1. Parent Engagement Policy
Big Lake Elementary’s
Parent Engagement Policy
School Year

2. Vision of Parent Involvement
Big Lake Elementary is committed to the goal of providing quality education for every child. We want to establish partnerships with parents and with the community. Everyone gains if school and home work together to promote high achievement by our children. Neither home nor school can do the job alone. Parents play an extremely important role as children’s teachers. Their support for their children and for the school is critical to their children’s success every step along the way.
Vision of Parent Involvement

3. Title I is a federally funded program to assist our school in providing successful education for all students.
Big Lake Elementary recognizes that some students may need the extra assistance available through the Title I program to reach the state’s high academic standards and will design, with the input of its parents and community a well defined educational program for all its students. .
Title I

4. Title I is embedded in every part of our school
We offer:
Parent Engagement activities throughout the year
Intervention instruction for struggling students
Progress Monitoring of struggling students
Professional Development of staff members
Resources for instruction and interventions
Family Engagment events during evening hours
What Title I provides for Students

5. Involvement in the Title I Plan Development
All parents are encouraged to get involved, in an ongoing
and timely way, in the planning, review, improvement and development of the Title I School Plan.
Opportunities include:
Title I table at Parent Conferences
Title I table at Parent Engagement events
Parent Questionnaires and School Event Parent Surveys
s from the school to families of students
Participation in the Home/School Compact
*Created by a committee consisting of school staff members and parents of students. These compacts are distributed and discussed with each family at parent teacher conferences and is available online.
Parents may submit any comments on the plan when the school makes the plan available to the community. This may be done through Questionnaires from Family Engagement Activities, s, phone calls or conferences with:
The Principal
The Title I Teacher
The Classroom teacher
Involvement in the Title I Plan Development

6. Development of the Title 1 Policy
Big Lake Elementary will jointly develop/revise with parents the school’s parent engagement policy and distribute it to parents.
Big Lake’s Title plan is developed as a result of family and community input collected during the annual title meeting to which all parents are invited and encouraged to attend, PTO meetings, School-wide Assemblies, and quarterly Title (STEPP) team meetings
We pledge to offer a flexible number of meetings to obtain parent involvement, meetings in the morning or evening and may provide, with appropriate funding sources, transportation, child care, or home visits as such services relate to parental involvement.
Flexibility has been offered in a number of ways:
Title 1 parent engagement information is available at every school function;.
Kindergarten orientation in the spring with Head Start as well as at Kindergarten Roll in meetings.
Our annual Title I meeting will be available to view at events and on the school’s website
PTO Meetings
Big Lake Elementary’s Title plan will be made available to the public:
Upon request at the front desk at school
Online through a link on our school’s website
Development of the Title 1 Policy

7. Information Distribution to Parents
Big Lake Elementary will provide parents timely information about the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet.
Curriculum information is available and presented in a number of ways including but not limited to: 
*Curriculum is discussed at Parent Conferences
*A link to our curriculum research is on our school website
*School newsletters provide information on programs being taught
Assessment information is discussed at Parent Conferences, IEP and RTI meetings as well as anytime parents and teachers need to look at academic progress. During our Parent Conferences we will cover the following information: 
*Current AIMSweb and MAP data
*Grade level proficiency levels in relationship to current performance and necessary interventions.
Information Distribution to Parents

8. Sharing Responsibility for Student Academic Achievement
The staff of Big Lake Elementary, parents, and students shall work together to share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement by:
Conducting parent/teacher conferences, annually (at a minimum),
Formal conferences are held twice a year
Conferences are also held on an as needed basis for any child at the request of the parent or teacher
If in person conferences are not possible phone conferences will be held.
   
Providing frequent reports to parents on their children’s progress; and
Phone calls are made about progress or concerns
“Bear Paw” notes are sent home to inform parents of student success
Communication notes between the family and teacher
Providing parents with reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class and observation of classroom activities.
Staff members are available by phone or
Volunteer signup sheets are sent home with students at the beginning of the year.
Classroom letters are sent home to families to ask for assistance for special occasions and field trips.
Parent training is provided in the fall to help parents feel more comfortable volunteering in the school
Providing parents with regular meetings to make suggestions and participate in decisions relating to the education of their children.
Requests from families for meetings are honored by our staff
RTI and IEP meetings
Fall and spring parent conferences
Sharing Responsibility for Student Academic Achievement

9. Educational Provisions
To ensure positive and effective involvement of parents
and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, Big Lake Elementary’s staff pledges to
Provide assistance to the parents of children served by the school or local educational agency, as appropriate, in understanding such topics as the State’s academic content standards and State student academic achievement standards, State and local academic assessments, the requirements of this part, and how to monitor a child’s progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their children;
  *Standards, current assessments and educational plans for
students are discussed at parent conferences.
*PEAKS results are sent home with explanations of the results in
the spring
*Progress monitoring graphs are sent home regularly
*Interpreters are made available if needed.
Provide materials and training to help parents to work with their children to improve their children’s achievement, such as literacy, math, and technology training, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement;
Provide school information to families in their native language upon request and assistance from school staff members is provided to all families to ensure learning opportunities are available to students who face any additional challenges that might impede success in the classroom.
Educational Provisions

10. Parents are encouraged to participate in all aspects of their child’s educational experience at Big Lake Elementary. Some ways to become more involved are:
*Volunteer in your child’s classroom or the
school
*Participate in Family Involvement events with
your child
Participation in your child’s educational experience is not limited to time spent at school. Here are other ways you can participate:
*Provide homework time and assistance if
needed
*Ensure proper rest and nourishment for
growing brains
*Promote Regular Attendance at School
*Communicate with your child’s teacher
*Discuss what happened in your child’s day each
evening
*Review school and classroom newsletters for
up to date information
Parental Involvement

11. Schedule of 2016-17 Family Involvement Events
August 10th Ice Cream Social
August 31st Open House
October5th Camp Read-A-Lot
October 20th AR Assembly
October 27th Fall Festival (PTO sponsored)
October 30th-31st Parent Teacher Conferences
November 9th Veteran’s Day Assembly
November 30th Craft Night
January 19th AR Assembly/Pastries for Parents
February 8th Science/Math Night
February 15th-16th Parent Teacher Conferences
March 8th Dr. Seuss Night
March 23rd AR Assembly
May 3rd Author’s Tea
May 15th AR Assembly(am)/Talent Show (pm)
May 18th Field Day
Dates listed above are subject to change slightly due to minor scheduling conflicts and parents will be informed of times for each event as the dates approaches.
Annual Title I Meeting date and times will be announced and parents will be invited when the date has been set. The meeting will be held at a convenient time for parents to be able to attend.
Dates and times for the annual Title Meeting, Family Engagement events and additional Big Lake Elementary School happenings will be announced in the following ways:
Posters at the office and around the school
School newsletter announcement
Connect Ed message to families
The Annual Title Meeting invitation will also be given to the Big Lake Community Council and Chamber of Commerce
Schedule of Family Involvement Events