The article discusses ways that U.S. teachers can build relationships with the parents of students. Topics discussed include the use of technology tools by teachers such as websites and online newsletters, teachers letting parents know what times they are available to meet, and teachers sharing lists with parents of needed school supplies that can be donated.
Current literature supports the idea of teacher created websites for parental involvement; however, it does not provide adequate guidelines for determining formal content of a teacher website. While potential benefits are often suggested, specific guidelines appear infrequently. This study sought to address some of the shortcomings in the literature on teacher websites by conducting an online survey of both teachers and parents of elementary schools regarding their beliefs about what is essential and ideal content for teacher websites.
The article discusses class websites and presents suggestions to teachers on how to use this educational technology as a way to communicate with students outside of the classroom in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) education. It provides a description of the various purposes that class websites can serve which include sharing information about classroom news, facilitating communication between teachers and students, and outlining additional resources related to class content. It urges teachers to specify a purpose for the website prior to implementing the technology, suggests website resources that teachers can use to create websites, and comments on the educational benefits of the effective use of class websites.