A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

School Parent Involvement Policy

It is important to understand that the involvement of families in their children's education is not limited solely to attendance at PTO meetings or volunteering at school. What parents do at home with their children is even more important to the total educational effort, and schools need to let parents know that they value both their contributions at school and their participation at home.

If a school has a parental involvement policy that applies to all parents, it may amend that policy, if necessary, to meet the Part A parental involvement requirements.

I. POLICY INVOLVEMENT

A school's written policy should describe specifically enough for parents and school system personnel to readily understand how each participating Part A school will do the following:

• Convene an annual meeting to inform parents of their school's participation in Part A, to explain Part A's requirements, and their right to be involved. In preparation for this meeting, efforts should be made to determine the most convenient time for parents of participating children to attend and to determine the most reliable method for ensuring that parents receive notice.

• Offer a flexible number of meetings, such as in the morning or evening, and provide, if necessary, with Part A funds transportation, child care, or home visits as these services relate to parental involvement.

• Involve parents, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way, in the planning, review, and improvement of Part A programs, including the school parental involvement policy and the joint development of the schoolwide program plan, if any. If a school has in place a process for involving parents in the joint planning and design of its general education programs, the school may use that process as long as there is adequate representation of parents of participating children, and it conforms to, and is effective in implementing, the parental involvement requirements of Part A.

• Provide parents of participating children--

  (a) timely information about Part A programs;

  (b) school performance profiles required under section 1116(a)(3), where the LEA must assess annually the progress of each participating school;

  (c) their child's individual student assessment results, including an interpretation of such results;

  (d) a description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of assessment used to measure student progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet;

  (e) opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions, share experiences with other parents, and participate as appropriate in decisions relating to the education of their children if parents express an interest in doing this; and

  (f) timely responses to the suggestions made by parents that have been offered in meetings such as those described in (e) above; and

• If the schoolwide program plan is not satisfactory to parents, the school will submit any parent comments on the plan when the school makes the plan available to the LEA.

In addition to determining the most convenient time for parents to attend meetings and the most reliable method for ensuring that parents receive notice of them, school staff may want to consider holding some meetings in locations other than schools.

II. SHARED RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HIGH STUDENT PERFORMANCE

School-Parent Compacts

This subsection corresponds to a major theme and new emphasis of the ESEA to link schools, parents, and communities in order to meet the educational needs of the children with whom they are involved. It builds on the belief that school-community links are critical to creating environments where all children can reach high standards. These links are encouraged by the school-parent compact--designed to increase the sharing of responsibility between families and schools for the high performance of students. As a component of the school-level parental involvement policy, all Part A schools are required to develop jointly with the parents of participating children a school-parent compact. If the school-level policy includes a school-parent compact already, the existing compact may be used to meet this requirement as long as it meets the Part A compact provisions explained in subsequent paragraphs, and includes Part A parents.

Since Part A serves as the catalyst to strengthen and improve the entire instructional program in schoolwide program schools, school-parent compacts must be developed with all parents of the students enrolled. In targeted assistance schools, school-parent compacts must be developed jointly with the parents of participating Part A students. Although compacts are a good idea for all families and schools, in targeted assistance schools, they are required only for participating Part A families. (An LEA and school should make it clear to families that obtaining parental signature for such learning compacts is strongly encouraged, yet voluntary.)

What is a school-parent compact?

A compact is a written agreement of shared responsibility that--

• Defines the goals and expectations of schools and parents as partners in the effort to improve student achievement.

• Outlines how parents, the entire school staff, and students will work together and build a partnership to help students achieve high academic standards.

• Translates the policies and goals of parents and schools into "action" statements. (i.e., What will administrators, teachers, and parents do to make policies and goals a reality?)

• Serves as a catalyst for collaboration and a guide for ongoing, better communication, interactions and exchanges between school staff and parents.

Why A Compact?

A compact provides the opportunity for developing strong school-family partnerships that will connect families and schools, as well as the broader community, and promote shared responsibility for the high performance of students. These partnerships can--

• improve school programs and the school climate;

• increase the skills and leadership abilities of parents;

• ensure the provision of family services and support;

• sustain long-term improvement in student academic achievement; and

• help teachers, parents, and schools to be more effective.

However, the main reason for a compact and school-family partnerships is to help students succeed in meeting the challenging academic standards that all students are expected to master.

What a School-Parent Compact Must Include

There is no required format or standard way to write a compact. A school-parent compact, however, is required to--

1. Describe a school's responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables participating students to meet the State's challenging student performance standards;

2. Describe the ways in which parents will be responsible for supporting their children's learning, such as monitoring attendance, homework completion, volunteering in their children's classroom, participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children, and encouraging the positive use of extracurricular time; and

3. Address the importance of establishing ongoing, good communication between teachers and parents through, at a minimum, (1) annual parent-teacher conferences in elementary schools to discuss individual student achievement as it relates to provisions of the compact, (2) frequent progress reports to families on student academic progress, and (3) reasonable access to staff and opportunities to volunteer, observe, and participate in classroom activities.

Build ownership--share information and make certain the ideas of the whole community are represented.

Gather input--focus on the vision of teaching and learning created by your school community.

Make certain specific responsibilities are clearly stated, meaningful, and reflect the ideas and beliefs of your school community--make the compact accessible.

Use the compact to--

• clarify expectations;
  
• plan training activities;
  
• help administrators clarify efforts; and
  
• help teachers, parents and students to make choices about how they spend their time.

Continually assess the effectiveness of the compact (at least annually) and use results to implement improvements.

Although compacts must include how schools and families will address the provisions of section 1118(d), they should reflect the ideas and beliefs of individual schools and communities. These requirements are a beginning, offering school communities the flexibility to create a compact that is useful to them. Since compacts define mutual responsibilities at the school building level, good practice suggests that the process of developing common goals and expectations among parents, teachers and administrators is as important as the written compact itself.

Who Participates in Compact Development?

At a minimum, the parents and teachers of participating students and school administrators who will be responsible for carrying out the compact, or their designated representatives, should participate in its development. Student participation will probably vary by grade level. They may be an integral part of the compact team at the secondary and middle school levels, but be involved less extensively at the elementary school level. Other participants may include pupil services personnel, local school board members, and businesses and agencies with whom partnerships have been formed to support the school, families, and individual children. Schools and parents have the discretion to determine who will be involved in the development of their compacts. Parents and teachers are urged to discuss the compact with students before they sign it, and, when applicable, before any students sign it.

A compact can only be as effective as the ideas it represents and the commitment and support participants give to those ideas. In order to help improve the academic success of students and to ensure that benefits accrue to the entire school community, the school-parent compact must reflect realistically what stakeholders will do, be focused specifically on teaching and learning, and be explicit enough to encourage meaningful contributions toward this end.

Step 1:

Create a vision of what your school would be like if it is a "family-friendly school" that has established a strong school-family partnership.

Step 2:

Prepare for compact development--Conduct an inventory, create a cross-representative action team, define action team responsibilities.

Step 3:

Develop components of a "School Compact for Learning"--Identify objectives and school-family responsibilities.

Step 4:

Establish a performance baseline--Agree on processes essential to success and outcomes that would indicate success, and develop performance indicators to measure performance.

Step 5:

Each year evaluate the effectiveness of the family-school partnership process--Evaluate against baseline, measure performance, and analyze and report results.

Step 6:

Identify improvement strategies based on evaluation findings--Create a partnership improvement team, review results, identify practices that promote better performance and implement improvements.

III. BUILDING CAPACITY FOR INVOLVEMENT

To support partnerships among schools, parents, and communities that will improve student achievement, both the school and LEA are required to build the capacity of parents and school staff for strong parental involvement by--

• providing assistance to participating parents in understanding the National Education Goals, State content and performance standards, State and local assessments, and Title I, Part A requirements; monitoring their children's progress, working with educators to improve the performance of their children; and providing information on how parents can participate in decisions relating to the education of their children.

• providing materials and training, such as needed literacy training, not otherwise available, and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children's achievement.

• educating teachers, pupil services personnel, principals, and staff, with the assistance of parents, on how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, coordinate and implement parent programs, and build ties between home and school.

• coordinating and integrating parental involvement programs/activities with Head Start, Even Start, Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters, Parents as Teachers Program, public preschool programs, and other programs, to the extent feasible and appropriate.

• developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses and encouraging partnerships between elementary, middle, and secondary schools.

• conducting other activities, as appropriate and feasible, such as parent resource centers and opportunities for parents to learn about child development and child rearing (beginning at the birth of a child), that are designed to help parents become full partners in the education of their children.

• ensuring, to the extent possible, that information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to the home of participating children in the language parents can understand.

To ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and the community to improve student achievement, each school and local educational agency may--

• involve parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of such training in improving instruction and services to participating children.

• provide necessary literacy training if the LEA has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funds.

• pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with local parental involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school meetings and training sessions.

• train and support parents to enhance the involvement of other parents.

• maximize opportunities for parents to participate in school-related activities by arranging meetings at a variety of times, such as in the mornings and evenings.

• arrange for teachers or other educators to conduct in-home conferences with parents who are unable to attend such conferences at school.

• adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement, such as Even Start.

To ensure effective parental involvement and to support a school-parent-community partnership, each school and local educational agency shall--

• provide such other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under Part A as parents may request.

To help parents who would like to read and write better, Title I guidelines suggest working cooperatively with other programs such as Even Start, Head Start, and the school system's adult literacy program.

Organizational Hints

• Give parents a chance to practice any major activity in a low-risk setting. Support their efforts to make changes. Some parents may feel more relaxed practicing an activity in a meeting that includes their own child; in other words, explain an activity and then give parents an opportunity to try it out with their child. Others may prefer to practice new activities with a sympathetic adult first, before trying them out with their child at home.

• Consider meeting a church or community center or public library--wherever parents feel comfortable-rather than at school.

In the family involvement section of the Title I plan, three goals could be included in a literacy strand:

1. Show parents how to participate in sharing books and ideas with their children.

2. Improve the literacy skills of the adults.

3. Build adults' confidence in their ability to help their children.

Building Parental Capacity in Schoolwide Programs

As explained in Implementing Schoolwide Projects: An Idea Book, to obtain significant increases in parental involvement, successful schoolwide programs actively engage parents in planning and learning and target school-parent programs to the needs of the community and families. Program staff understand the importance of parental involvement and its relationship to student achievement and encourage parents to become their partners. Parental participation is not limited to parents serving as volunteers; they are encouraged to be very active in all school activities and to form organizations. Cooperation between home and school enables staff to maximize instructional time and to create a school environment where parents as well as children can learn. As the requirements cited below reflect, parents and families have a significant role to play in developing and carrying out a schoolwide program. Section 1114(b) describes these requirements, which include, among others, those for--

• professional development for teachers and aides, and, where appropriate, parents, pupil services personnel, principals, and other staff to enable all children in the school to meet the State's student performance standards;

• strategies to increase parental involvement, such as family literary services;

• teacher-parent conferences for any student who has not met State standards, at which they shall discuss improvement strategies, including what the parents can do to help improve student performance;

• a comprehensive schoolwide program plan that describes how the school will provide individual student assessment results, including an interpretation of those results, to the parents of a child who participates in the assessment;

• a comprehensive schoolwide program plan that shall be developed with the involvement of the community to be served and the individuals who will carry it out, including teachers, principals, other staff, and, where appropriate, parents, pupil services personnel, and secondary school students when the plan relates to them; and

• a comprehensive schoolwide program that shall be available to the LEA, parents, and the public, whose information shall be translated, to the extent feasible, into any language that a significant percentage of the parents of participating children in the school speak.

Successful Schoolwide Programs--A Place Where Parents and Students Can Learn

• Richmond Elementary School in Salem, Oregon designed "Together with Families," a partnership program that uses a comprehensive approach to developing and cementing school and home relationships. Parents take various leadership roles within the school and community, offering parenting courses and meeting in neighborhood homes to learn how to foster children's learning in school and at home.

• Teachers videotaping classroom events for parents to broaden their understanding of the program.

• Many schools offer ESL classes and General Education Diploma (GED) preparation courses for adults; stock family resource centers or libraries with helpful materials and hold evening classes that teach practical skills, such as computer use.

• Parent or teacher liaisons visit parents at home to provide information on child development and parenting, or to keep parents with limited English proficiency informed about their children's progress.

The staff of the school district's Specially Funded Projects wanted to do something spectacular for the coming school year in the area of parental involvement, and that is how the concept of a "Parent University" was formed. A task force was organized of several principals, teachers, consultants, community relations specialists, administrators and parents and convened for a brainstorming session. After four meetings, a program name and logo were created, and a schedule of sessions for the first year was developed to be held at Bakersfield College.

The first meetings resulted in choosing a topic of interest and finding a qualified speaker to provide informative and lecture-style sessions. Parents were required to attend four sessions throughout the school year in order to graduate from Parent University. Barriers of defeat were removed by offering good child care, transportation, and food. All books and other class materials were provided as well, at no cost to parents.

First year evaluation results of the Parent University program were very positive. The findings indicated, however, that parents wanted to talk to each other more in order to find out how other parents were solving problems with their children. Consequently, the quest began for top-quality parenting classes. The Center for the Improvement of Child Caring (CICC) was contacted to obtain information on the parenting training programs it makes available to parents and parent instructors. As a result, Parent University expanded its offerings to include five parenting programs from CICC--Active Parenting, Active Parenting of Teens, Confident parenting, Effective Black Parenting, and Los Ninos Bien Educados. The task force is always looking for new and effective programs, and has added two more in the last two years--Developing Capable People, Megaskills.

Parenting classes are offered in English, Spanish, and Laotian, and are held during the week and on Saturday mornings. The child care program provides so many activities for children that they love to come to class with their parents.

Since the inception of Parent University in 1990, there have been 1,000 parents, grandparents, step-parents, foster parents, guardians, aunts, and uncles to graduate. Parents must complete 75 percent of a class to graduate and earn a diploma. Some of the graduates are now trainers.

Accessibility

Some ways in which a school system can promote parental participation by the parents of students with limited English proficiency are--

1. home visits and telephone calls by those who speak the home language;

2. family literacy programs that bring parents into the school community to strengthen their role in improving the education of their children;

3. making available to families staff proficient in multiple languages to translate any materials that are disseminated to them or the school community, and to serve as interpreters at school functions;

4. making available to families classes in English as a Second Language; and

5. preparing school notices and school newsletters in the home language, when possible.

   It is important for schools and LEAs to recognize the strengths of extended family structure of some ethnic groups, to become familiar with various cultural patterns and expectations, and to keep learning from families in order to work effectively in a school-home partnership.

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   EXAMPLE-Extended Day Involvement Program with a Component for Limited English Proficient Families

   The Twilight program offered by Elk Grove Unified School District in Elk Grove, California combines Title I funds with district and Emergency Immigrant Program funds to offer an extended day program for students and their families three days a week from 4:00 to 7:00. Programs offered through Twilight under the umbrella of "Learning for the Whole Family" include preschool for four year-olds, parent workshops, adult education, and homework and tutoring for kindergarten through high school students. About 1/3 of the families attending are still learning English in five major language groups: Vietnamese, Russian, Spanish, Cantonese, and Hmong. All parents of participating students are involved in Twilight in some way such as attending parent workshops, parent-child tutoring, or volunteering in the preschool or Homework Center. Adult education classes offered at Twilight enrolled 153 parents in English, Government, and preparation for the General Equivalency Diploma. Participation of parents of Title I students has doubled as a result of the Twilight Program.

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   Parental Information and Resource Centers

   Title IV of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act authorizes grants to nonprofit organizations alone or in consortia with LEAs to establish and fund parental information and resource centers. At these centers, training, information, and support will be provided to (a) parents of children from birth to age five; (b) parents of children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools; and (c) individuals who work with these parents. The establishment of the centers is for the purpose of increasing parents' knowledge of and confidence in child-rearing activities, such as teaching and nurturing their young children; strengthening partnerships between parents and professionals in the working relationship between home and school and meeting the educational needs of children from birth to age five; and enhancing the developmental progress of the children assisted.

   Under Part A of Title I, funds can also be used to establish school- or district-based parent centers. The schools and LEAs that have Title I centers have found that home-school partnerships are strengthened, parents become more active in their children's education at home as well as at school, and the interest of families in improving their educational skills is stimulated. Parent resource centers can also be particularly effective in making parents with disabilities or limited English proficiency, who may not feel as comfortable in a classroom setting, feel more comfortable.

   In States where Goals 2000 parental information and resource centers have been established, LEAs and schools receiving Part A assistance must assist parents and parent organizations by--(1) informing them of the existence and purpose of these centers, (2) providing them with a description of the services and programs provided by the centers, (3) advising them on how to use the centers, and (4) helping them to contact the centers.

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   Title I Parent Center--Natchez, Mississippi

   The Natchez-Adams Parent Center in the Natchez-Adams School District serves Title I students and their families. The Parent Center focuses its efforts on involving parents and families in their children's academic progress. Staff at the center have developed a set of procedures which are responsive to a child's needs when he or she is having difficulty mastering skills taught in the classroom. During a school/family conference the teacher explains the area in which in the child is having difficulty and completes a "parent assistance form" (known in the district as a "green sheet"). This form indicates the skill the teacher would like the student to work on in the next six-week period (e.g., long division). The parent then takes the green sheet to the Parent Center, and staff at the Center provide materials which promote skills in the needed area. They demonstrate to the parent how to use the materials with their child. Materials, which are for home use, typically include games, manipulatives, and puzzles, and focus on activity-based learning. A follow-up form is sent to the referring teacher informing her/him of the parent's visit.

   Teachers can also request that Parent Center staff conduct a home visit with parents who are not attending conferences or who are difficult to contact. The teacher completes a "yellow form" and Center staff visit the family to encourage parents to meet with the teacher and to use the resources in the Parent Center. In addition, families can check out computers and software selected to meet the specific needs of the child.

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   Professional Development

   To enable Part A students to meet the State's challenging content and student performance standards, an LEA must provide high-quality professional development that will improve the teaching of academic subjects consistent with the State standards. In accordance with this requirement, an LEA has the option to implement professional development activities concerning ways that teachers, principals, pupil services personnel, and school administrators may work more effectively with parents. Where there are parents and families with limited English proficiency, this can include classes for teachers and school staff on subjects such as Spanish as a second language (or other appropriate languages), effective teaching strategies for LEP students, and multicultural awareness and communication.

   There is also a parental participation provision set forth in section 1119(d) that permits parents to participate in Part A professional development activities if the school determines that parent participation is appropriate.

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   Staff Development

   Several midwestern States implement Title I school improvement activities through team institutes. Home/School/Community teams, made up of principals, teachers of Title I participants, and parents of Title I participants attend week-long institutes where they are trained in specific techniques and provided with materials so that they can train staff and parents at their individual school sites. The institutes assist them in the development of strategies that improve weaknesses by building on their school's strengths. Teams return to their schools with school improvement plans ready for implementation with the rest of their staffs. Topics include communication, advocacy, family literacy, helping your child at home and gang and drug prevention.

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   LEA Process for School Review and Improvement

   The LEA must provide for a local annual review of each Part A school, using State assessments, to determine whether the school is making adequate progress toward enabling students to meet the State's challenging student performance standards. This review will also provide the information each school needs to continually refine the program of instruction to enable children to meet the State's challenging performance standards. The LEA must publicize and disseminate the results of this review in individual school performance profiles to teachers and other staff, parents, students, and the community. [See section 1116(a)(3)]

   Schools that for two consecutive years fail to meet the State's definition of adequate progress are designated as schools in need of improvement. In accordance with section 1116(c)(2)(i), these schools are required, in consultation with parents, the LEA, and, for schoolwide programs, the school support team, to revise their school plan in order to improve the performance of participating children in meeting the State's challenging student performance standards. When a State has not yet developed student performance standards, parents should be involved in deciding how to place schools in improvement.

   While the LEA reviews the progress of schools, the State reviews the progress of the LEA. The State reviews annually the progress of each LEA to determine whether it is making adequate progress. The State must publicize and disseminate to LEAs, teachers and other staff, parents, students, and the community the results of the State review.

   Section 1116(d)(4)(A) requires an LEA, when it has been identified by the SEA for improvement, to make revisions to its Title I plan, in consultation with schools, parents and educational experts, in ways that have the greatest likelihood of improving the performance of schools in meeting the State's student performance standards.

   The involvement of parents and families in each stage of school improvement is invaluable. Continually refining a school's program of instruction to enable students to make the progress that they need requires a team effort. As research has indicated, in order to achieve maximum effectiveness, parents along with teachers must occupy center stage in such efforts.
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   [Parental Involvement] [Professional Development]