, many parents have not had the training to use it and to know how to access the school’s information. Some family’s culture and prior level of involvement with the school would make them unlikely to communicate with the school through the Internet. In addition, some parents speak languages other than English. Finally, concern exists that increased communication with families who have Internet access without considerations for those who do not may widen the achievement gap. Any state program/initiative must recognize the cultural and economic differences in the homes across the state and the potential for technology to widen the digital divide rather than close it. In addition, parents of younger children are more likely to want more personal means of communication, whereas parents of older children are generally more interested in monitoring their homework and academic progress for which the Internet might be of more benefit. Finally, the nature of the message will determine the type of communication that is needed. Parents want a more personal communication method, such as a face-to-face meeting, when discussing a serious issue with the teacher; whereas, they appreciate the ability to use the Internet for information such as homework. In summary, schools need to provide a continuum of methods of communicating with families, from low-tech high- touch to high-tech low-touch, because of the digital-divide issues of schools and families as well as differences in parental needs depending on the age of the student and the nature of the message. Parent and School Needs Regarding School/Home Communication The parent focus groups provided insight to a number of issues related to improving school/home communication though the use of technology. In summary, participants expressed the following: · A need to have multiple means of communication between home and school; · A need for a minimum level of communication that is consistent between teachers; · A need for more frequent communication about academic performance and homework assignments; · Support for an Internet-based system for certain aspects of communication; · Support for e-mail as an effective communication tool for some parents; · Support for voice mail as an effective communication tool for certain issues but not all; · Concern about the use of technology to reach households without access; · Concern about the effects of parents’ socioeconomic, cultural, and language differences; · Concern about the different communication levels among elementary, middle, and high school parents; · Concern that security measures have decreased the level of comfort parents feel coming to or being at schools thereby reducing the opportunity for face-to-face communication; and · Recognition that the availability of technology in a home is not predictive of the amount of communication between homes and schools; the amount and quality of communication is dependent on the parent, teacher, and school’s willingness to work together. Teacher surveys provided insight into teachers’ needs for the use of school/home communication and how that would impact them. The teachers expressed the following: · A need to have adequate time necessary for training, for creating web pages, for keeping information ix