To gather information on parent preferences regarding the type of information communicated by schools to families, a survey was distributed to 444 middle and upper-middle class parents in Michigan. The survey divided techniques used by schools to communicate with the community into five categories: information about classroom curricula, student information, school activities, parent information, and administrative information. Parents were asked to rank each technique in order of importance and then to rank the five categories. Results of the study, based on responses from 114 families, included the following: (1) with respect to classroom curricula, the information identified as most important was a list of expected student outcomes for the year; (2) the student information rated most important was the extent of student progress, while comparison with other students was rated least important; (3) a calendar was considered the most important technique related to school activities; (4) with respect to parent information, how parents could help at home was the highest ranked technique; (5) for administrative information, notice of major policy decisions was the most important type of information; and (6) while many respondents thought all the categories were important, student information was the highest rated type of information, and administrative information was rated lowest. (Contains 13 references.) (BCY)