Procedure: 4130P

Section: 4000 - Community Relations

Title: Title 1 Parental Involvement

Status: Active

Adopted: November 25, 2019

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Procedure - Title 1 Parental Involvement

The superintendent or designee will establish procedures to ensure that the district’s Title I Parent Involvement policy, plan, and programs comply with federal law and are consistent with state guidelines.

District-Wide Parent and Family Engagement

The board of directors adopts for each of the schools within the district providing Title I services the following to support a partnership among schools, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement and will provide notification of these services and the Title I Family Involvement policy through the district website:

1. An annual meeting of parents of participating Title I students will be held to explain the goals and purposes of the Title I program which will include but not be limited to:

a. Washington’s challenging academic standards

b. State and local academic assessments, including alternate assessments

c. The requirements of Title I

d. How to monitor their child’s progress

e. How to work with educators to improve the achievement of their children

2. Parents will be given the opportunity to participate in the development, operation and evaluation of the program.

a. Assessment model and use

b. Curriculum selection and use

c. Progress reports to parents and students

d. Identify barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities

e. Use findings of the evaluation to design strategies for more effective parental involvement

3. Provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s academic achievement, such as literacy training and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement.

a. Parent Learning Nights

b. Family Math Nights

c. Title Reading Nights

d. Progress Report sessions

e. Learning Management Systems

4.  Educate teachers, support personnel, principals, and other school leaders with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents and how to do the following:

a. Reach out, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners

b. Implement and coordinate parent programs

c. Build ties between parents and the school

5. Information related to the school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities, will be sent to the parents of participating children. The information will be provided in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand.

6. The district will coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies with similar strategies under the following other programs, such as:

a. Head Start

b. Even Start

c. Learning Assistance Program

d. Special Education

e. State-operated preschool programs

School-Based Parent and Family Engagement

Each school offering Title I services will have a separate parent and family engagement protocol, which will be developed with parents and family members of Title I students at that school. Parents and family members will receive notice of their school’s parent and family engagement protocol in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand. This notice will be through a variety of forms such as email, quarterly newsletters, person contact, and meetings.

Each school-based protocol will describe how each school will do the following:

1. Convene an annual school-based meeting at a convenient time, to which all parents of Title I students will be invited and encouraged to attend, to provide timely information about Title I programs and inform parents of:

a. Their school’s participation under Title I

b. Requirements of Title 1

c. The rights parents have under Title I

d. A description and explanation of:

• The curriculum in use at the school
• The forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress
• The achievement levels of the challenging state academic standards

e. The opportunity to review the school improvement plan

2. Involve parents, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way in the planning, reviewing, and improving of Title I programs by offering a flexible number of regular meetings, such as meetings in the morning or evening.

3. Parents will have the opportunity for regular conferencing with staff to discuss the education of their children, and respond to any suggestions as soon as practicably possible.

Each school-based protocol will include a school-parent agreement that outlines how parents, the entire school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve state standards. The agreement must do the following:

1. Describe the school’s responsibility to:

a. Provide high-quality curriculum and instruction

b. Provide a supportive and effective learning environment that enables Title I students to meet Washington’s challenging academic standards

c. Describe the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting their children’s learning, volunteering in their child’s classroom, and participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children, including the positive use of extracurricular time.

2. Address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis through the following:

a. Annual parent-teacher conferences

b. Frequent reports to parents on their children’s progress

c. Reasonable access to staff

d. Opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and observation of classroom activities

e.  Ensuring regular two-way, meaningful communication between family members and school staff and, to the extent practicable, in a language that family members can understand

Adopted: 11.25.2019