505.09 - Parent and Family Engagement

Parent and family engagement is an important component in a student’s success in school. The board encourages parents and families to become involved in their child’s education to ensure the child’s academic success. In order to facilitate parent and family involvement, it is the goal of the district to conduct outreach and implement programs, activities and procedures to further involve parents and families with the academic success of their students. The board will:

(1) Involve parents and families in the development of the Title I plan, the process for school review of the plan and the process for improvement by inviting parents of Title I students to meet with the Title I teachers to reflect on the school year, reviewing the information and feedback from the meetings held between parents and Title I teachers, and discussing it at SIAC meetings. The Board will review the plan annually.

(2) Provide the coordination, technical assistance and other support necessary to assist and build the capacity of all participating schools in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance by having ongoing discussions at Admin/Director meetings, School Improvement meetings, holding Pre-school night, and PTO meetings.

(3) To the extent feasible, coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies under Title I with parent and family engagement strategies outlined in other relevant Federal, State, and local laws and programs by coordinating all district supports and involving SIAC in planning and implementing family and parent engagement strategies.

(4) Conduct with the involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parent and family engagement policy in improving the academic quality of the school served including identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in Title I activities (with particular attention to low-income parents, Limited English Proficient (LEP) parents, parents of any racial or ethnic minority, parents with disabilities and parents with limited literacy) by analyzing data from IEP meetings and surveys at SIAC meetings.

(5) Use the findings of the annual evaluation to design strategies for more effective parent and family involvement and to revise, as necessary, the parent and family involvement policies by reviewing the information at SIAC meetings and having a Parent Compact. Copies of the Parental Involvement Policy and Title I Compact are available upon request.

(6) Involve parents and families in Title I activities by having a parent advisory committee meeting every year.

The superintendent is responsible for notifying parents and families of this policy annually or within a reasonable time after it has been amended during the school year. The superintendent may develop an administrative process or procedures to implement this policy.

Legal References: 20 U.S.C. § 6318.

Cross References: 904.02 Community Resource Persons and Volunteers

Approved: 11/01/2004

Reviewed: 12/15/2008, 03/17/2014

Revised: 11/21/2016, 07/15/2019, 03/18/2024

dawn.gibson.cm… Tue, 04/06/2021 - 09:54

505.9R1 - Parent and Family Engagement Building-Level Regulation

To further the interests of student achievement, the superintendent will create necessary rules to engage parents and family members within the district in the following ways on a building-level basis:

Policy Involvement: The district will host an annual meeting and invite all parents to attend; and inform parents of their rights and the district’s requirements under Title I. This meeting will also invite parents to become involved in the planning, review and improvement of a building policy and in developing the district plan. The district will inform parents of:
- programs under this policy,
- curriculum and assessment used for students,
- the opportunity to meet with administration to participate in decisions related to their children’s education,
- a description and explanation of curriculum used in the school, forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and
- achievement levels of the challenging State academic standards.
Accessibility: Provide opportunities for informed participation of parents and family members in understandable formats and languages. This includes participation by parents and family members who may have disabilities, limited English proficiency, and migratory children. Offer a flexible number of meetings during the day, evening and weekends to facilitate parent involvement. The superintendent has discretion to allow schools to provide childcare for families of students during these meetings through Title I funds.
High Student Academic Achievement: Each school in the district will jointly develop with parents and family members a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, staff and students share responsibility for improving student academic achievement; and how a partnership will be built to achieve this. The compact will describe the responsibility of the school to provide high quality curriculum and instruction, and the parents’ responsibility to support their children’s learning. This will also address the importance of communication between schools and parents through parent teacher conferences, regular reports to parents on their children’s progress, and ensuring regular meaningful communication between family and school staff.
Building Capacity for Involvement: Each school within the district will include in their plan ways to achieve the following:
- Assist parents and families to understand topics including academic standards and assessments and how to monitor student progress;
- Provide materials and training to help parents work with students to improve achievement;
- Educate teachers and staff in how to communicate with parents and build ties to foster academic success;
- Coordinate and integrate other federal, state and local programs to support parents in more fully participating in students’ education;
- Ensure information related to programs is sent to parents and families in understandable formats; and
- Provide other reasonable support to encourage parental involvement

Schools Operating a Schoolwide Program: Each school operating a schoolwide program under this policy shall:
- Involve parents on a timely and ongoing basis in the planning, review and improvement of programs, including the parent and family engagement school policy drafting and review, and the joint development of the schoolwide program.
- If the schoolwide program plan is not satisfactory to the parents of the participating children, parent comments will be requested and submitted with the plan to the district.

dawn.gibson.cm… Tue, 04/06/2021 - 09:55