The board of education recognizes the value of family engagement in a child’s academic success and believes that the education of children is an ongoing cooperative partnership between the home and the school. Parents and other family members are their children’s first teachers; therefore, the continued involvement of parents and family members in the educational process is most important in fostering and improving educational achievement. School system officials shall strive to support parents and provide parents and family members with meaningful opportunities to become involved in the programs offered by the Title I schools. The board encourages parents and family members to participate in the design and implementation of the programs and activities in order to increase the effectiveness of the school system’s Title I program in helping students meet state and local achievement standards.

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.

Each year, school officials must invite parents of students participating in Title I programs to a meeting to explain parental rights, discuss the programs and activities to be provided with Title I funds, and solicit input on the Title I program and this policy. In addition, school officials must provide parents and family members a meaningful opportunity annually to evaluate the content and effectiveness of the Title I programs and the parent and family engagement policies and plans. Information collected from these proceedings will be used to revise Title I programs and parent and family engagement plans.

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.

School system officials and Title I school personnel shall provide effective notice of the following information as required by law. The notice must be in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand.

1. Program for English Learners

Each year the principal or designee shall provide notice of the following to parents/guardians of English learners identified for participation in a Title I, Part A or Title III funded language-instruction educational program:

a. the reasons for the child’s identification;

b. the child’s level of English proficiency and how such level was assessed;

c. methods of instruction;

d. how the program will help the child;

e. the exit requirements for the program;

f. if the child has a disability, how the language instruction educational program meets the objectives of the child’s individualized educational program (IEP);

g. any other information necessary to effectively inform the parent/guardian of the program and the parental rights regarding enrollment, removal, and selection of a program for English learners; and

h. notice of regular meetings for the purpose of formulating and responding to recommendations from parents.

2. System Report Card

Each year, school system officials shall disseminate to all parents, schools, and the public a school system report card containing information about the school system and each school, including, but not limited to:

a. the following information both in the aggregate and disaggregated by category: student achievement, graduation rates, performance on other school quality and/or student success indicators, the progress of students toward meeting long-term goals established by the state, student performance on measures of school climate and safety, and, as available, the rate of enrollment in post-secondary education;

b. the performance of the school system on academic assessments as compared to the state as a whole and the performance of each school on academic assessments as compared to the state and school system as a whole;

c. the percentage and number of students who are:

1. 1. 1. assessed,
      2. assessed using alternate assessments,
      3. involved in preschool and accelerated coursework programs, and
      4. English learners achieving proficiency;

d. the per pupil expenditures of federal, state, and local funds; and

e. teacher qualifications.

3. Teacher Qualifications

a. At the beginning of each year, school system officials shall notify parents/guardians of students who are participating in Title I programs of the right to request certain information on the professional qualifications of the student’s classroom teachers and paraprofessionals providing services to the child (see policy 7820, Personnel Files).

b. The principal or designee of a Title I school shall provide timely notice informing parents/guardians that their student has been assigned to or has been taught for at least four consecutive weeks by a teacher who does not meet applicable state certification or licensure requirements at the grade level or subject area in which the teacher has been assigned.

4. Parental Rights and Opportunities for Involvement

a. Each year, the principal or designee of a Title I school shall provide notice to parents/guardians of the school’s written parent and family engagement policy, parents’ right to be involved in their child’s school, and opportunities for parents and family members to be involved in the school.

b. Each year, the principal or designee of a Title I school shall provide notice to parents/guardians of their right to request information regarding student participation in state-required assessments.