Política de Padres y Familias 

For the purposes of this policy, the term “parent and family engagement” means the participation of parents, guardians, and other family members in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student learning and other school activities, including ensuring the following:

1. that parents and family members play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;
2. that parents and family members are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;
3. that parents are full partners in their child’s education and parents and family members are included, as appropriate, in decision making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child; and
4. that the school system utilizes activities to support parent and family engagement in the Title I programs.

The Title I program is a federally supported program that offers assistance to educationally and economically disadvantaged children to help ensure they receive an equitable, high-quality, well-rounded education and meet the school system’s challenging academic standards. The Title I program provides instructional activities and supportive services to eligible students over and above those provided by the regular school program.

Qualified Title I schools will operate as school-wide programs or targeted assistance programs based upon federal eligibility criteria. School-wide programs will provide comprehensive support to offer improved opportunities for all students in the school to meet the school system’s academic standards. Targeted assistance programs will provide services to eligible students most in need of assistance in the school, as determined by objective criteria established by the superintendent or designee. Eligibility criteria may include, for example, standardized test scores, teacher judgment, and results of preschool screening and home-school surveys. Both school-wide and targeted assistance programs shall be based on effective means of improving student achievement and shall include evidence-based strategies to support parent and family engagement.

The board believes that the involvement of Title I parents and family members in the design and implementation of the Title I program will increase the effectiveness of the program and contribute significantly to the success of the children. The Title I staff and all school system personnel shall strive to conduct outreach to parents and family members and involve them in activities throughout the school year.

The superintendent shall ensure that this system-level parent and family engagement policy and plan is developed with, agreed upon with, and annually distributed to parents and family members of participating students. In addition to the system-level parent and family engagement plan, each school participating in the Title I program shall jointly develop and annually distribute to parents and family members a school-level written parent and family engagement plan that describes the means for carrying out school-level policy, sharing responsibility for student academic achievement, building the capacity of school staff and parents for involvement, and increasing accessibility for participation of all parents and family members of children participating in Title I programs, including parents and family members who have limited English proficiency, who have disabilities, or who are migratory. School-level plans must involve parents in the planning and improvement of Title I activities and must provide for the distribution to parents of information on expected student achievement levels and the school’s academic performance.

School officials shall invite appropriate school personnel from private schools to consult on the design and development of its programs in order to provide equitable services to students enrolled in private schools. The superintendent or designee shall establish any additional procedures necessary to achieve timely and meaningful consultation with private school officials in accordance with federal law.

In addition, school system officials and Title I school personnel shall do the following:

1. involve parents and family members in the joint development of the Title I program and school support and improvement plan and the process of school review and improvement by including parents on the school advisory committee and any committees that review the Title I program;
2. provide coordination, technical assistance, and other support from various central office departments necessary to assist and build the capacity of all participating schools in planning and implementing effective parent and family engagement activities that are designed to improve student academic achievement and school performance;
3. coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies in the Title I program to the extent feasible and appropriate with parental engagement strategies established in other federal, state, and local laws and programs;
4. with the meaningful involvement of parents, conduct an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the school system parent and family engagement policies and program in improving the academic quality of the school and assisting students to meet the school system’s academic standards;
5. strive to eliminate barriers to parental participation by assisting parents/guardians who have disabilities and parents/guardians who are economically disadvantaged, have limited English proficiency, are migratory, or have other backgrounds or characteristics that may affect participation;
6. provide outreach and assistance to parents and family members of children who are participating in Title I programs in understanding the state’s testing standards, the assessments used, Title I requirements, and all national, state, and local standards and expectations through such efforts as community-based meetings, posting information on school websites, sending information home, newsletters, workshops, and newspaper articles;
7. design a parent–student–school staff agreement that sets out respective responsibilities in striving to raise student achievement and explains how an effective school/home partnership will be developed and maintained;
8. with the assistance of parents/guardians, ensure that teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, principals, and other staff are educated in the value of the family as partners in the educational process and understand how to work with, communicate with, and reach out to families as equal partners in education;
9. distribute to parents information on expected student proficiency levels for their child and the school’s academic performance, and provide materials and training to help parents/guardians monitor their child’s progress and work with educators to improve achievement through such methods as literacy training or using technology, which may include education about the harms of copyright piracy;
10. coordinate and integrate, to the extent feasible and appropriate, parental involvement programs and activities with federal, state, and local programs, including public preschool programs, and conduct other activities in the community that encourage and support parents/guardians to more fully participate in the education of their child;
11. strengthen the partnership with agencies, businesses, and programs that operate in the community, especially those with expertise in effectively engaging parents and family members in education;
12. ensure that parents/guardians are involved in the school’s Title I activities; and provide such other reasonable support for Title I parental involvement activities as requested by parents.

Each year, school system officials shall publicize on the school system website and, where practicable, on the website of each school:

1. the report card described in subsection E.2, above; and
2. information on each assessment required by the state and, where feasible, by the school system, organized by grade level. The information must include:

a. the subject matter assessed;

b. the purpose for which the assessment is designed and used;

c. the source of the requirement for the assessment;

d. if available, the amount of time students will spend taking the assessments and the schedule of the assessments; and

e. if available, the time and format for distributing results.

The superintendent shall develop any administrative procedures necessary to implement the requirements of this policy.

Legal References: Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq., 34 C.F.R. pt. 200

Cross References: Parental Involvement (policy 1310/4002), Goals and Objectives of the Educational Program (policy 3000), Curriculum Development (policy 3100), Personnel Files (policy 7820)

Adopted: