IGBC: Parent and Family Involvement and Engagement

Last Revised Date: 09/24/2018 The School of the Osage Board of Education believes that engaging parents and families in the education process is essential to improved academic success for students. The Board recognizes that a student's education is a responsibility shared by the district, parents, families and other members of the community.

For the purposes of this policy, “parent” means a parent, guardian or person acting as a parent in the absence of the parent.

Missouri Parent and Family Involvement and Engagement Goals

The Board of Education recognizes the importance of both eliminating barriers that impede parent and family involvement and facilitating an environment that encourages collaboration with parents, families and other members of the community. Therefore, the district, pursuant to state law and in collaboration with the State Board of Education, education personnel, local associations, and organizations of parents of district students, will develop and implement a policy to facilitate parent and family involvement and engagement that shall include the following six goals:

1. Promote regular, two-way, meaningful communication between home and school.

2. Promote and support responsible parenting.

3. Recognize the fact that parents and families play an integral role in assisting their children to learn.

4. Promote a safe and open atmosphere for parents and families to visit the schools their children attend, and actively solicit parent and family support and assistance for school programs.

5. Include parents as full partners in decisions affecting their children and families.

6. Use available community resources to strengthen and promote school programs, family practices and the achievement of students.

Title I Program Parent and Family Involvement and Engagement

District Policy

The district and parents and family members of students participating in the Title I Part A program will jointly develop and agree upon a written parent and family involvement and engagement policy for the district that will establish the district's expectations and objectives for meaningful parent and family involvement and describe how the district will:

1. Involve parents and family members in the joint development of the Title I program plan. Parents and family members will also be involved in the development of support and improvement plans as required by law.

2. Provide the coordination, technical assistance and other support necessary to assist and build the capacity for all Title I schools in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement and engagement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance, which may include meaningful consultation with employers, business leaders and philanthropic organizations or individuals with expertise in effectively engaging parents and family members in education.

3. Coordinate and integrate Title I parent and family involvement and engagement strategies, to the extent feasible and appropriate, with other federal, state and local laws and programs.

4. Conduct, with the meaningful involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content of the parent and family involvement and engagement policy and its effectiveness in improving the academic quality of the schools served. The district will use the findings of the evaluation to design strategies for more effective parent and family involvement and engagement and to revise, if necessary, the parent and family involvement and engagement policies. The evaluation will include identifying:

          ►          Barriers to greater participation by parents in activities authorized by law, particularly by parents who are economically disadvantaged, have disabilities, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background.

          ►          The needs of parents and family members to assist with their students' learning, including engagement with school personnel and teachers.

          ►          Strategies to support successful school and family interactions.

5. Involve parents in the activities of the schools served, which may include establishing a parent advisory board composed of parents and family members who adequately represent the needs of the population served by the district. If created, the parent advisory board would be tasked with developing, reviewing and revising this policy.

School Policy

Each school receiving Title I Part A funds and the parents and families of the students in the school will jointly develop and agree upon a written parent and family involvement and engagement policy for the school. In accordance with the requirements of federal law:

1. The policy must be made available to the local community and distributed to parents in an understandable and uniform format. To the extent practicable, the policy shall be provided in a language the parents understand.

2. The policy shall be reviewed annually and updated as needed to meet the changing needs of the parents, families and school.

Each school participating in the Title I Part A program will:

1. Convene an annual meeting, at a convenient time, to which all parents of participating students will be invited and encouraged to attend. The purpose of the meeting is to inform parents about the school's involvement in the Title I program, the requirements of Title I and the right of parents to be involved. The school will offer a flexible number of meetings, such as meetings in the morning or evening, and may provide transportation, childcare or home visits as those services relate to parent involvement.

2. Involve parents in an organized, ongoing and timely way in the planning, review and improvement of Title I Part A programs, including the parent and family involvement and engagement policy and the joint development of a schoolwide program plan. The schoolwide plan will include both positive and negative comments on the Title I Part A program from parents of participating students.

