1. DEVELOPING PARENT INVOLVEMENT POLICIES Title I No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Section 1118

2. What is Title I? Title I is the largest federally funded education program. $420 million for Pennsylvania schools. Title I provides extra help to low achieving students in reading and math. The goal is to help low achieving students catch up and keep up.

3. Why Parent Involvement is Important Research over 25 years has been consistent. When parents are involved -- regardless of income level or background – children do better in school. Increased attendance Lower drop out rate Better test scores Fewer discipline problems Higher college attendance rates

4. NCLB Definition of Parent Involvement NCLB defines parental involvement as the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring— ·that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning; that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school; 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; and that other activities are carried out, such as those described in section 1118 of NCLB (Parental Involvement ).

5. Our Parent Survey # of parents who responded Summary of Results Identify areas of weakness or concern Ideas to address the areas of concern

6. Review Current Policy Is it understandable? Review each section and update as necessary.

7. School Policies Must Include… A description of how parents of Title I students are involved in the planning and evaluation of the school’s Title I program Discussion Questions: What are we currently doing to involve parents in the planning and evaluation of our Title I program? Is it effective? What can we do to make it better. Tips: Be sure to include a timeline of when planning and evaluation meetings occur in the school, how parents will be informed/invited, etc.

8. School Policies Must Include… An assurance that an annual meeting will be held to inform parents of the school's participation in the Title I program and to explain the requirements of the program and their right to be involved. Guiding Questions: Are parents aware of the Title I meeting? Is the meeting held at a time/place convenient to parents? (See survey results.) What can we do/change to make it easier for parents to attend or to bring it to the attention of parents? Tips: Include the timeline of the annual meeting in the policy as well as a summary of what will be discussed.

9. School Policies Must Include… An assurance that parent activities will be held at a variety of times throughout the day to meet the needs of Title I parents. Discussion: What do the survey results say are the best times for parents to attend meetings? Is there a more effective way to hold workshops that would make it possible for more parents to attend?

10. School Policies Must Include… A statement that describes, if determined to be appropriate, how Title I funds will be used to pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parent involvement activities, such as transportation, childcare, or home visit expenses to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions. Tip: This section is add for schools to examine ways to break down barriers that exist that prevent parents from attending schools related meetings. Use the data you collected through your parent survey to determine if any of these options can help. Funds from the parent involvement set-aside can be used to fund any of these options.

11. School Policies Must Include… A statement that the school will provide, if requested by parents, opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children, and respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible. Tip: Define “practicable possible” – come to consensus on an acceptable timeframe to respond to suggestions from parents.

12. School Policies Must Include… how the school will provide parents of participating children with timely information about the Title I program. Discussion Questions: How often should parents be provided updates about their child’s progress in Title I. What methods will be used to provide the information to parents? Website, email, newsletters, letters sent home?

13. School Policies Must Include… How the school will provide assistance to parents in understanding the State's academic content standards and student achievement standards, local academic assessments and how to monitor a child's progress and work with teachers to improve the achievement of their children. Tip: Use this section to describe HOW the schools will do these things. Maybe a fact sheet would be helpful on understanding the State academic standards and local assessments; maybe workshops or training sessions would be best to teach parents how to monitor a child’s progress; maybe meetings with teachers or teachers providing training to parents would help with improving the achievement of children.

14. A School Policy Must Include… A statement that a school-parent compact was jointly developed with parents and the compact outlines how parents, the entire school staff and students will share in the responsibility for improved student achievement. Tip: Include in this section a description of how parents can be involved in updating the school/parent compacts each year.

15. School Policies Must Include… A description of how the school will provide materials and training to help parents to work with their children to improve their children's achievement, such as literacy training and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parent involvement. Discussion Questions: What is the best way to provide these items to parents? Workshops, training sessions, conferences? What areas do parents need the most training in? Should the workshops be held multiple times?

16. And, if appropriate… A description of how the school involves parents in the joint development of the Schoolwide Program Plan. (Applies only to Title I schools operating a Schoolwide Program.) A description of how the school involves parents in the joint development of the School Improvement Plan. (Applies only to Title I schools identified for School Improvement.)

17. Optional Items Ways for parents to be involved in developing school policies (school improvement teams, schoolwide teams). A summary of the district parent involvement policy. Incentives for parents to be involved.

19. Moves the Policy from a Planning Document to an Action Document Get the Word Out! School Newsletter Weekly Lunch Menus Web Sites Email Listserv School’s Voice Mail System Mailing Local Newspaper Community Events Special School Events DISTRIBUTING THE POLICY

20. EVALUATING THE RESULTS Schools are required to review the policies each year to determine if they are effective and to make changes, if needed Parents must be involved Need to more than whether it is in place Need to know what’s working and what’s not How do you know whether or not your compact is working?

21. Congratulations! You’ve completed the update of your parent policy. For further information on ways to increase parent involvement in your school: www.spac.k12.pa.uswww.spac.k12.pa.us (State Parent Advisory Council website) www.ed.govwww.ed.gov (USDE Website)