Parental Involvement

APPENDIX B

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT PLAN

HOUSTON COUNTY SCHOOLS

PART I.             GENERAL  EXPECTATIONS

The  Houston   County   Board   of  Education   agrees   to   implement   the   following   statutory requirements:

• The school district will put into operation programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of parents in all of its schools with Title I, Part A programs, consistent with section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Those programs, activities and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children.

• Consistent with section 1118, the school district will work with its schools to insure that the required school-level parental involvement policies meet the requirements of section 1118(b) of the ESEA, and each include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with section l 118(d) of the ESEA.

• The school district will incorporate this LEA parental involvement plan into its LEA plan developed under section 1112 of the ESEA.

• In carrying out the Title I, Part A parental involvement requirements , to the extent practicable, the school district and its schools 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 a language parents understand.

• If the LEA plan for Title I, Part A, developed under section 1112 of the ESEA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school district will submit any parent comments with the plan when the school district submits the plan to the State Department of Education.

• The school district 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 insure that not less than 95 percent of the one percent reserved goes directly to the schools.

• The school district will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and expects that its Title I schools will carry out programs, activities and procedures in accordance with this definition:

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

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

(BJ 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,·

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

••    The school district will inform parents and parental organizations of the purpose and existence of the Parental Information  and Resource Center in the Title I schools.

PART II.         DESCRIPTION  OF HOW DISTRICT WILL IMPLEMENT REQUIRED DISTRICT WIDE  PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT    POLICY COMPONENTS

• 1. The Houston County School District will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of its district-wide parental involvement plan under section 1112 of the ESEA:

The Houston County School District will hold a Parental Advisory Council Meeting to secure parent input into the development of the system policy/plan. The meeting will be held at the Houston County Board of Education.

At the Parental Advisory Council (PAC) meeting, the Title I Coordinator will present this written policy and a sample School/Parent Compact for review. Parents will provide input and approve the final policy and compact.

• 2. The Houston County School District will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116 of the ESEA:

The Houston County School District will insure that annual meetings are held at   all Title I schools at the beginning of each school year to discuss the following  topics:

Title I participation, services available, and parents ' rights

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);:>-     An explanation of the school's curriculum and the state 's content standards

);:>-    The State Stu.dent Assessment Program

);:>-    The  School-wide   Continuous  Improvement  Plan

);:>-    The School Parental  Involvement  Plan

);:>-    The  Parent  Resource    Center

);:>-     The Parent  Survey

);:>-     Parent  Education Activities

);:>-     Other  timely  subjects

These annual meetings will be held during the school day and in the evening to accommodate  the various parents'/guardians'   work schedules.

• 3. The Houston County School District will provide the following necessary coordination, technical assistance, and other support to assist Title I, Part A schools in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance:

The Houston County School District will provide a system level Parental Involvement Policy/Plan to serve as a guide for system and school level activities. The district will also set aside no less than 1% of its Title I allocation to provide funding necessary to equip the schools with resources to provide quality Parent Resource Center materials. Of the 1% set aside, 95% of this will be allocated to schools for parental involvement activities. The system Federal Programs Coordinator will serve as the district level contact to coordinate district level activities and provide technical assistance as needed.

• 4. The Houston County School District will coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs/activities with Head Start Interaction with Head Start programs located in our community. The parental involvement programs are on-going and will be responsive to the needs and desires of parents and their children. Preschool programs will be presented by Head Start students at Parental Involvement meetings.

• 5. The Houston County School District will take the following actions to conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of its Title I, Part A schools. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities (with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background). The school district will use the findings of the evaluation about its parental involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary (and with the involvement of parents) its parental involvement policies.

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Parents at all Title I schools will be given surveys at the end of the school year seeking their input on activities,training, and materials that the school should offer to parents the

. next school year .   The distribution and collection of the surveys will be the responsibility of the parental involvement coordinator at each Title I school.           Results              of the parent surveys  will  be  reviewed  by  the  school-wide  advisory  committee  (including parent representatives) to determine needed changes.  Each year, all Title I schools' School - wide Continuous Improvement  Plans, including their parental  involvement plans,  are reviewed  and  evaluated for     effectiveness  by  the  school-wide  advisory  committee. Strategies for improvement are developed and implemented.  Particular attention is paid to identifying and removing any barriers to greater participation by parents (especially those  who  are   economically                                                               disadvantaged,      are  disabled,    have  limited  English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background) in parental involvement activities.

