505.7 - Parent and Family Engagement

Parent and family engagement are important components in a student’s success in school. The school board encourages parents and families to become involved in their student’s education to ensure their academic success. In order to facilitate parent and family involvement, it is the goal of the district to conduct outreach and implement programs, activities, and procedures to further involve parents and families with the academic success of their students.

The board will:

1. Involve parents and families in the development of the Title I Plan, the process for school review of the plan, and the process for improvement by:
   
   1. Jointly reviewing and revising the Title I Plan at an annual evaluation in the spring of each school year;
   2. Ensuring evaluation tools are included, but not be limited to, a parent survey, contact logs, and information gathered at the annual Parent Advisory meeting; and
   3. Utilizing findings from the annual evaluation to design and implement evidence-based strategies for more effective parent and family involvement. 
       
2. Provide the coordination, technical assistance, and other supports necessary to assist and build the capacity of all participating schools in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance by:
   
   1. Collaborating between the district and schools to plan and implement effective parent and family engagement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance;
   2. Providing professional learning opportunities regarding effective parent and family engagement;
   3. Educating teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, principals, and other school leaders and staff, with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents and in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and the schools;
   4. Fostering community partnerships to engage parent and families more effectively;
   5. Providing parents and families timely responses to all parent recommendations; and 
   6. Providing opportunities for all parents to participate in Title I activities and any appropriate training/learning experiences.
       
3. To the extent feasible, coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies under Title I with parent and family engagement strategies outlined in other relevant federal, state, and local laws and programs by:
   
   1. Ensuring the Title I program works cooperatively with other programs and integrates parent involvement programs and activities, as appropriate, such as Junior Achievement and building volunteers. Title I will work with the Homeless Liaison to coordinate needs of students. 
       
4. Conduct, with the involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parent and family engagement policy in improving academic quality of the schools served; including identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in Title I activities (with particular attention to low-income parents, Limited English Proficient [LEP] parents, parents of any racial or ethnic minority, parents with disabilities, and parents with limited literacy), needs of parents and families to assist their children’s learning, and strategies to support successful school and family interactions by:
   
   1. Conducting an annual review at the parent advisory meeting to determine the effectiveness of this policy; and
   2. Ensuring the jointly agreed upon policy is distributed to parent and family members participating in Title I through the Title I parent meetings with each family. Parents will be notified of this policy in an understandable and uniform format and to the extent practicable, it will be provided in a language appropriate for parents (i.e. English and/or Spanish).
       
5. Use the findings of the annual evaluation to design strategies for more effective parent and family involvement and to revise, as necessary, the parent and family involvement policies by:
   
   1. Ensuring the findings and feedback from the annual parent advisory meeting are used to identify and mitigate barriers to participation, identify needs parents may have so they can support their child’s learning, and identify strategies to improve school and family interactions;
   2. Ensuring policy evaluation findings are used to design evidence-based strategies for effective parent and family involvement and improve the parent and family engagement policy; and
   3. Ensuring all Title I parents are invited to, and encouraged to attend, the annual parent advisory meeting to review and revise the parent and family engagement policy.
       
6. Involve parents and families in Title I activities by:
   
   1. Ensuring parent and family meetings, including parent conferences, will be held at different times during the day and Title I funds may be used to pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parent and family engagement activities including transportation, childcare, and/or home visit expenses to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;
   2. Involving parents at open houses, conferences, Title I parent nights, and other school activities;
   3. Contacting parents in a variety of formats such as written correspondence, phone calls, email correspondence, and face-to-face meetings; and provide timely responses to all parent recommendations and/or questions;
   4. Hosting an annual parent meeting to inform parents and family members of the school’s participation in Title I and explain the requirements of the program and their right to be involved;
   5. Ensuring parents are given assistance in understanding the requirements of Title I law and Iowa academic standards, as well as state and local assessments at the fall informational meeting;
   6. Ensuring the school provides opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children; and respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible;
   7. Ensuring parents are informed through written notification of the reasons for their children’s participation, the curriculum, and the instructional objectives and methods of the program as students are selected for Title I services;
   8. Ensuring through annual meetings and parent-teacher conferences that parents are provided with a description and explanation of curriculum in use, the assessments used to measure academic progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet;
   9. Ensuring a school/parent compact outlines how parents, students, and the entire school staff share the responsibility for improved student achievement and the means by which the school and parents continue to build and develop partnerships to help children achieve the local, high standard. The compact is signed upon notification of student involvement in the program and reviewed at the annual parent advisory meeting. 
   10. Ensuring the Title I or schoolwide program provides opportunities for parents to become partners with the school in promoting the education of their children at home and at school, parents are given help monitoring their student’s progress, the school provides assistance to parents on how they can participate in decisions related to their student’s education, and the school provides reasonable support for parental involvement activities as requested by parents (Parent trainings, materials, phone calls, volunteer opportunities, parent involvement conference, child study teams, etc.).
   11. Providing materials and trainings to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s achievement such as literacy trainings and using technology (including education about the harms of copyright piracy), as appropriate, to foster parental involvement; and
   12. Ensuring all Title I parent and family communication and reports, to the extent practicable, are provided in a language and format understood by parents and families in the Title I program to ensure opportunities for informed participation. 

The district will involve parents in determining how to allocate reserved Title I funds in accordance with applicable laws.

The school board will review this policy annually. The superintendent [or designee] is responsible for notifying parents and families of this policy annually, or within a reasonable time after it has been amended during the school year. The superintendent [or designee] may develop an administrative process or procedures to implement this policy.

Adopted: 12/16
Reviewed: 11/17; 12/20
Revised: 10/19; 10/23
Related Policy: 505.7-R; 505.8
Legal Reference (Code of Iowa): 20 USC § 6318
IASB Reference: 505.08; 505.08-R(1)
Mandatory Policy