The Impact of the Usage of Electronic Grade Books on Student Achievement and Parental Satisfaction

Parental involvement plays a major role in the education of youth. There is an ongoing need to provide these parents with access to the school, teachers, and other staff beyond the traditional school hours. The theoretical framework of this study is developed around the principles of reconstructionism which propose that education continue to support innovation and meet the need of a changing society. A correlational design with multiple regression was used to determine the relationship between student achievement and parents' degree of satisfaction with parent-teacher interaction and the level of computer-mediated communication between parents and teachers. The student population of this study was a school with 1,200-1,350 students, with 400-450 students at each grade level. The sample of the study was 195 students drawn from the school's 8th grade student population. Findings show a positive correlation between student achievement and the usage of electronic grade book. The results illustrated that the more frequently the parents used electronic grade book, the higher the level of achievement, as measured by the CRT assessment. This study impacts social change by analyzing a tool of educational technology that could increase parental involvement. The use of the electronic grade book could allow more parents to have an active role in their child's education by eliminating some of the time constraints that have impacted a parent's ability to communicate with the staff members of the school. Electronic gradebooks allow parents to communicate with their child in an asynchronous environment that eliminates time constraints. With this new technology, parents will have the continual opportunity to monitor their children's academics.