Theodore Roosevelt Elementary
6700 Fulton
Houston, Texas 77022
School Parental Involvement Policy
(2015-2016)
Theodore Roosevelt Elementary parental involvement policy describes how we
involve parents in the development of policy and of the school-parent compact. It is
the school’s goal to help parents help their children obtain academic success as well
as to assure that parents with limited English abilities and parents with disabilities can
participate in their children’s education. Parent involvement is essential to ensure
that our students are successful.
Policy Involvement: Theodore Roosevelt is a school wide Title I school.
•
•
•
•
•
Every year, all parents are invited to participate in meetings throughout the
year.
Open House is held within the first two weeks of the school year to introduce
parents to Theodore Roosevelt Elementary and to the Title I program.
Parents are informed of the PTO, school conferences, the SDMC, the ParentSchool Compact, and the Parental Involvement Policy.
A Title I Annual Meeting is held to discuss Title I law, its requirements, and the
rights and benefits to parents of children involved. Representatives from the
District Office staff are invited to help with the presentations, which are
presented in both English and Spanish.
We explain how parents can be involved in the planning review, and
improvement of our Title I program, including contributing to this parental
involvement policy.
ProgramInvolvement:
•
At meetings, we give parents timely information about our Title I programs,
including writing programs, tutoring, parental involvement opportunities,
Accelerated Reading initiative, and bilingual services. We describe our
curriculum, explain our expectations for our student, and discuss how student
performance is measured both on and off campus. In addition, assistance
and guidance is given on how to read both criterion-referenced and norm1
referenced standardized test parent reports for the STAAR, STAAR-M, STAAR-Alt
tests, Iowa and Logramos, and for the TELPAS. Assistance and guidance is also
provided to explain the various state and district mandated testing programs.
•
We hold Parent Advisory Council Meetings (PAC) at least four times a year to
respond to parent suggestions. We encourage parents to make suggestions,
to share experiences with other parents, and to participate in decisionmaking.
•
If the school wide program plan is unsatisfactory to the parents, the information
is introduced at SDMC meeting in the form of a Topic of Concern and further
action is addressed at the meetings. Parents also have a right to submit
comments on the plan to the Department of External Funding and revise the
plan as advised by the HISD Title I, Part A Parental Involvement Program
Administrator and other District designees as advised. The parent involvement
plan can be revised to address the needs of our school.
•
School-Parent Compact: A school-parent compact was developed jointly with
parents of participating Title I students. It explains how parents, school staff
and the students will share responsibility for each student’s academic success.
BuildingCapacityforInvolvement: It is part of Theodore Roosevelt’s role to teach
parents how to help their children learn. One way this is done is by explaining
education laws. Parents are given information about district, state and national
education goals, Title I requirements, STAAR, the school improvement plan, and
bilingual education at both PTO and PAC meetings.
Parent Training and Involvement: Presentations are designed to help parents
know if a child is doing well, how parents can work with teachers to help their
children, and how to be involved in decision-making about the education of their
children.
Professional development training is also provided to teachers and other staff
members. School staff is taught the importance of involving parents as partners,
programs for parents, and building ties between home and school.
Our school strives to coordinate parental involvement activities among the different
programs available on our campus. Shared parental involvement activities are
sponsored for Title I through our Pre-Kindergarten Program, Magnet Program and
Bilingual Programs. Outreach programs are organized and implemented by the
school nurse and by the counselor on health concerns and counseling concerns for
children.
Parents are involved in recreational reading programs which includes parents
agreeing to listen to their child read for 20 minutes a day. We also participate in
2
various reading incentives including taking full advantage of the Accelerated
Reading (AR) Program.
Accessibility: Participation and involvement of all parents is important. Information
related to student achievement, school performance, school and parent programs,
meetings, and other opportunities for participation is sent home in both English and
Spanish. Some of the standard information sent home in Spanish includes this policy,
the School-Parent Compact, report cards, and progress reports. All PTO and PAC
meetings are simultaneously interpreted into Spanish. Interpreters are provided for
parent conferences.
