Article 51 - Parental Involvement

Section 51.1	Parental Involvement Encouraged
Section 51.2	Parental Involvement In Title I Programs
Section 51.3	School-Level Policies Compacts For Parental Involvement In Title I Programs

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Article 51

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

Adopted 02/19/03

Section 51.1 Parental Involvement Encouraged

The District encourages and welcomes parental involvement in their child's education, including but not limited to assisting in the elementary classroom in which their child is placed as arranged with the teacher, chaperoning field trips, attending meetings with their child's teachers and principals, and assisting (but not doing the work for) their child in completing homework and research assignments.

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Section 51.2 Parental Involvement In Title I Programs

(A) In accordance with the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and'1118 (B) of the Federal America's Schools Act, the District shall develop this policy and its Title I plan jointly with the parents of children participating in the District's Title I programs by:

(1) involving parents in the

(a) joint development of its Title I plan,

(b) process of school review, including but not limited to

(i) explaining to parents how they can become involved in addressing the academic issues that caused their child's school to be identified as a school in need of improvement, and

(ii) consulting with parents in the development of a school improvement plan and strategies to promote effective parental involvement; and

(iii) providing parents with adequate opportunity to participate in the development of a restructuring plan when their child's school is identified for restructuring, and to comment before the District implements an alternative governance arrangement;

(c) activities of schools served under Title I;

(2) providing coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist the District's schools in their own planning and implementation of effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance;

(3) building the capacity of its schools and parents for parental involvement; and

(4) conducting, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parental involvement policy in improving the academic quality of Title I schools, and identifying

(a) barriers to greater participation by parents in activities under this policy, and

(b) revisions to this policy to provide for more effective parental involvement.

(B) Parents of participating children who are dissatisfied with the District's Title I programs shall be permitted to submit comments to the District, and the District shall send all such comments to the State Education Department along with its Title I plan.

(C) In order to insure effective involvement by parents, and to support a partnership among parents, the school involved and the community to improve student academic achievement, both the District and each of its Title I schools shall:

(1) coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies under Title I with such strategies under other programs such as Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, Parents as Teachers, Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters, and state-run preschool programs;

(2) assist parents in understanding such topics as the state's academic content and student achievement standards, State and District academic assessments, Title I requirements, and how to monitor a child's progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their children;

(3) provide parents with limited English proficiency, who are disabled, or who have migratory children, with full opportunities for participation, including furnishing reports and information in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language such parents can understand;

(4) notify parents of the District and school-level parental involvement policies in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language such parents can understand; and

(5) distribute to parents of participating children copies of the District and applicable school-level parental involvement policies;

(6) provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children's achievement, such as literacy training and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement; and

(7) educate teachers, pupil services personnel, principals, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in

(a) the value and utility of parent contributions, and

(b) how to reach out, communicate with, and work with, parents as equal partners, and

(c) how to implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties with parents.

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Section 51.3 School-Level Policies & Compacts For Parental Involvement In Title I Programs

(A) Each of the District's schools shall adopt its own policy for the involvement of the parents of children participating in the school's Title I programs.

(B) Each school-level policy shall describe the means for:

(1) convening an annual meeting, at a convenient time, to

(a) inform parents of their school's participation in Title I programs, and

(b) explaining Title I requirements and the right of parents to be involved;

(2) inviting all parents of children in such programs to attend the meeting;

(3) offering a flexible number of meetings, including morning and evening;

(4) involving parents, in an organized, ongoing and timely manner, in the planning, review and improvement of

(a) Title I programs,

(b) the school's parent involvement policy, and

(c) the joint development of a schoolwide program;

(5) providing parents of participating children dissatisfied with the schoolwide program to submit any comments on the plan; and

(6) providing parents of participating children with

(a) timely information about Title I programs,

(b) a description and explanation of

(i) the curriculum in use at the school,

(ii) the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and

(iii) the proficiency levels students are expected to meet; and

(c) 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 such suggestions as soon as practicably possible.

(C) Each school shall also develop jointly with the parents of participating children a school-parent compact, an example form of which is attached to this policy as Appendix 1, containing provisions covering the following:

(1) a description of

(a) how parents, the entire school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement, and

(b) the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the state's high standards;

(2) a statement and description of the school's responsibility to provide high quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the children served under Title I to meet the state's student academic achievement standards;

(3) a description of the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting their children's learning, such as

(a) monitoring attendance, homework completion, and television watching,

(b) volunteering in their child's classroom, and

(c) participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children and positive use of extracurricular time; and

(4) a statement and description of how the compact relates to the individual child's achievement; and

(5) the importance of ongoing communication between teachers and parents through

(a) parent-teacher conferences on at least an annual basis,

(b) frequent reports to parents on their children's progress, and

(c) reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child's class, and observation of classroom activities.

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Appendix 1

SARANAC LAKE CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

SCHOOL - PARENT COMPACT

1. The school and the parent(s)/guardian(s) signing this document agree to work cooperatively and to the best of their abilities to provide for the successful education of the child.

2. The School agrees to:

(a) convene an annual meeting for Title I parents to inform them of the Title I program and their right to be involved;

(b) actively involve parents in reviewing and improving the Title I programs and the parental involvement policy;

(c) provide parents with timely information about all programs;

(d) provide performance profiles and individual student assessment results for each child and other pertinent individual and school District education information;

(e) provide high quality curriculum and instruction;

(f) deal with communication issues between teachers and parents through parent/teacher conferences at least annually;

(g) provide frequent reports to parents on their children's progress and reasonable access to staff; and

(h) provide opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child's class and observation of classroom activities.

3. Each Parent/Guardian signing this compact agrees to:

(a) become involved in developing, implementing, evaluating and revising the school parent involvement policy and compact;

(b) use or ask for technical assistance training which the District may offer on child rearing practices, teaching and learning strategies;

(c) to work with their child/children on their school work;

(d) read for 15-30 minutes per day to each of their children in K through Grade 3;

(e) listen to their children in grades 3-5 read for 15-30 minutes per day;

(f) monitor their child/children's attendance at school, homework, television watching;

(g) share the responsibility for improved student achievement;

(h) communicate with our child/children's teachers about their education needs; and

(i) provide information to the school on what type of training or assistance they would like and/or need to help them be more effective in assisting their child/children in the educational process.

Signature of School Title I Teacher		Signature of Parent/Guardian
Print Teacher Name		Print Parent/Guardian Name
Date Signed:		Date Signed:
Telephone Number		Telephone Number
Best Time to Contact:	AM or PM	Best Time to Contact:	AM or PM

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