School Board Policy 612.1 -
Development of Parent and Family Engagement Policies for Title I Programs

I. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to encourage and facilitate involvement by parents of students participating in the Title I educational programs. The policy shall provide the framework for organized, systematic, ongoing, informed and timely parental involvement in decisions about the Title I services within the school district. The policy shall apply to parents of public or private school children who are school district residents or children who attend a District 624 school.

II. General Statement of Policy

A. The policy of the school district is to plan and implement, with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children, programs, activities and procedures for the engagement of parents and families in its Title I programs, consistent with section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA.)

B. The policy of the school district is to fully comply with 20 U.S.C. § 6318, which requires the school district to develop jointly with agree upon, and distribute to parents of children participating in Title I programs written parent and family engagement policies.

III. Development of District Level Policy

The School Board will direct the administration to develop jointly with, agree upon with, and distribute to, parents of participating children a written parental involvement plan that will be incorporated into the school district’s Title I plan. The plan will establish the expectations for parental involvement and describe how the school district will:

The School Board will direct the administration to develop jointly with, agree upon with, and distribute to parents and family members of participating children a written parent and family engagement policy that will be incorporated into the school district’s Title I plan, developed under section 1112 of the ESSA. The policy will establish the expectations for meaningful parent and family involvement and describe how the school district will:

A. Engage parents and family members in the joint development of the school district’s Title I plan and the development of support and improvement plans;

B. Coordinate technical assistance and other support that is necessary to build the capacity of staff in planning and implementing effective parent and family engagement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance., This may include meaningful consultation with employers, business leaders, and philanthropic organizations, or individuals with expertise in effectively engaging parents and family members in education;

C. Coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies to the extent feasible and appropriate, with other relevant federal, state, and local laws and programs including public preschool programs;

D. Conduct, with the meaningful 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 schools served, including identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, disabled, have limited English proficiency, or who are of a racial or ethnic minority background); the needs of parents and family members to assist with the learning of their children, including engaging with school personnel and teachers; and strategies to support successful school and family interactions;

E. Use the findings of such evaluations to design evidence-based strategies for more effective parent and family engagement and to revise, if necessary, the district- level and school-level parent and family engagement policies; and

F. Engage parents in the activities of the schools, which may include establishing a parent advisory committee comprised of a sufficient number and representative group of parents or family members served by the school district to adequately represent the needs of the population served by the school district for the purpose of developing, revising and reviewing the parent and family engagement policy.

G. Engage parents and family members of children served in Title I, in decisions and how Title I, Part A funds reserved for parent and family engagement are spent and ensure that no less than 90 percent of carry-over funds goes directly to Title I schools.

IV. Development of School Level Policy

The administration of each school shall engage with parents and family members of Title I students during the development or revision of the parent engagement policy and through meaningful consultation agreed upon by such parents and families, that shall describe the means of carrying out the federal requirements of parent and family engagement. Parents shall be notified of the policy in an understandable and uniform format. To the extent practicable, the policy shall be provided in a language the parents can understand. Such policy shall be made available to the local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school.

A. The policy will describe the means by which each school with a Title I program will:

1. Convene an annual 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 programs, and to explain to parents of participating children the program, its requirements, and their right to be involved;

2. Offer a flexible number of meetings, such as meetings in the morning or evening, and may provide transportation, child care, or home visits, as such services relate to parental involvement.

3. Engage parents in an organized, ongoing, and timely way in the planning, review, and improvement of the parental engagement programs, including the planning, review, and engagement of the school’s parent and family engagement plan and the joint development of the school-wide program plan, except that if a school has in place a process for engaging parents in the joint planning and design of the school’s programs, the school may use that process, if such process includes an adequate representation of parents of participating children;

4. Provide parents of participating children with timely information about Title I programs; including a description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and the achievement levels of the challenging state academic standards; 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; and

5. If the school-wide program plan is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, include all parent comments regarding the plan when it is submitted to the school district.

B. As a component of this plan, each school shall jointly develop with parents a school/parent compact which outlines how parents, 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 will:

1. Declare the school’s responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables participating students to meet state student academic achievement standards;

2. Describe the ways parents will be responsible for supporting their child’s learning by monitoring school attendance and homework completion, monitoring television watching, volunteering in their child’s classroom, and participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to their child’s education and use of extracurricular time.

3. Address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an on-going basis through the use of:

a. Annual parent-teacher conferences to discuss the compact and the child’s achievement;

b. Frequent progress reports to the parents;

c. Reasonable access to staff and opportunities to volunteer, participate, in the child’s class, and observe in the child’s classroom; and

d. Regular two-way, meaningful communication between family members and school staff and, to the extent practicable, in a language that family members can understand.

C. To ensure effective engagement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and community to improve student academic achievement, the policy will describe how each school and the school district will:

1. Provide assistance to participating parents in understanding such topics as the state’s academic content and achievement standards, state and local academic assessments, and the parent and family engagement rights of Title I requirements, and also how to monitor a child’s progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their children;

2. Provide materials and training to assist parents in working with their children to improve their children’s achievement, such as literacy training and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental engagement;

3. Educate school staff, with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents and in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and school;

4. Coordinate and integrate parental engagement programs and activities with other federal, state, and local programs, including public preschool programs, and conduct other activities that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children to the extent feasible and appropriate;

5. Ensure, to the extent practicable, that information about school and parent meetings, programs, and activities is sent to the parents of participating children in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand; and

6. Provide such other reasonable support for parental engagement activities as requested by parents.

D. The plan will also describe the process to be taken if the school district and school choose to:

1. Engage parents in the development of training for school staff to improve the effectiveness of such training:

2. Provide necessary literacy training with funds received under Title I programs if all other funding has been exhausted;

3. Pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities, including transportation and childcare costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;

4. Train parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;

5. Arrange meetings at a variety of times or conduct in-home conferences between teachers or other educators, who work directly with participating children, and parents who are unable to attend such conferences at school in order to maximize parental involvement and participation in school- related activities;

6. Adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement;

7. Develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and business in parental involvement activities; and

8. Establish a district-wide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title I programs.

E. To carry out the requirements of parent and family engagement, the school district and schools, to the extent practicable, will 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 providing information and school reports in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language that is understandable by the parents.

F. The school district and each school shall inform parents and parent organizations of the existence of family engagements in education programs.

The policies will be updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school.

Legal References: 
20 U.S.C. § 6319 (Parent and Family Engagement)