Perspectives on the Use of Technology as a Home–School Communication and Parent Partnership Tool

Effective communication between home and school is known to increase student achievement. Although technology has the potential to change how schools communicate with parents, most existing research focuses on how schools use technology as a pedagogical tool. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to address the identified gap in the literature by exploring parent and educator perspectives on how schools and parents could use technology to encourage home–school communication and parent partnership. The conceptual framework included work in parent involvement, student achievement, and using technology as a communication tool. Epstein et al.’s six types of involvement framework was used to develop interview questions and provide a priori coding. Data were collected through semi structured interviews with 10 K-8 educators and five K-12 parents from public schools in Southern California. Yin’s five-stage analytical process was used to compile, disassemble, reassemble, interpret, and present the findings from the data. Four cycles of coding were used: in vivo, descriptive, a priori, and emergent. Key findings include (a) the pandemic has increased the use of technology for teaching, learning, communicating, and parent partnership; (b) parents prefer two-way communication methods; (c) issues of equity are of great concern; and (d) technology can enhance parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning from home, decision making, community collaboration, relationships, and participation at events. This study’s results may effect positive social change by providing data to inform policy and decision making in the areas of technology, communication, and parent partnership. Understanding how educators and parents use technology to foster communication is essential to increasing student achievement through better parent partnership