DEVELOPING
PARENT INVOLVEMENT
POLICIES and
PARENT/SCHOOL
COMPACTS
Title I
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Section 1118
DEVELOPING
PARENT INVOLVEMENT POLICIES
Title I
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Section 1118
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).
Our Parent Survey
# of parents who responded
Summary of Results
Identify areas of weakness or concern
Ideas to address the areas of concern
Review Current Policy
Is it understandable?
Review each section and update as
necessary.
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.
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?
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 “practicably possible” – come to consensus on
an acceptable timeframe to respond to suggestions from
parents.
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 on understanding the State academic
standards and local assessments would be helpful ; 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.
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?
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.
DISTRIBUTING THE POLICY
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
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 know more than whether it is in place
Need to know what’s working and what’s not
Resources
SPAC Parent Involvement Toolkit
www.SPAC.k12.pa.us
US Department of Education
www.ed.gov
No Child Left Behind
Title I Legislation
(Section 1118 – Parent Policy)
Project Appleseed (National Campaign for Public School
Improvement
www.projectappleseed.org
PA Academic Standards
PA Department of Education
www.pde.state.pa.us
Questions
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.us (State Parent
Advisory Council website)
www.ed.gov (USDE Website)
AN AGREEMENT FOR
SUCCESS: Title I
Parent/School Compacts
Compacts: Definition
TITLE I – SECTION 1118
SHARED RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HIGH STUDENT ACADEMIC
ACHIEVEMENT.
—As a component of the school-level parental involvement policy
developed … each school served under this part shall jointly
develop with parents for all children served under this part a
school-parent compact that outlines how parents, the entire
school staff, and students will share the responsibility for
improved student academic achievement and the means by
which the school and parents will build and develop a
partnership to help children achieve the State’s high standards.
What needs to be included?
describe the school’s responsibility to provide high quality
curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective
learning environment that enables the children served under
this part to meet the State’s student academic achievement
standards,
and the ways in which each parent will be responsible
for supporting their children’s learning, such as monitoring
attendance, homework completion, and television watching;
volunteering in their child’s classroom; and participating, as
appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their
children and positive use of extracurricular time.
In Simpler Terms…
Compacts are a “job description” that
defines the “jobs” of the school, the
parents (and sometimes the student) in
order to ensure that the student
receives and achieves the best possible
education.
Purpose of Compacts
Process vs. Outcome
Link (process) activities of school/staff, parents
and children to (outcome) student learning and
achievement
Open Communication
Parents can understand the school system
better
Teachers can understand the needs of parents
better
Students can understand their responsibilities
Creating a “team” to support every student.
TEAM EDUCATION
Principal
Aides
Title I
Parent
PDE
STARTING LINEUP
Team EDUCATION
School
Parents
Teachers
Student
CREATING A COMPACT TEAM
Who Should Be Included?
Parents (required)
Teachers (required)
Optional:
Students
Administrators
Community Members
Libraries
Businesses
Faith Based Organizations
Community Organizations
GETTING STARTED
Understanding the Challenges Facing Education Today
ESEA/NCLB Goal
All Students at Proficient or Advanced on the
PA System of School Assessment (PSSA) by
2014
Issues currently facing our school
Issues currently facing our parents
Issues currently facing our community
Goals for Educating our
Children
Discussion Questions:
Parents: What do you want for your child as
they go through school?
Parents: What goals do you have for your child
after they graduate?
Teachers: What do you want for your students
as they go through your classroom this year?
Teachers: What do you want for their future?
What Do We Expect From Each Other?
All parents and teachers want to ensure that
every child is:
Healthy
Safe
Engaged in Learning
Supported by Caring Adults
Exposed to a Challenging Curriculum (includes
arts, music and other essential courses)
*From www.WholeChildEducation.org
DEVELOPING OUR COMPACT
Compacts are required to address three areas for
families and the school to work together:
Student learning and high achievement;
Effective and frequent communication between
school and home; and
Building capacity for the family/school
partnership through volunteering and training.
Student Learning & High Achievement
Discussion Questions:
What does our current compact include to
address student learning and high achievement?
Parents:
What do you see happening in your child’s
school and/or classroom to support this topic?
What can parents do at home and school to help
students achieve?
Are there any other things we can add to the
compact?
Student Learning & High Achievement
Discussion Questions:
School:
What can teacher/school do at school to help
students achieve?
What are the teacher/school responsibilities in
the compact?
Are there any other things we can add to the
compact?
Student Learning and High Achievement
Suggestions for Compact:
School’s responsibility includes offering a rigorous and
challenging academic program [be specific in what your
school offers here], and making sure every student gets
help as soon as it’s needed.
School agrees to provide training for parents on ways to
help them help their children at home, and to send
home materials they can use.
Parents agree to monitor homework completion, and to
help their child see how to use reading and math to
pursue interests and goals.
Parents agree to support learning at home by reading
with their children every night, and using the materials
the school sends home weekly [or whatever is agreed
upon at this meeting…]
Effective and Frequent Communication Between Home/School
Discussion Questions:
What does our current compact include that relates to
communication between the home and school?
Parents: What do you see happening in your child’s
classroom to support this?
Teachers/School: What do you see happening from
parents to support communication?
Define “effective” communication.
Define “frequent” communication.
Are those definitions reflected in the current compact?
Is it enough? Do the parents feel that they are “kept in
the loop” of their child’s progress in school? Do teachers
feel that they are getting enough parent support?
Effective and Frequent Communication
Between Home/School
Suggestions for Compact:
School agrees to communicate frequently (define
frequently) with families about student progress
through [agreed upon methods i.e., email, phone
calls, newsletters, etc.].
Teachers agree to build a relationship with every
family in their class, and to keep families informed of
their children’s progress and needs in each subject.
Parents agree to monitor child’s progress, contact the
teacher with questions, and let the teacher know
right away if their child has any problems.
Building Capacity through
Volunteering and Training
Discussion Questions:
Identify activities that parents could volunteer for
or be trained to help their children do better in
school.
Are there opportunities for parents to be involved
at a governance level at this school? How and
what?
How can we get more parents involved? What
are the barriers? How are we eliminating them?
Building Capacity through
Volunteering and Training
Suggestions for Compact:
School agrees to involve parents in school
governance by…..
Teachers will train parents on these strategies
to help their children do better in school…
Parents agree to volunteer at least ___ hours a
year at the school.
USING THE COMPACT
Moves the Compact 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
USING THE COMPACT
Use the Compact in All Parts of Your School
Program
DISCUSS STUDENT PROGRESS AT PARENTTEACHER CONFERENCES (required by NCLB)
Help launch programs for family involvement
Support training for teachers and other staff to
work with families
Complement School Improvement Plans
Help partners discuss their responsibilities in
meeting the goals of the school
EVALUATING THE RESULTS
How do you know whether or not your compact is working?
Schools are required to review the
compacts each year to determine if they
are effective and to make changes, if
needed
Parents must be involved
Need to know more than whether it is in place
Need to know what’s working and what’s not
Resources
SPAC Parent Involvement Toolkit
www.SPAC.k12.pa.us
US Department of Education
www.ed.gov
No Child Left Behind
Title I Legislation
(Section 1118 – Compacts)
Project Appleseed (National Campaign for Public School
Improvement
www.projectappleseed.org
PA Academic Standards
PA Department of Education
www.pde.state.pa.us
Questions
Congratulations!
You’ve completed the update of your
parent/school compact.
For further information on ways to
increase parent involvement in your
school:
www.spac.k12.pa.us (State Parent
Advisory Council website)
www.ed.gov (USDE Website)