IGBC - Title I/Parental Involvement
Adopted: 8/13/97
Re-adopted: 4/11/07, 8/10/22
The Board recognizes that parental and family involvement is vital to achieve maximum educational growth for students participating in the district’s Title IA program. Therefore, in compliance with federal law and the Oregon Department of Education guidelines, the district shall meet with parents and family to provide information regarding their school’s participation in the Title IA program and its requirements.
The Board directs the superintendent to ensure that such meetings are held annually, and at a convenient time. All parents and family of participating students shall be invited to attend. Title IA funds may be provided for transportation, child care, home visits or other parental involvement services, as appropriate. The superintendent shall ensure equivalence among schools in teachers, administration and other staff and in the provisions of curriculum materials and instructional supplies.
Parents and family shall be informed of their right to be involved in the development of the district’s parental and family engagement policy, Title IA district and school plans and the school-parent compacts.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY
A parental and family engagement policy shall be developed jointly, agreed upon with and distributed to parents and family of participating students. The district shall ensure:
- Involvement of parents and family members in the joint development of the district’s overall Title IA plan, and the development of support and improvement plans.
- Coordination, technical assistance and other support necessary to assist participating schools in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance.
- Development of activities that promote the schools’ and parents’ and family capacity for strong parent involvement.
- Coordination and integration of parent and family engagement strategies with appropriate programs as provided by law.
- Involvement of parents and family in the annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the policy, in improving the academic quality of schools served under Title IA.
- Identification of barriers to participation by parents in activities who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy or are of any racial or ethnic minority.
- Findings of annual evaluations are used to design evidence-based strategies for more effective parental involvement and to revise, if necessary, the requirements of this policy.
- Involvement of parents in the activities of schools served under Title IA.
DISTRICT TITLE IA PLAN
The district’s Title IA plan shall ensure that all children receive a high quality education and to close the achievement gaps between children meeting the challenging state academic standards and those children who are not meeting such standards. As a part of the district’s overall Title IA plan, the district shall ensure effective involvement of parents and family by promoting activities that support a partnership among the schools, parents, family and the community, and that promotes the improvement of student achievement. The district plan shall describe:
- How the district will monitor progress in meeting state academic content standards.
- How the district will identify and address any disparities that result in low-income students and minority students being taught at higher rates than other students by ineffective, inexperienced or out-of-field teachers.
- How the district will use effective parental involvement practices.
- The poverty criteria to select school attendance areas for participation.
- The services provided in both schoolwide and in targeted assisted schools, and educational services outside of those schools as appropriate (e.g., children living in local institutions or a community day school program).
- The services provided to homeless children and youth.
- Effective parent and family engagement strategies used by the district.
- If applicable, how the district will support, coordinate and integrate services with early childhood education programs including transition to local elementary schools.
- In consultation with parents, administrators, specialized instructional support personnel, how the district will select the most eligible students in need of services in targeted assisted schools.
- How the district will implement strategies to facilitate effective transitions of students from middle school to high school, and from high school to post-secondary education.
- How the district will support efforts to reduce the overuse of discipline practices that remove students from the classroom.
- If appropriate, how the district supports programs that coordinate and integrate academic and career technical education, including but not limited to, work-based learning opportunities.
- Any other information on how the district proposes to use funds to meet the purpose of the Title IA program as the district determines appropriate.
TITLE IA SCHOOL PLAN
Each Title IA school in the district shall jointly develop a plan and distribute the plan to parents and family members of participating children that:
- Describes the convening of an annual meeting to inform parents and family members of their school’s participation in Title IA and explain the requirements of Title IA.
- Involves parents and family members in the planning, review and improvement of programs under Title IA.
- Shall provide assistance to parents of students served by the school in understanding such topics as the State’s academic standards and student academic achievement standards, Title IA plan requirements, state and local academic assessments and how to monitor a student’s progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their student.
- Shall provide materials and training to help parents work with their student to improve their student’s achievement, such as literacy training and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement.
- Shall educate teachers, student services personnel, principals and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to reach out to, communicate with and work with parents as equal partners, implement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and the school.
- Shall, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs and activities with other Federal, State and local programs, including public preschool programs and other programs that encourage and support parents in fully participating in the education of their children.
- Shall ensure, to the extent practicable, that information related to school and parent programs, meetings and other activities is sent to the parents of participating students in a format and language the parents can understand.
- May involve parents in the development of training of teachers, principals and other educators to improve the effectiveness of such training.
- May provide necessary literacy training from Title IA funds received if the district has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for such training.
- May pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with local parental involvement activities, including transportation and childcare costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related activities, (i.e., meetings and training sessions).
- May train and support parents to enhance the involvement of other parents.
- May arrange school meetings at a variety of times or conduct in-home conferences between teachers or other educators in order to maximize parental involvement and participation.
- May establish a districtwide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title IA programs.
- May develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses in parent involvement activities.
- May adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement.
- Shall provide such other reasonable support for parental involvement activities consistent with Title IA requirements, as parents may request.
SCHOOL‑PARENT COMPACT
A school -parent compact shall be developed for each of the district’s Title IA schools. The compact shall:
- Describe the school’s responsibility to provide high -quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables students to meet the State’s academic achievement standards.
- Describe the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting their student’s learning.
- Address the importance of ongoing communication between teachers and parents through:
- Annual parent -teacher conferences at the elementary school level; and
- Frequent reporting to parents on their student’s progress.
The district shall provide opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, parents of homeless students and parents of migratory students, to volunteer and participate in their student’s class and observe classroom activities. Information and school reports, to the extent practicable, will be provided in a language parents and family members can understand.
The district’s policy, plan and compact shall be reviewed annually and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the schools, and distributed to parents of participating students in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand.
END OF POLICY
Legal Reference(s)
ORS 343.660
OAR 581-037-0005 to -0025
Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, 20 U.S.C. §§ 6312, 6318 (2012).