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Guidance on District and School Family Engagement and Required Policies 

The district may use this information to develop clear, concise district and school family engagement policies that meet local needs and are written in a language parents/guardians can understand. 

Each school and school district must implement the 14 activities listed in Section 1118(e) of the NCLB legislation to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school involved, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement.  

For a listing of the fourteen activities required for effective involvement of parents, see http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg2.html#sec1118. 

District Wide Family Engagement Policy 

Each school district and every school within the district that receives Title I funds shall develop jointly with, agree on with, and distribute to, parents of participating children written family engagement policies at the district and school levels, respectively, that describe how the district and Title I served schools will: 

1. Involve parents in the joint development of the plan under section 1112, and the process of school review and improvement under section 1116. 
2. Provide the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist participating schools in planning and implementing effective parent involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance. 
3. Build the schools’ and parents’ capacity for strong parental involvement. 
4. Coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies under this part with parental involvement strategies under other programs, such as the Head Start program, Reading First program, Early Reading First program, Even Start program, and state-run preschool programs. 
5. Conduct with parents an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parental involvement policy in improving the academic quality of the schools served under Title I, Part A. Identify obstacles to greater participation by parents in Title I activities. Use the findings of the evaluation to design strategies for more effective parental involvement and revise the parental involvement policies if necessary. 
6. Involve parents in the activities of the schools served under Title I. Each school that receives Title I funds shall develop jointly with, and distribute to, parents of participating children a written parental involvement policy. This policy shall describe the means for carrying out the policy involvement requirements. Parents shall be notified of the policy in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand. Such policy shall be made available to the local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school. 

Parent’s Right-to-Know 

At the beginning of each school year, a district that receives Title I funds shall notify the parents of each student attending Title I schools that the parents may request, and the district will provide in a timely manner, information regarding the professional qualifications of their child’s classroom teachers, including, at a minimum, the following: 

• Whether the teacher has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction. 
• Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing criteria have been waived. 
• The baccalaureate degree major of the teacher and any other graduate certification or degree held by the teacher, including the field of discipline of the certification or degree. 
• Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.  

A school shall provide to each individual parent: 

• Information on the child’s level of achievement in each of the state academic assessments as required under Title I. 

• Timely notice that the child has been taught for four or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who does not meet highly qualified requirements. 

For additional information regarding this requirement, see Section 1111(h)(6) of the NCLB legislation at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg2.html#sec1111. 

..................Page Break..................School Family Engagement Policy 

Each school that receives Title I funds shall develop a written policy that includes: 

1. Convening an annual meeting, at a convenient time, to which all parents of participating children shall be invited and encouraged to attend. The purpose of the meeting is to inform parents of their school’s participation in Title I and to explain the requirements and the right of parents to be involved. 
2. Offering a flexible number of meetings and may provide, with Title I funds: transportation; child care; or home visits, as such services relate to parental involvement. 
3. Involving parents, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way, in the planning, implementation, and review of Title I programs, including input during the development and revision of the school/district parental involvement policy and any schoolwide program plan. If a school already has a process in place for involving parents in the joint planning and design of school programs, that process will suffice if it includes adequate representation of parents of participating children. 
4. Providing to parents of participating children: 

1. timely information about programs under Title I, Part A; 
2. a description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet; and 
3. if requested by parents, 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 suggestions as soon as practicably possible. 

School-Parent Compact 

As a component of the parental involvement policy, each school served under Title I shall develop jointly with parents a school-parent-student compact for all children served under Title I. The compact will outline 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 the state’s high standards. The school-parent compact shall: 

1. Describe the school’s responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction, in a supportive and effective learning environment. Students served under Title I are expected to meet the state’s academic standards. Parents are responsible for supporting their child’s learning, such as: monitoring attendance, homework, and television viewing; volunteering in their child’s classroom; and participating in decisions relating to their child’s education. 
2. Address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis through, at a minimum: 

1. parent-teacher conferences in elementary schools, at least annually, during which the compact shall be discussed as the compact relates to the individual child’s achievement; 
2. regular reports to parents on their child’s progress; and 
3. reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s classroom, and observation of classroom activities. 

For additional information regarding the parent involvement policy and the school-parent compact requirement see http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg2.html#sec1118.