• 1. The Houston County School District will build the schools' and parent's capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to insure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement. This will be accomplished through the following activities specifically described below:

• A. The school district will, with the assistance of its Title I, Part A schools, provide assistance to parents of children served by the school district or school, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by undertaking the actions described in this paragraph -

• 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 Title I, Part A,
• how to monitor their child's progress, and
• how to work with educators :

This information will be provided to parents at the Annual Parental Involvement Meeting held at the beginning of the school year. Also, other meetings are held throughout the year at each Title I school. The meetings will be scheduled during the school day and in the evening to accommodate parent needs.

• B. The school district will, with the assistance of its schools, 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:

Providing parents with various opportunities to learn about child development and child rearing through parental involvement meetings and the distribution of various materials. These meetings will assist parents in understanding the physical, intellectual, and emotional needs of their child. These programs will also explain strategies which parents can utilize to assist the healthy physical, intellectual, and emotional development of their child. Various resources will be utilized to assist this effort. The total development of the child and the healthy maintenance of the child 's development will be emphasized in an effort to assist the child's success in school.

• C. The school district will, with the assistance of its schools and parents, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel , principals and other staff, in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, in the value and utility of contributions of parents and in how to implement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and schools, by:

-Conducting in-service training for teachers utilizing professional  development resources available through the Southeast Alabama  Regional  In-Service  Center  in Troy. We will also use resources from the Alabama Department of Education and the state PTA organization.

-Making contact with hard to reach parents at alternate sites such as ballparks, churches,  etc.

-Provide materials to train parents, teachers, counselors, principals , and other staff to work with each other and to work with parents as equal partners.

-Will make available to parents information on adult education along with materials to assist parents toward improving their children 'performance. These materials will include pamphlets, newsletters, and homework folders.

• D. The school district will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Head Start. Develop appropriate roles for school-or community-based organizations and businesses while encouraging partnerships between elementary, middle, and secondary schools.

Interaction with Head Start programs located in our community will be on-going and responsive to the needs and desires of parents and their children. Preschool programs will be presented by Head Start students at Parental Involvement meetings.

The school-or community-based organizations and businesses will be encouraged to form partnerships through communications and interactions. The involvement of these organizations and businesses in working with the LEA to foster parental involvement may take form of

• Phone calls to local businesses to donate prizes for parental involvement meetings to encourage parents to attend meetings
• Volunteer child care during parental involvement meetings from various organizations
• Provide for recognitions (prizes, awards, certificates) for parents and/or students
• Have community leaders speak at parental involvement meetings

• E. The school district will take the following actions to insure that information related to the school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities, is sent to the parents of participating children in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand:

All Title I schools will utilize programs such as TransACT to provide timely communication with all parents in a language they can understand.

PART III.        ADDITIONAL DISTRICT WIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY  COMPONENTS

The Houston County Parental Involvement Policy/Plan also includes these additional paragraphs listing and describing other discretionary activities that the school district, in consultation 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. The additional components may include (but are not limited to) the following discretionary activities listed under section 1118(e) of the ESEA:

• involving parents in the development of training for teachers, principals , and other educators to improve the effectiveness of that training;
• providing necessary literacy training for parents from Title I, Part A funds, if the school district has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for that training;
• training parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;
• arranging parent meetings at different times during the day/evening in order to maximize parental involvement and participation in their children's education;
• adopting and implementing model approaches to improving parental involvement:
• establishing a district wide parent advisory committee to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title I, Part A programs;
• developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith-based organizations, in parental involvement activities; and
• providing other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under section 1118 as parents may request.

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 PART IV.      APPROVAL

This LEA Parental Involvement plan has been developed jointly  with,  and  agreed  on with, parents of children participating in Title I, Part A programs, as evidenced by meetings, sign-in sheets, and minutes. The school district will distribute this plan to all parents of participating Title I, Part A children on or before the beginning of each school year.

 Superintendent

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DATE OF APPROVAL