The Daily Text: Increasing Parental Involvement in Education with Mobile Text Messaging

Abstract

Numerous educational researches have showed that parental involvement in schools is highly correlated with higher student performance (Griffith, 1996; Jeynes, 2005, 2012; Sheldon, 2003; Stevenson & Baker, 1987; Williams, & Sanches, 2012). The research results are so evident that schools are now required by law to implement parental involvement provisions in order to receive certain federal funds, such as No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. With the rapid advancement in technology, strategies to increase parental involvement in education have been moving from print formats to digital formats. This article is to investigate whether the use of text messaging via cell phones to communicate between teachers and parents has measurable results on the academic performance of students. The study results show that on its own, the use of text messaging does not significantly change student performance; however, texting may have other benefits to teachers and students.

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