3. Provide parents of participating students:

          ►          Timely information about Title I programs.

          ►          A description and explanation of the curriculum.

          ►          The forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress.

          ►          The achievement levels of the Missouri Learning Standards (MLS).

          ►          Opportunities, if requested by parents, for regular meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children.

          ►          Timely responses to suggestions.

4. Work jointly with parents of students in the program to develop a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, the entire school staff and students will share responsibility for improved academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help students achieve the MLS. The compact will:

          ►          Describe the school's responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the students served under Title I to meet the MLS.

          ►          Identify ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting his or her student's learning, such as monitoring attendance, homework completion, and television watching; volunteering in the student's classroom; and participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of the student and the positive use of extracurricular time.

          ►          Address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis through, at a minimum, parent-teacher conferences in elementary schools at least annually during which the compact shall be discussed as it relates to the individual student's achievement; frequent reports to parents on their student's progress; reasonable access to staff; opportunities to volunteer and participate in their student's class; observation of classroom activities; and ensuring regular, two-way, meaningful communication among family members and school staff that, to the extent practicable, is in a language the family members can understand.

Building Capacity for Involvement

The district and each Title I school will support a partnership among the Title I school, parents and community members and ensure effective involvement and engagement of parents by:

1. Providing parents of students served with assistance in understanding topics such as the MLS, local assessments and the requirements of Title I; how to monitor a student's progress; and how to work with teachers to improve the performance of their student.

2. Providing parents the training and materials necessary to improve their student's achievement, such as literacy and technology use training, including information about the harms of copyright piracy, as appropriate to foster parental involvement and engagement.

3. Educating, with parental assistance, all school personnel on:

          ►          Valuing parent contributions.

          ►          Reaching out to and communicating and working with parents as equal partners.

          ►          Implementing and coordinating parent programs.

          ►          Building ties between parents and the school.

4. To the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinating and integrating parent involvement and engagement programs and activities with other federal, state and local programs, including public preschool programs, and conducting other activities, such as parent resource centers, to encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their student.

5. Ensuring that information related to school and parent programs, meetings and other activities is sent to the parents of Title I students in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents can understand.

6. Providing other reasonable support for parental involvement and engagement activities as parents may request.

Accessibility

To the extent practical, the district must 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 students. Information and school reports will be provided in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents understand.

Policy Evaluation

The district and each school receiving Title I funds will, with parent and family involvement, review and evaluate the content and effectiveness of parent and family involvement policies at least annually. The district will use the findings of such evaluation to design strategies for more effective parental involvement and engagement and to revise, if necessary and in collaboration with parents, the parent and family involvement and engagement policies.

English Learner (EL) and Migrant Education Program (MEP) Parent and Family Involvement and Engagement

The Board also recognizes the special importance of parent and family involvement and engagement to the success of its EL and MEP programs. Pursuant to federal law, the district and parents will jointly develop and agree upon a written parental involvement and engagement policy that will be distributed to parents of students participating in any of these programs. The provisions of this policy shall apply to parents and families of EL and migratory students to the same extent as they apply to parents and families of other students.

Involvement for parents and families of students in the EL and MEP programs is addressed in more detail in the policies specific to those programs.

Federal

20 U.S.C. § 1232h Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment 20 U.S.C. § 6301-7981 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 20 U.S.C. § 6312 Elementary and Secondary Education Act MSIP

G-11

G-5

G-9

ADF: District Wellness Program

JHC: Student Health Services and Requirements

JHC-AP(1)

JHC-AP(3)

JHDA SURVEYING, ANALYZING OR EVALUATING STUDENTS KB: Public Information Program

Procedure KB-AP(1): Public Information Program

KC: Community Engagement

KI PUBLIC SOLICITATIONS/ADVERTISING IN DISTRICT FACILITIES KL: Public Concerns and Complaints