Opportunities for Community Involvement: Communicating A significant factor for the success of any school program is communication, and establishing strong external relationships can facilitate communication. Many school districts have established procedures for contacting parents through report cards, interim grade reports, and periodic portfolios demonstrating student work. Most districts also publish summative annual reports as brochures or through the news media and some states publicize summaries of student achievement data by school district. Many schools also have procedures to contact parents on an as-needed basis, such as attendance records, disciplinary forms, or information from guidance and career counselors. Some schools encourage phone contact from teachers on a regular basis or provide "good news" report cards for teachers to laud student achievement. All of these communication venues are supported by networked telecommunications and digital tools. Before touching on these, a few general points to consider for communicating with the community follow. Getting the Word Out Publishing on the Web is a powerful way for schools to disseminate information and involve their larger communities. The Lake Washington School District No. 414 in Washington has done just this. The community involvement section of their Web site not only provides contact and meeting information, but supports online discussion forums and listservs that allow community members to share their thoughts and ideas. Community members can also use the Web site to register for one of numerous courses, such as Introduction to Surfing the Web or Using the Internet to Research Investments.