Rincon Elementary School
TITLE I PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY
FOR STUDENT SUCCESS
FY 2014 – 2015
Plan Revised October 27, 2014
Statement of Purpose: The faculty of our school is committed to providing a quality education for all students and to recognizing the essential role of parents and the value of their input.
LEA Parent Involvement Policy at Rincon Elementary School is as follows: The Effingham County Board and Rincon Elementary affirm and assure the rights of parents and teachers to be given opportunities to participate in the design and implementation of activities funded by Title 1, ECIA by which their children are being served. A minimum of one public meeting will be held each year to provide an opportunity to establish communication among parents, teachers and agency officials. In order to enhance parental participation, meetings and training sessions will be offered using flexible schedule. Teachers and administrators will be available for meetings before and after school to meet parents ’work schedules. In addition, all sessions will be offered twice, once during the day and once in the evening to enable parents to attend. Food, incentives, transportation and childcare will be provided. Rincon Elementary will make every effort to work with parents in meeting their reasonable requests as related to their involvement in their child’s education.
District Goal: The Effingham County Board of Education sets specific goals for the entire district based on the previous year’s test data. The district’s goal is to “equip students to compete in our society as evidenced by ranking in the top 15% of districts in the state of Georgia.”
RES Goals: Our main focus area for this school year is writing. Our goal is to emphasize writing in all subject and content areas for all grade levels. RES will also provide the use of Chrome Books for each child in grades 3-5 to encourage writing in all content areas.
Go Bobcats!
Additional activities will be held periodically during the school year in the morning and evening and will include, but may not be limited to the following:
· Notify each child’s parents that their child has been selected to participate in Title I activities and communicate reasons for selection with parents.
· Providing information concerning the Title 1 program, its requirements and their right to be involved.
· Holding meetings for parents at individual school sites and/or central location.
· Visiting the Title 1 classrooms.
· Disseminating survey forms for input of ideas.
· Parents will be involved in the planning, reviewing, and improvement stages of the Title I program.
· Students, parents, teachers and administrators will collaboratively review and sign Rincon Elementary’s School Compact.
Parents will be asked for input in the Parent Involvement Policy, school-parent compact and school plan. They will have the opportunity to offer this input verbally at an annual meeting, in writing on a formal survey or at any time informally. Rincon Elementary recognizes and promotes parental involvement as a crucial part of a child’s education. We believe that a partnership must exist between our parents and our school.
Rincon Elementary School will involve parents, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way in the planning, review, and improvement of programs under Title I, including the school parent involvement policy, school- parent-compact and school-wide school plans. At least two meetings will be held during the year to which all parents of participating children shall be invited and encouraged to attend. During these meetings, parents will jointly develop, revise, and evaluate the school’s plans, including the parent involvement policy and school parent compact. Parents of children receiving services under the Title 1 Program will be involved in the decisions regarding how funds are allotted for parent involvement activities. In order to improve student achievement, the following activities are planned to increase parent and community involvement within our school.
Copies of the written Parent Involvement Policy will be distributed to all parents, placed on the school’s website, handed out to School Council members with the local community. The Parent Involvement Plan (PIP) can be updated as needed to meet the changing needs of parents and the school.
If plan is not satisfactory to the parents of RES children, the school will submit any parent comments with such plan to the LEA.
An annual meeting will be held each year to inform parents of the school’s participation in Title 1 and what this means for them. The Parent Liaison or other administrator and the Title 1 teachers will conduct this meeting jointly. All parents of children at RES are invited to this meeting and are encouraged to attend. RES will offer additional parent involvement meetings for the flexibility of parents and their attendance.
Schools must offer flexible number of additional meetings throughout the school year.
The following strategies will be implemented at the beginning of the year to establish a relationship between parents and teachers:
Title 1 Staff Orientation (July): Staff orientation addresses strategies on how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners: How to Build Ties Between Home and School, and how to implement and coordinate parent program. The school’s plan is discussed and goals are reviewed in order for the staff to understand their role in helping the school attain the goals and support the parents and students. Rincon Elementary School will continue to foster this idea through professional learning, staff meetings, grade level meetings and cross-grade meetings in an attempt to help staff understand the importance of parental involvement and those parents are our partners in our endeavor to educate children. Parents may, upon request, be included on the staff meeting agendas to share in the training. Parent Liaison, Felicia Hills, collaborates with teachers on assisting with parents throughout the year.
Any parent who cannot attend the parent meetings will be invited to meet with the administration, parent liaison, and/or teachers at any time to discuss the information that transpired during the meeting. Anytime during the school year parents can offer feedback/input or suggestions. At this point, they too, will have an opportunity for formal input into the program and an invitation to join in developing the program.
