Forsyth County Schools District Parental Involvement Policy

Forsyth County Schools District Parental Involvement Policy

SECTION 1118(a)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA):

In support of strengthening student academic achievement, each local educational agency (LEA) or school district that receives Title I, Part A funds must develop jointly with, agree on with, and distribute to, parents of participating children a written parental involvement policy that contains information required by section 1118(a)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The policy establishes the LEA’s expectations for parental involvement and describes how the LEA will implement a number of specific parental involvement activities, and it is incorporated into the LEA’s plan submitted to the State educational agency (SEA).

PART I

GENERAL EXPECTATIONS FROM

THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[NOTE: Each district, in its District Parental Involvement Policy, must establish the district’s expectations for parental involvement. [Section 1118(a)(2), ESEA.]

The Forsyth County School District 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 of 1965 (ESEA). These 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 ensure 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 1118(d) of the ESEA.

·  The school district will incorporate this districtwide parental involvement policy 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 ensure 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:

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

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

(B) 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;

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

PART II

DISTRICT PARENT INVOLVEMENT GOALS

(1)  In order to create a full partnership with each child’s family, we will work to ensure open lines of communication between the school system and the home.

(2)  By conducting evaluations on all aspects of the Title I Program, we will strive to meet the changing needs of all families in supporting their children’s academic success.

(3)  We will provide numerous opportunities for parents to be involved in decision making and to receive guidance on how to support their Title I child’s academic progress.

PART III.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW DISTRICT WILL IMPLEMENT REQUIRED

DISTRICTWIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

[NOTE: The Districtwide Parental Involvement Policy must include a description of how the district will implement or accomplish each of the following components. [Section 1118(a)(2), ESEA.]

1.  The Forsyth 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:

·  Opportunities to attend open sessions for review of CLIP descriptors and budget plans and provide feedback at the district level during the summer of 2013;

·  Opportunities for parents to provide feedback at parent engagement sessions provided by the district (July 22 and others as scheduled);

·  Opportunities for parents to review the district plan on the FCS website and provide feedback;

·  Opportunities for parents to review the plan at the school-level with Title I staff and provide feedback to the district;

·  Opportunities for parents to provide feedback at the FPAC meeting in September 2013 and throughout the academic year;

·  Opportunities for parents participating in district school-readiness and family literacy training through the Transition Services Office to provide feedback;

·  Opportunities for parents of students participating in Kinder Camp to provide feedback;

·  Opportunities for parents to provide feedback through Spring 2013 parent surveys and other survey data collected throughout the academic year;

·  Opportunities for parents to attend meetings due to the district provision for transportation, childcare, and translation services.

2. The Forsyth 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:

·  Opportunities for parents to review the plan at the school-level with Title I staff and provide feedback to the district;

·  Opportunities for parents to review the plan through the websites at the Title I schools;

·  Opportunities for parents to participate on schoolwide planning committees and to meet with Title I principals and staff to review the plan and provide feedback during the academic year;

·  Opportunities for Title I staff members to make presentations at Local School Council meetings and to respond to questions;

·  Opportunities for parents to complete both formal and informal needs assessments;

·  Opportunities for parents to express concerns, ask questions, or voice complaints by following the steps outlined in the school-level Complaint/Concern/Question procedure and to receive timely responses from school staff members.

3. The Forsyth 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:

·  Providing opportunities for Title I teachers and administrators to attend Title I Technical Assistance meetings that include training on programs, activities, and strategies aligned to academic progress and student achievement and focusing on engaging Title I parents;

·  Providing opportunities for district and school Title I staff to share resources and documents that support Title I parent engagement through itslearning.

·  Providing opportunities for district Title I staff to make regular site visits to Title I schools to review documentation and provide technical assistance to Title I staff;

·  Coordinating the use of TINA (Title I Needs Assessment), a web-based assessment tool, to assist schools in managing and collecting data to inform decisions and plan for parent engagement in Title I schools;

·  Providing opportunities for school and district staff to participate in professional learning at the district, state, and national level through workshops and conferences;

·  Providing opportunities for school-level Parent Involvement Coordinators to meet regularly to share resources and strategies;

·  Providing updated community resources to assist schools in meeting the needs of Title I parents;

·  Providing support for training of Translation Resource Persons (TRPs) through SpanGlish Translation Agency and other identified agencies to provide interpretive services at Title I schools to non-English speaking parents, including Title I parent events and Title I parent conferences;

·  Providing support for interpreters through Albors and Associates for non-English speaking parents (phone conferences);

·  Providing support for the identification/selection of quality resources for the district Parent-Teacher Resource Room at the Almon C. Hill Center and at Title I schools;

·  Providing a roster of childcare workers available to provide services at Title I parent events at each school.

