LIL'LORI WANTS TO KNOW IF YOU WERE TENDERED A CONTRACT

School-Parent/Guardian Compact 

The School – parent/guardian compact is a written agreement that outlines how parents/guardians, the entire school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents/guardians will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the State's high standards. In a targeted assistance program, compacts should identify specific grades and subject areas served, and are only required for families of students served by Title I funds. In a schoolwide program, compacts for all families are required. Evidence consists of signed sample copies of compacts for each school served. 

This sample template is not an official Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education document. It is provided only as an example. The school and district may use this information to develop a clear, concise document that meets local needs and is written in a language parents/guardians can understand. 

..................Page Break..................School-Parent/Guardian Compact 

The (name of school) and the parents/guardians of the students participating in activities, services, and programs funded by Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (participating children), agree that this compact outlines how parents/guardians, the entire school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents/guardians will build and develop a partnership that will help children achieve the State’s high standards. 

This compact is in effect during school year (indicate year) 

School Responsibilities 

The (name of school) will: 

1. Provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the participating children to meet the State’s student academic achievement standards as follows: 

(Describe how the school will provide high-quality curriculum and instruction, and do so in a supportive and effective learning environment) 

2. Hold parent/guardian-teacher conferences (at least annually in elementary schools) during which this compact will be discussed as it relates to the individual child’s achievement. Specifically, those conferences will be held: 

(Describe when the parent/guardian-teacher conferences will be held) 

3. Provide parents/guardians with frequent reports on their children’s progress. Specifically, the school will provide reports as follows: 

(Describe when and how the school will provide reports to parents/guardians) 

4. Provide parents/guardians reasonable access to staff. Specifically, staff will be available for consultation with parents/guardians as follows: 

(Describe when, where, and how staff will be available for consultation with parents/guardians) 

5. Provide parents/guardians opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and to observe classroom activities, as follows: 

(Describe when and how parents/guardians may volunteer, participate, and observe classroom activities) 

Parent/Guardian Responsibilities 

We, as parents/guardians, will support our children’s learning in the following ways: 

(Describe the ways in which parents/guardians will support their children’s learning, such as: 

• Monitoring attendance. 
• Making sure that homework is completed. 
• Monitoring amount of television my children watch. 
• Volunteering in my child’s classroom. 
• Participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to my children’s education. 
• Promoting positive use of my child’s extracurricular time. 
• Staying informed about my child’s education and communicating with the school by promptly reading all notices from the school or the school district either received by my child or by mail and responding, as appropriate.  
• Serving, to the extent possible, on policy advisory groups, such as being the Title I, Part A parent/guardian representative on the school’s School Improvement Team, the Title I Policy Advisory Committee, the District wide Policy Advisory Council, the State’s Committee of Practitioners, the School Support Team or other school advisory or policy groups.) 

Student Responsibilities (Optional) 

We, as students, will share the responsibility to improve our academic achievement and achieve the State’s high standards. Specifically, we will: 

(Describe the ways in which students will support their academic achievement, such as: 

• Do my homework every day and ask for help when I need to. 
• Read at least 30 minutes every day outside of school time. 
• Give to my parents or the adult who is responsible for my welfare all notices and information received by me from my school every day.) 

Signature of School Representative		Date
Signature of Parent/Guardian		Date
Signature of Student		Date

..................Page Break..................Optional School Responsibilities 

To help build and develop a partnership with parents/guardians to help their children achieve the State’s high academic standards, the (name of school) will: 

• Recommend to the district, the names of parents/guardians of participating children of Title I, Part A programs who are interested in serving on the State’s Committee of Practitioners and School Support Teams. 
• Notify parents/guardians of the school’s participation in Early Reading First, Reading First and Even Start Family Literacy Programs operating within the school, and provide them with contact information about these programs. 

• Work with the district in addressing problems, if any, in implementing parent/guardian involvement activities in section 1118 of Title I, Part A. 
• Work with the district to ensure that a copy of the State’s written complaint procedures for resolving any issue of violation(s) of a Federal statute or regulation of Title I, Part A programs is provided to parents/guardians of students and to appropriate private school officials or representatives. 

Additional required school responsibilities (requirements that schools must follow, but optional as to being included in the school-parent compact)  

• Involve parents/guardians in the planning, review, and improvement of the school’s parental involvement policy, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way. 
• Involve parents/guardians in the joint development of any schoolwide program plan, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way. 
• Hold an annual meeting to inform parents/guardians 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/guardians to be involved in Title I, Part A programs. The school will convene the meeting at a convenient time to parents/guardians, and will offer a flexible number of additional parent/guardian involvement meetings, such as in the morning or evening, so that as many parents/guardians as possible are able to attend. The school will invite to this meeting all parents/guardians of children participating in Title I, Part A programs (participating students), and will encourage them to attend.   
• Provide information to parents/guardians of participating students in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon the request of parents/guardians with disabilities, and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents/guardians can understand. 
• Provide to parents/guardians 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. 
• On the request of parents/guardians, provide opportunities for regular meetings for them 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. 
• Provide to each parent/guardian an individual student report about the performance of their child on the State assessment in at least mathematics and English language arts/reading. 

• Provide each parent/guardian 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).