Policy 604-R Development of Parent and Family Engagement Policies for Title I Programs Regulations

A. The administration will develop and maintain jointly with, agree upon with, and distribute to, parents and families of participating children a written parent and family engagement policy that will be incorporated into the School District’s Title I plan. The policy will establish the expectations for parent and family engagement and describe how the School District will:

1. Involve parents and families in the joint development of the School District’s Title I plan and the development of support and improvement plans;

2. Provide the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist schools in planning and implementing effective parent and family engagement;

3. Build the schools’ and parents’ capacity for strong parent and family engagement;

4. Coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies with similar strategies, to the extent feasible and appropriate, with other relevant federal, state and local programs.

5. Conduct, with the meaningful engagement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parent and family engagement policy and identify barriers to greater participation, particularly with parents who are economically disadvantaged, disabled, have limited literacy or English proficiency, or who are of a racial or ethnic minority;

6. Use the findings of the evaluations to design evidence-based strategies for improving and revising, if necessary, the District-level and School-level parent and family engagement policies; and

7. If the School District’s Title I plan is not satisfactory to the parents and families of participating children, the School District will submit any parent’s comments with the plan when the plan is submitted to the state.

A. The administration of each school will develop and maintain (or amend an existing parent and family engagement policy) jointly with, and distribute to, parents and families of participating children a written parental involvement policy, agreed upon by such parents, that shall describe the means of carrying out the federal requirements of parental involvement. 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 explain to parents and families of participating children the program, its requirements, and their right to be involved;

2. Offer a flexible number of meetings, transportation, child care or home visits, to facilitate parent and family engagement;

3. Involve parents and families in planning, review, and improvement of the parent and family engagement programs, including the school parent and family engagement policy and the joint development of the school-wide program plan, unless the school already has a program for involving parents and families in the planning and design of its programs that would adequately involve parents and families of participating children;

4. Provide parents and families of participating children with: timely information about Title I programs; school performance profiles as required by law and their child’s individual student assessment results along with an interpretation of the results; a description and explanation of the curriculum in use, the forms of assessment used and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet; the opportunity to make suggestions, share experiences with other parents and participate in decisions relating to their child’s education; timely responses to parents’ suggestions; and

5. Submit any parent and/or family member comments to the school-wide program plan when it is submitted to the School District.

B. As a component of this policy, each school shall develop with parents and families a school/parent plan which outlines how parents, families, staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student achievement and attainment of state standards. The compact will:

1. Describe the school’s responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in an environment that will enable participating students to meet student performance standards;

2. Describe the ways parents and families will be responsible for supporting their children’s learning by monitoring school attendance and homework completion, monitoring screen time, volunteering in the classroom, and participating in discussions about their children’s education and use of extracurricular time.

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

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

ii. Frequent progress reports to the parent and

iii. Reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer and participate.

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

1. Provide assistance to participating parents and families in such areas as understanding federal and state education goals, state content and student performance standards, assessments, monitoring their child’s progress, working with educators to improve their child’s performance, and participating in decisions regarding their child’s education;

2. Provide materials and training to assist parents and families in working with their children to improve their children’s achievement.

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

4. Coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement programs and activities with federal, state and local programs that encourage and support parents and families as is feasible and appropriate;

5. Develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses in parent and family engagement activities and providing information about and encouraging the formation of partnerships between public schools, businesses and parents and families;

6. Conducting activities such as parent and family resource centers and opportunities for parents and families to learn about child development and child rearing, as appropriate and feasible;

7. Ensure, to the extent possible, that information about school and parent/family meetings, programs, and activities is sent home in the language used in the homes of participating children; and

8. Provide other reasonable supports for parent and family engagement as requested by parents.

D. The policy will also describe the process to be taken if the School District and school choose to:

1. Involve parents and families in the development of training for school staff to improve the effectiveness of the instruction and services to participating children;

2. Pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parent and family engagement activities, including transportation and child care costs to enable parents to participate in meetings and training sessions;

3. Train and support parents and families to enhance the engagement of other parents and families;

4. Arrange meetings at a variety of time in order to maximize parent and family opportunities for participation in school-related activities;

5. Arrange for staff who work directly with participating children to conduct in-home conferences with parents and families who are unable to attend conferences at school; and

6. Adopt and implement model approaches to improving parent and family engagement.

E. To carry out the requirements of parent and family engagement, the School District and schools will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents and families with limited English proficiency or with disabilities, including providing information and school profiles in a language and form that is understandable by the Parents and family members.

F. The School District and each school will assist parents and families and parent and family organizations in learning of and about parent and family information and resource centers.

• Adopted: July 14, 1986
• Amended: October 13, 1997
• Amended: March 25, 2002
• Amended: January 13, 2003
• Amended: September 8, 2003
• Amended: July 22, 2004
• Amended: April 9, 2007
• Amended: April 11, 2011
• Amended: December 10, 2012
• Amended: February 11, 2019
• Last Reviewed: February 11, 2019

• Policy 604 - Development of Parent and Family Engagement Policies for Title I Programs