Increasing access to online databases from home has raised the value of computer use for retrieving student achievement information. This study's purpose was to examine the relationship of family use of an electronic reporting mechanism in the home to student achievement, attendance, and home-school communication. Using communication as a parent involvement type in Epstein's theory of overlapping spheres of influence (OSI), the researcher applied a mixed-method approach using a nonexperimental, quantitative study with a descriptive, cross-sectional design to examine the relationships of electronic grade book access rates to (a) student grade point average (GPA) and (b) student attendance, including how the variables studied vary for low- and high-socioeconomic status (SES) families and students. In the qualitative approach, data from telephone interviews were analyzed and used to describe what evidence existed regarding the use of the electronic grade book to influence communications among parents, teachers, and students.

Data on student GPA, attendance, and grade book access rates about 1,471 students, as well as data from 13 telephone interviews were collected from a large high school in a western state. Statistical analysis indicated no significant correlations between overall access rates and student GPA or attendance for all users or for SES subgroups. Further analysis of changes in GPA and attendance from one quarter to the next indicated significant positive correlations between access rate changes and GPA changes for low-SES students and between access rate changes and attendance rate changes for high-SES students.

Parent, student, and teacher perceptions taken from telephone interview data indicated that among and between parents, students, and teachers, (a) rates of communication increased for online grade book users and (b) access to the online grade book information improved the quality of communication, helping to generate specific questions about student activities in school. Each group reported increases in monitoring homework, turning in assignments, and keeping recorded information timely and accurate There was a perception of increasing levels of responsibility among students and their teachers. Observations were reflective of Epstein's OSI theory.