4. The Forsyth County School District will coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies in Part A with parental involvement strategies under the following other programs:

·  Provide a Memorandum of Agreement with Lanier Technical College to support family literacy through Adult ESL/GED;

·  Provide a Memorandum of Agreement with Ninth District Opportunity Head Start and Georgia Pre-K to increase school readiness among the preschool Title I –eligible population in the district;

·  Provide support for school readiness and family literacy for Title I- eligible preschool students enrolled through Ninth District at the Almon C. Hill Center through a scheduled series of training events and programs including: The Reading Foundation, Life Skills Literacy, Adult ESL/GED/Citizenship, Parent-Teacher Resource Room outreach events and distribution of learning-at-home resources, Kindergarten orientation for students entering a Title I elementary school, and No Parent Left Behind training sessions aligned to Kindergarten curriculum standards;

·  Provide a summer Kinder Camp and Parent Academy for at-risk students entering Kindergarten at Cumming, Chestatee, and Midway Elementary Schools and their parents;

·  Provide classroom space at Chestatee Elementary for 2 Georgia Pre-K and Headstart classrooms through Ninth District Opportunity;

·  Provide copies of Ninth District Opportunity’s Community Resource Guide to Title I parents (English and Spanish);

·  Provide copies of United Way’s Community Help Guide to Title I parents (English and Spanish);

·  Continue to provide a leadership class for Title I parents through a grant from the Forsyth County United Way;

·  Establish a District Title I Parent Advisory group that will meet periodically and serve as a focus group to discuss districtwide parent involvement needs.

·  Continue to provide support for family literacy through Literacy Forsyth, a districtwide Partner-in-Education for Title I;

·  Continue to provide support for family literacy through a partnership with the Forsyth County Public Library.

5. The Forsyth 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.

·  Each spring, school-level Parent Involvement Coordinators and Title I Lead teachers will meet with district personnel to review the previous year’s Parent and Staff Needs Assessments and to discuss the goals for the new year’s surveys. The committee will draft new surveys and publish them for review before they are finalized. Upon approval, district Title I staff will work with Owl Education to prepare the surveys for administration to teachers and parents. Two of the purposes of the surveys are to identify needs of parents and to identify areas in which teachers require support for working with parents. The surveys are available on line and on paper.

·  Throughout the year, district personnel provide parent members of the Federal Programs Advisory Council with numerous opportunities to provide feedback.

·  Throughout the year, school-level Title I staff provide parents with both formal and informal opportunities to discuss their needs and to evaluate programs.

·  At both the district and school levels, parents have opportunities to participate in focus groups.

PART IV

1.  The Forsyth County School District will build the schools’ and parents’ capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school involved, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, 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 the chart:

Georgia’s Academic Content and Achievement Standards / ·  Provide links on the Forsyth County Schools website and the school websites to the Georgia Department of Education and National PTA publications, presentations, and guides to Common Core Standards;
·  Provide presentations at Curriculum Nights, Math and Reading Nights, Federal Advisory meetings, Local School Council meetings
·  Make available printed copies of documents in school offices;
·  Provide a Parent Toolbox on the district website
·  Provide information at Parent-Teacher Conferences
·  Provide the Transition Services Office Calendar of Events to parents
·  Provide trainings throughout the year during Federal Programs Advisory Council meetings and share resources with schools so that they may redeliver the training;
·  Coordinate literacy services through the Forsyth County Public Library, Literacy Forsyth, and Lanier Technical College
·  Provide resources for circulation in the district’s and in the schools’ Parent-Teacher Resource Rooms
·  Collaborate through the Transition Services Office and district Title I programs with Ninth District Opportunity Head Start, Early Head Start, and Georgia Pre-K programs in Forsyth County to support school readiness and successful Kindergarten transition.
Georgia and Local Academic Assessments including Alternate Assessments / ·  Provide links to the Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) on the district website;
·  Provide links to district assessment calendars, study guides for assessments, and guidance concerning testing environments through the district website;
·  Provide links to the district’s R4 Dashboard for student profiles and student achievement;
·  Provide links to practice tests for assessments (CRCT and EOCT);
·  Provide a Parent Guide to Grading and Reporting;
·  Provide information at Parent-Teacher Conferences;
·  Make available printed copies of documents in school offices.
Requirements of Title I, Part A / ·  Provide an overview of the requirements of Title I, Part A on the district and school websites and in school newsletters: (1) their child’s school’s participation in Title I, (2) the requirements of Title I, (3) their rights to be involved;
·  Provide an explanation of the requirements at the schools’ Title I Annual Parent Meetings, at other meetings scheduled throughout the year, at Open Houses, at Local School Council meetings, in first day packets.
How to Monitor Their Child’s Progress / ·  Provide interim reports and report cards on their child’s progress. Dates are posted on the district’s Professional Calendar.
·  Conduct Parent-Teacher Conferences. In addition, parents may request a conference at any time.
·  Provide opportunities at Parent Nights for parents to learn how to access information in Infinite Campus and in itslearning.
·  Provide resources in the district’s Parent Toolbox.
How to Work with Educators / ·  Provide opportunities for parents to participate in the development of the school’s School-Parent Compact and Parent Involvement Policy;
·  Provide opportunities for parents to provide feedback in the district’s Parent Needs Assessment;
·  Provide Title I workshops and meetings with school staff.
·  Participate in the GaDOE Parent Engagement Conference 2014 in Athens;
·  Partner with United Way for a grant to provide Title I PIC Leadership 2014 focused on volunteer placement and decision-making skills

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: