The purpose of this research was to determine what type of correlations existed between student and parent attitudes towards using smartphones in school and the resulting impact on achievement, specifically for low-achieving students. Participants in the study were third-grade students and their parents from a primary school in Singapore. The study employed a quantitative analysis to understand the correlations among the different participant groups. The instruments used were Likert-based surveys, along with scores from mid-year and end-of-year achievement exams in English and science. The three most relevant major findings showed that (a) low-achieving students show a positive attitude toward completing science activities, which correlates with an increase in science achievement; (b) the parents of low-achieving students appear to provide their children with autonomy in using their smartphones, which correlates with an increase in science achievement; and (c) having a smartphone and using the smartphone to complete school work is important to low-achieving students and their parents.

Personal handheld mobile technology represents a growing topic of interest for K-12 educators. Devices such as iPads, tablets, and smartphones, in particular, are becoming more ubiquitous in society and prevalent in classrooms of children of all ages. The ease of access, combined with growing functionality and capacity of these devices creates opportunities that were previously unimaginable. Professional educators are beginning to recognize the value such devices offer for enriching and expanding opportunities for learning both inside and outside of the classroom. The views of educators and students regarding mobile technology have been well documented in existing literature. What is less clear is how parents view personal mobile technology when applied to formal and informal learning opportunities. Using quantitative analysis, this study examines the views of parents when mobile technology is utilized in Singaporean third grade classrooms. This study represents a pioneering effort to better understand the evolving role of parents and serves as a foundation for future research to explore the role of parents as partners when personal mobile technology is used for learning. The constructs identified in this study reveal that parents do believe technology skills are important in the modern age of learning and working.