TITLE 1 School Parental Involvement Policy

McVey Elementary 2007-2008

NOTE:  In support of strengthening student academic achievement, each school that receives Title I, Part A funds must develop jointly with, agree on with, and distribute to, parents of participating children a written parental involvement policy that contains information required by section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (parental involvement)

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PART I.     GENERAL EXPECTATIONS

McVey agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

•           Consistent with section 1118, the school will work to ensure that the required school level parental involvement policies meet the requirements of section 1118 of the ESEA, and each include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with section 1118(d) of the ESEA.

•           Schools will notify parents of the policy in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand.  The policy will be made available to the local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school.

•           In carrying out the Title I, Part A, parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports required under section 1111 of the ESEA in an understandable and uniform format and including alternative formats upon request and, to the extent practicable, in language parents understand.

•           If the school-wide program plan to Title I, Part A, developed under section 1114(b) of the ESEA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school will submit any parent comments with the plan when the school submits the plan to the Christina School District.

•          The school will involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the 1 percent of Title I, part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent, and will ensure that not less than 95 percent of the 1 percent reserved goes directly to the schools.

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•           The school will build its own and the parent’s capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement.
•           The school will provide other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under section 1118 of the ESEA as the parents may request.
•           The school will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and will carry out programs, activities, and procedures in accordance with this definition:

Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring-

(A)    that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;

(B)     that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;

(C)     that parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child;

(D)    The carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA.

PART II:        DESCRIPTION OF HOW SCHOOLS WILL IMPLEMENT          REQUIRED SCHOOL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

1.      McVey Elementary will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of its school parental involvement plan under section 1118 of the ESEA:

Each parent will receive a copy of the district Parent Involvement Policy as well as a compact to sign, along with the teacher and student.  The McVey staff meets regularly with parents during PTA, PBS, SIP Committees.  All of these have agendas as well as minutes of the meetings and discussions that take place.  At these meetings, we ask for involvement in planning, designing, and incorporating the School Improvement Plan.  We ask parents to discuss issues and concerns with us so that we can make improvements as well as celebrate our successes together.

2.      McVey Elementary will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116 of the ESEA:  Numerous parents have been effectively involved in McVey’s events, activities, and programs, including fundraisers, school store, Dragon Den, mentoring, monthly PBS celebrations, Family Curriculum Nights, Book Fairs, and a plethora of other family events.  We provide as many opportunities for parental involvement as possible since research shows that a large degree of involved parents enables more students to achieve success.  Review is on-going and we speak about the planning process at all PTA executive meetings as well as regular meetings.

3.      McVey Elementary will hold an annual meeting to inform parents of the school’s participation in Title I, Part A programs, and to explain the Title I, Part A requirements and the right of parents to be involved in Title I, Part A programs.  The school will convene the meeting at a time convenient for parents and will offer a flexible number of additional parental involvement meetings, such as in the morning or evening, so that as many parents as possible are able to attend.  The school will invite all parents of children participating in Title I, Part A programs to this meeting, and will encourage them to attend, by:  flyers, phone calls, and personal visits.  Meetings will be held for:  Open House (Initial welcome and information that we are a Title I School) and DSTP Parent Information Night.

4.      McVey Elementary will provide parents of participating children information in a timely manner about Title I, Part A programs that includes a description and explanation of the school’s curriculum, the forms of academic assessment used to measure children’s progress, and the proficiency levels students are

expected to meet by holding grade level open house evenings, curriculum evenings, and providing the parents with a report card handbook that explains proficiency levels, etc.

5.      McVey Elementary will at the request of parents, provide opportunities for regular meetings for parents to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions about the education of their children.  The school will respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible by:  meeting with parents, telephone conference calls and arranging meetings with all involved.  There are scheduled parent conferences held throughout the year, but McVey has an open door policy and parents are encouraged to visit the school whenever necessary.

6.      McVey Elementary will provide each parent an individual student report about the performance of their child on the State assessment in at least math, language arts and reading by:  Parents receive a copy of their child’s DSTP scores after fall and spring testing results are available.  Parents also receive information about their child’s MAP scores at parent conferences.

7.      McVey Elementary will take the following actions to provide each parent timely notice when their child has been assigned or has been taught for four (4) or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified within the meaning of the term in section 200.56 of the Title I Final Regulations (67 Fed. Reg. 71710, December 2, 2002) by:  All of McVey’s teachers are currently “highly qualified”.  If that were not the case, parents would receive written notification of this circumstance via a letter informing them.

8.      McVey Elementary will provide assistance to parents of children served by the school, as appropriate, in understanding topics:

·        The state’s academic content standards,

·        The state’s student academic achievement standards,

·        The state and local academic assessments including alternate assessments,

·        The requirements of Part A,

·        How to monitor their child’s progress, and

·        How to work with educators:

This will be accomplished by an Open House (Curriculum is discussed for each grade level and grade level expectations are given; State Standards are discussed as they pertain to each grade level), DSTP workshop, Family  Curriculum Nights, DSTP Parent program and individual parent conferences.  The district also offers workshops pertaining to getting involved in your child’s school and how to work with educators toward the success of your children.

9.      McVey Elementary will 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 by:  offering parent workshops, providing parents with additional resources and giving them the locations of training available.

10.  McVey Elementary with the assistance of its parents, educates its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals and other staff in how to reach out to;

·        Communicate with and work with parents as equal partners

·        Value the utility of contributions of parents

·        How to implement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and schools

This will be done by:

·        Keeping an open door policy for parents

·        Encouraging and accepting parent ideas

·        Ensuring that parents are an integral part of our committees

·        Giving parents information they need to make good decisions about and for their children

·        Using language that is friendly and understandable for parents

·        Encouraging teachers to involve parents in their classrooms and in the education of their children

11.  McVey Elementary will, to the extent viable and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with the District Curriculum.  The school will also conduct other activities, such as, holding Family Curriculum Nights, parenting workshops, referring parents to the District parent resource centers, and encouraging parents in more fully participating in the education for their children.

12.  McVey Elementary will take the following actions to ensure that information related to the school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to parents of participating children in an understandable and uniform format:

·        Alternative formats will be available upon request (to the extent it is viable and in a language parents can understand)

·        Staff will access a District Translator if needed

·        Staff will be available to help a parent understand information verbally when a parent has difficulty reading English

PART III.     DISCRETIONARY SCHOOL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT                            POLICY COMPONENTS

McVey, when consulting with its parents, chooses to undertake to build parents’ capacity for involvement in the school and school system to support their children’s academic achievement, by providing the following discretionary activities listed under section 1118E) of the ESEA:

·        Paying reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;

·        Arranging school meetings at a variety of times, or conducting in-home conferences between teachers or other educators who work directly with participating children, arrange meetings with parents who are unable to attend conferences at school in order to maximize parental involvement and participation in their children’s education;

·        Adopting and implementing model approaches to improving parental involvement