We ensure that parents with disabilities have the opportunity to participate by
providing handicapped access to all parts of our school building. In addition, copies
of the minutes from all SDMC and PTO meetings are available to all parents at any
time.
ExplanationofCurriculum
The State Board of Education adopted the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills as the
curriculum for ALL Texas Schools. These learning standards will help ensure that all
students can meet the challenges that they will face in the 21st century.
•
•
•
•
Each student must become a more effective reader.
Each student will have to know and apply more complex mathematics.
Each student needs to develop a stronger understanding of science concepts.
Each student must master social studies skills and content necessary to be a
responsible adult citizen.
The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) identify what Texas students should know
and be able to do at every grade level and in every course in the foundation and
enrichment areas as they move successfully through Texas’ public schools.
The Houston Independent School District is dedicated to “Every Student, Every Day” by
having a plan that will challenge and address the needs of all students to meet the high
academic standards as outlined in the TEKS. The HISD curriculum, is an instructional planning
tool for teachers. It clarifies what is to be taught and assessed. It includes all of the TEKS
requirements and it provides clearly defined objectives so “Every Student, Every Day” has
consistent access to a world-class curriculum to help ALL students in the District succeed.
At Theodore Roosevelt Elementary, we believe in a challenging curriculum and, therefore,
have chosen to integrate Sandra Kaplan’s Depth and Complexity Framework. The depth
and complexity framework provides students opportunities for a deeper understanding of
ideas using a series of icons. The icons represent a specific concept that delves into higher
order thinking of Bloom’s Taxonomy which reflects evaluation, synthesis, and application.
Products in the form of a skit, invention, simulation, essay, etc. are selected by students to
provide evidence of understanding.
3
You may also refer to the Student Handbook that is given during Open House week for a
complete description of Theodore Roosevelt’s school curriculum.
If you have further questions or comments, please contact Mar Azcarraga, LaJuana
Armstrong-Jean, or Engeline Trevino at 713-696-2820 during school hour
ExplanationofAssessments
Iowa – The Stanford 10 is a norm-reference achievement test. It measures students’ academic
achievement in reading, language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.
Logramos – Logramos is a norm-reference achievement test for students whose primary language of
instruction is Spanish. It measures students’ school achievement in reading, language arts,
mathematics, science, and social studies.
State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) -STAAR is a rigorous assessment, designed
to measure whether students are on a path to college and meaningful careers. In general, questions
on these exams have multiple steps and require higher-level thinking. Students have a 4 hour time limit
to complete each tests.
Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) – These tests are designed to measure
annual growth of the English language in second language learners. ELL students in grades 2-12 are
rated by certified raters in writing in conjunction with TELPAS. Likewise, ELL students in grades 2-12 take
the Reading Proficiency Test in English each year to measure their reading skills in English.
I-station – I-station delivers individualized instruction — complete with age-appropriate content — for
pre-K through high school students. Plus, every lesson is supported with data-rich benchmark and
continuous progress monitoring assessments through I-station's proprietary ISIP™ technology.
High Frequency Word Test (HFWE) – This is a district-wide test administered in grades 1-2. This
assessment measure the student’s ability to read and identify grade-appropriate words from a list as
well as in sentences. The High Frequency Words have been selected from the Most Frequent Words in
Books for Beginning Readers and from the Dolch Word List. The student is responsible for all the words
listed. Performance on the HFWE is a measure for promotion in grades 1 and 2.
Pre-Kindergarten Assessment – One on one assessment that allows teachers to identify the
developmental stages of each student in language, literacy and mathematics. This assessment is
given three times a year to allow for appropriate instruction in preparing our youngest students for
kindergarten.
Teacher Assessments – Your child will take weekly exams. All tests are based on the TEKS and have
been taught and practiced during classroom instruction. Major tests will be graded and sent home in
a folder for your review.
If you have further questions regarding teacher assessments, please contact your
child’s teacher at 713-696-2820 during school hours.
CampusReportCard
By law, schools must provide a Campus Report Card each year to parents.
This year school’s report will be going home at the end of this semester.
PromotionStandards
Promotion standards are not available at this time, but will be provided to all parents
once the information is received by the school administration.
4