To identify the information that parents receive about their children's school experiences and to investigate the relationship between this information base and parents' aspirations and expectations regarding their children, a study was conducted of 93 parents of first and fourth graders. The parents were interviewed and administered questionnaires to gather information on family characteristics; the content and quality of parental expectations for their children's academic performance; aspirations regarding children's occupational and educational goals; and the sources and level of information received regarding their children's development, grades and tests, and school events and policies. Results included the following findings: (1) 33% of the parents reported receiving considerable information about school events, while 45% reported receiving no information about their child's physical development; (2) parental aspirations for children ranged from happy with any choice (20%), completion of at least high school (36%), to completion of a vocation or college degree program (31%); (3) parents of first graders reported lower expectations for child performance than parents of fourth graders, while expectations were lower for first grade boys than for girls; (4) parental perception of consistency of information was significantly related to their commitment to aspirations; and (5) parental perceptions of their children's current performance was related more closely to their information base than were their aspirations for the future. (Contains 22 references.) (BCY)