Parents will receive a Newsletter providing them with timely information concerning the Title 1 program, results of the annual school review, notification of meetings and school performance profiles in a timely manner. Individual test results and interpretation of those results will be furnished to the parents. The instructional supervisor, principal, Title 1 teachers or other teachers will provide an explanation of any part of the entire school curriculum at any time upon request. Parents will be notified in writing of assessment times, the instrument used and the proficiency levels to be met.
RES will provide opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents of migratory children, and parents with disabilities including providing information and school reports in a format and, to the extent practicable; in a language such parents can understand.
Parent meetings will include pamphlets, tapes, videos and verbal information that will assist them in understanding national, state and local educational goals and standards. Also to be included are student performance standards, school improvement and correction action plans.
Parent meetings will include an overview of the school improvement process and components of the Title 1 program. State and local assessments will be explained.
Parents will periodically be invited to attend parent-teacher conferences, minimum of 2 a year. Upon request any parent may obtain a conference with their child’s teacher on specific dates requested. Parents will receive notice of all parent training sessions, activities and information that will also enable LEP parents and parents with disabilities to participate fully.
Consultants will provide training to help parents work with their children and teachers to improve their children’s achievement.
Parents will be advised of the adult literacy program and consultants will be brought in to speak with interested parents.
Local civic clubs and businesses will be invited to join in partnerships with school by sponsoring students in recreational activities in which both the child and the parent can participate. McDonalds is RES’ primary business partner this year. They were presented a copy of the Parent Involvement Policy.
The parent resource center will be open to all parents during school hours. This center will be furnished with the items relevant to parenting concerns. These materials will be periodically replenished and updated. This center is located in the front office of the school so parents and/or teachers will have easy accessibility. The parent liaison will also have a set of materials at her disposal.
RES will coordinate and integrate parental involvement program activities and strategies that support parents in ore fully participating in education of their children (Parent University-Effingham, Back-to-School Blowout, Parent Involvement Month, Book Week, etc.)
Parents will have the opportunity to be involved in their child’s reading. Leveled reading books will be available for the children to take home. At the present time RES is limited to K-2 leveled readers, however we are expecting to purchase higher leveled text as soon as funds are available. The books are available in the school’s media center for easy in accessibility for parents.
All non-satisfactory comments on the Title 1 Program will be collected from parents and will be submitted to the LEA.
Coordination of Title 1 Resources with other resources to meet State content standards and student performance standards:
The reading and math curriculum will provide those skills necessary to allow students to achieve proficiency in all areas. All students are required to participate in the Accelerated Reader program. Accelerated Reader allows students to move beyond proficiency and to advanced levels of performance. Enrichment activities in the regular curriculum provide this opportunity also. Students may work on individual grade level concepts and progress at their own rate. iPass is used for those students exhibiting difficulties in math. Certified teachers monitor these students and progress. Natalie Walthour, technology teacher, manages the program. She uses the iPass weekly reports which are printed and discussed with the classroom teachers as well as the Instructional Supervisor.
Reviewing the progress made by students:
Student progress is reviewed through teacher-made tests, teacher observations, reading skill tests, math chapter and unit tests, as well as standardized tests such as the Georgia Milestone (End of Year). Upon review of results of afore named evaluation tools, modifications and adaptations are made to meet the students’ needs. Proficiency in Common Core Georgia Performance Standards is evaluated through the Criterion, the Georgia Milestone (EOG), which was administered each spring for grades 3-5. Effingham County administered Student Learning Objectives (SLO) assessment to all K-3 students in the areas of reading and math.
Kindergarten students also received PE and Art SLO; Second graders also received Music SLO; and Fourth graders received Technology SLO pre-tests. Post-tests will be administered in the spring. A modified version of EOG will not be provided by the state this year. Any student whose Individual Educational Plan (IEP) indicates they will be tested by the Georgia Alternate Assessment (GAA) will do so. Results of this data as well as the levels of proficiency will be given to parents and an interruption letter from the district will accompany.
Writing across the entire curriculum in all grade levels is the major focus for improvement at Rincon Elementary School this school term.
An external consultant will provide instructional support throughout the school year to ELA teachers in grades 1-5. Since constructed response questions are an important part of the Georgia Milestone assessment (EOG) and students will be expected to test on-line beginning this year, RES would like to be able to place a Chrome book in every grade 3-5 student’s hand. Rincon Elementary School also has a representative from each grade level attending the ELA Textbook Adoption Committee meeting that are being held district wide. This representative re-delivers to all ELA teachers in her grade level during collaboration times.
If requested by parents schools shall provide opportunities for regular meeting to formulate suggestions and to participate in decision relating to the education of their children and respond to any such suggestions as practical as possible.
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