Adopted: December 1986
Revised: April 2018
Download 801.8AR - Title I, Parent and Family Engagement
1. Parent and Family Engagement Policy at the District Level
1.1 The district will develop jointly with, agree on with and distribute to parents and family members of children participating in Title I, Part A (herein “Title I”) a written parent and family engagement policy that will be incorporated into the school district’s Title I plan developed under Section 1112 of Title I, establish the district’s expectations and objectives for meaningful parent and family involvement, and describe how the district will do the following:
1.1.1 Involve parents and family members in the joint development of the plan developed under Section 1112 of Title I (grant application) and the development of support and improvement plans under Title I, Section 1111;
1.1.2 Provide the coordination, technical assistance and other support necessary to assist and build the capacity of all participating schools within the district in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance, which may include meaningful consultation with employers, business leaders, and philanthropic organizations, or individuals with expertise in effectively engaging parents and family members in education;
1.1.3 Build the schools’ and parents’ capacity for strong parent and family engagement to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents and the community to improve student academic achievement;
1.1.4 Coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies for Title I with parent and family engagement strategies under other programs and other relevant federal, state and local laws, to the extent feasible and appropriate;
1.1.5 Conduct, with meaningful involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content and the effectiveness of the parent and family engagement policy in improving the academic quality of the schools served by Title I, including identifying the following:
1.1.5.1 Barriers to greater participation by parents in activities authorized by Title I, with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background;
1.1.5.2 The needs of parents and family members to assist with the learning of their children, including engaging with school personnel and teachers, and
1.1.5.3. Strategies to support successful school and family interactions. The district shall use the findings of the evaluation to design evidence-based strategies for more effective parent and family involvement and to revise, if necessary, the parent and family engagement policy.
1.1.6 Involve parents in the activities of the schools served through Title I, which may include establishing a districtwide parent and family member advisory council, as set forth in Section 1.2.
1.2 The district may establish a districtwide parent and family member advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parent and family engagement in programs supported by Title I, including assisting with the development, review and revising of the district parent and family engagement policy.
1.3 The districtwide parent and family engagement policy, as amended from time to time, shall be incorporated into this policy as well as the plan developed under Section 1112 of Title I.
2. Parent and Family Engagement Policy at the Title I School Level
2.1 Each school served under Title I (“Title I school”) shall jointly develop with, agree on with and distribute to, parents and family members of participating children a written parent and family engagement policy that describes the means for carrying out the requirements of Section 2.2, Section 3.0 and Section 4.0. (If the Title I school has a parent and family engagement policy that applies to all parents and families, the policy may be amended to meet the requirements of this Section 2.)
2.1.1 Parents shall be notified about the policy in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand.
2.1.2 The policy shall be made available to the local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school.
2.2 Each Title I school shall take the following actions:
2.2.1 Convene an annual parent meeting, at a convenient time, to which all parents of participating children shall be invited and encouraged to attend, to inform parents of their school’s participation in Title I, to explain the requirements of Title I and to inform parents of their right to be involved;
2.2.2 Offer a flexible number of alternative meetings (such as meetings in the morning or in the evening) and may provide funds (provided through Title I) for transportation, child care or home visits as such services relate to parental involvement;
2.2.3 Involve parents in an organized, ongoing and timely way in the planning, review and implementation of Title I programs, including the planning, review and improvement of the school’s schoolwide Title I program plan and the school’s parent and family engagement policy;
2.2.4 Provide parents of participating children with the following:
2.2.4.1 Timely information about Title I programs;
2.2.4.2 A description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and the achievement levels of the challenging state academic standards, and
2.2.4.3 If requested by parents, opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children, and respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible.
2.2.5 As a component of the school’s parent and family engagement policy, jointly develop the school-parent compact (as described in Title I) that outlines how parents, the entire school staff and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the state’s high standards. The compact shall do the following:
2.2.5.1 Describe the school’s responsibility to provide high quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the children served under this part to meet the state’s challenging academic standards;
2.2.5.2 Describe the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting their children’s learning; volunteering in their child’s classroom and participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children and positive use of extracurricular time;
2.2.5.3 Address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis through, at a minimum:
2.2.5.3.1 Parent-teacher conferences in elementary schools, at least annually, during which the compact shall be discussed as it relates to the individual child’s achievement;
2.2.5.3.2 Frequent reports to parents on their children’s progress;
2.2.5.3.3 Reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class and observation of classroom activities; and
2.2.5.3.4 Ensuring regular two-way, meaningful communication between family members and school staff, and, to the extent practicable, in a language that family members can understand.
2.2.6 Provide parents with an understanding of such topics as the state’s challenging academic standards, state and local academic assessments, the requirements of Title I and how to monitor a child’s progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their children;
2.2.7 Provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s achievement, such as literacy training and technology (including education about the harms of copyright piracy), as appropriate, to foster parental involvement;
2.2.8 Educate teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, principals and other school leaders and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to reach out to, communicate and work with parents as equal partners, implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and the school;
2.2.9 To the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs and activities with other Federal, State, and local programs, including public preschool programs, and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents to more fully participate in the education of their children;
2.2.10 May develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses in parent involvement activities;
2.2.11 May conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers and providing opportunities to learn about child development and child-rearing issues (such as Community Education activities);
2.2.12 Ensure information related to school and parent programs, meetings and other activities is sent to parents in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand;
2.2.13 May involve parents in the development of training for teachers, principals and other educators to improve the effectiveness of such training;
2.2.14 May provide necessary literacy training from Title I funds if all other reasonably available sources of funding for such training have been exhausted;
2.2.15 May pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with local parental involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;
2.2.16 May train parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;
2.2.17 May arrange school meetings at a variety of times, or conduct in-home conferences between teachers or other educators, who work directly with participating children, with parents who are unable to attend such conferences at school, in order to maximize parental involvement and participation;
2.2.18 May adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement, and
2.2.19 Shall provide such other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under this section as parents may request.
3. Parent Comments on Title I Plans
If the district plan under Section 1112 of Title I is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the district shall submit to the state, along with the plan, any parent comments. If a school’s schoolwide plan under Section 1114(b) of Title I is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children attending the school, any parent comments shall be submitted by the school to the district.
4. Accessibility
In carrying out parent and family engagement activities under Title I, the district and schools, to the extent practicable, shall provide opportunities for the informed participation of parents and family members (including parents and family members who have limited English proficiency, parents and family members with disabilities, and parents and family members of migratory children), including information and school reports required under Title I in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language such parents understand.
5. Funds
To support activities and strategies consistent with the parent and family engagement policies of the district and individual schools, Title I funds shall be reserved, distributed and used as specified by Section 1116(a)(3) of Title I.
References:
- Section 1116, ESEA of 1965, as amended through P.L. 114-95 (2015)