Parents and teachers must work together in order for students to succeed. Parents need to know what is going on in the classroom in order to reinforce those skills at home. Teachers need to know what is going on at home in order to be sensitive to any struggles a student may be having. Modern technology can enable teachers and parents to stay in touch quickly, easily and efficiently.

Teacher Websites
Many teachers have their own websites with information about the day-to-day happenings in the classroom. Teachers often list upcoming field trips, deadlines for projects and daily homework assignments.

Cell Phones
Before cell phones, teachers sometimes had trouble getting in touch with parents by phone during the school day. But with cell phones, teachers can reach parents easily no matter where they are. Text messaging makes it especially easy to get a quick message to a parent.

Email
Parents and teachers once communicated with written messages delivered by a student. The problem, of course, was that kids tend to lose things. Email allows parents to communicate with teachers without worrying about whether the note will actually get to the teacher. Teachers can also send one email to all parents, rather than making copies, wasting paper and sending notes home with students.

Social Networking Sites
Many teachers have a Facebook or MySpace page and they can invite parents of students to be their friends on these sites. This enables instant communication through quick status updates, chats, and private messages.

Web Cameras
Website cameras allow parent-teacher conferences to happen even when the parent and teacher cannot meet in the same room. A virtual conference can take place any time and any place by combining a web camera with an instant messaging service such as AIM or Windows Live.