JESParentandFamilyEngagementPolicy.pdf

 

School Parent & Family Engagement Procedures

 

School Name:    Johnson Elementary School School Year: 2024-2025

In order to provide all children with significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational gaps, Johnson Elementary receives Title I, Part A funds. Therefore, Johnson Elementary will develop, with parents and family members of participating students, a written parent and family engagement procedure. This procedure will

outline how this school will involve parents and family members in the procedure development and build capacity for parent and family engagement in order to improve student academic achievement.

 

 

Part 1: Procedure Involvement

1.      Johnson Elementary will hold an annual meeting at a convenient time, to which all parents of participating children shall be invited and encouraged to attend, to inform parents of the school’s participation in Title I, to explain the Title I, and to inform parents of their right to be involved. The Johnson Elementary School agrees to take the following action:

 

An annual meeting will be held for families of all students to learn and provide input into the Title I Plan, inform families about programming and initiatives, seek input on perceived needs for parent/family education, review the School Parent/Family Engagement and School-wide Plan, explain our Title I program and provide information regarding ways families can be involved to help their child be successful. This meeting will occur in the first few months of each school year. Advance notification of the meeting day and time will be communicated in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, school newsletters and automated emails/calls.

 

 

2.      Johnson Elementary agrees to offer a flexible number of meetings, such as meetings in the morning or evening, and may use Title I funds to provide transportation, childcare, or home visits, as related to parental involvement.

 

Building family engagement activities will include:

An annual meeting will be held to inform families about programming and initiatives, review the District/School Family Engagement Policy and share ways families can be involved to help their child be successful. This meeting will occur in the first few months of the school year.

 

·       Advance notifications of the meeting day and time will be communicated.

·       Curriculum Nights

·       Parent Workshops

·       Parent Conferences in the Fall and Spring

·       Flexible IEP Meetings

·       Classroom and building volunteer work

·       Home Visits, as needed

 

3.      Johnson Elementary agrees to involve parents in an organized, ongoing, and timely way in the planning, review, and improvement of Title 1 programs and the Parent and Family Engagement Policy and the joint development of the school-wide program plan in the following ways:

 

Families will be involved in the review and development of the policy through:

·       Reviewing and seeking suggestions for the District and School Family School Engagement Policies and the Home-School Compact from parents/families

·       Hosting meetings to share the school’s plan and to seek input regarding strengths/weaknesses and ways to change the plan

·       Posting the District Family Engagement Policy on the web site

·       Reviewing and signing Parent-Student-School Compacts at fall conferences

·       Distributing School Family Engagement Plans at fall events (such as Open House) or electronically (via email or School Messenger)

·       Conducting Program and Perception Surveys in the spring (March-May) for all families

·       Reviewing and revising documents to incorporate suggestions based on parent survey results

·       Expanding all avenues of communication with families (monthly newsletters, weekly classroom newsletters, District publications and websites) to increase family engagement

 

4.      Johnson Elementary agrees to provide parents of participating children the following:

 

·       Timely information about Title I programs

 

·       A description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic

·       Assessment used, and the achievement levels of the challenging State academic standards

·       Opportunities for regular meetings for parents to make suggestions and participate in decisions relating to the education of their children

·       Responses to these suggestions as soon as practicably possible

 

The school agrees to provide these in the following ways:

·       Fall Kindergarten Orientation

·       Fall Open House/Meet the Teacher Night

·       Curriculum Night that incorporate activities to support families in working with children in literacy, math, etc.

·       Fall Parent/Teacher conferences (additional conferences available based on need or parent request)

·       PowerSchool

·       Trimester Report Cards

·       Parent Notification via Educational Support Plans for students receiving intervention support

·       District and School Websites

·       Telephone Calls/Email Correspondence

·       Assessment Reports

·       Monthly School Newsletters/District Publications

 

5.      Johnson Elementary agrees to take the following actions to submit any parent comments about the school-wide program plan when the school makes the plan available to the LEA, if the school-wide program plan is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children:

All written documentation of parent comments that reflect that the program is not satisfactory will be submitted to the building Principal and to the LEA.

 

6.      Johnson Elementary agrees to take the following actions to jointly develop with participating parents a school-parent compact, outline how parents, school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement:

Building compacts will be annually developed and reviewed in the following way:

·       The Parent/Teacher/Student compact is developed, with parent input, and reviewed annually. Revisions are made based on the annual survey results and additional suggestions provided by families.

·       The compact is reviewed and given to all families at the Fall Parent/Teacher Conference. Teachers discuss how the compact relates to the success of each individual child. This ensures a strong home/school connections and allows all stakeholders to have a voice.

·       This compact will be reviewed annually by the school.

 

7.      Johnson Elementary agrees to take the following actions to provide opportunities for the informed participation of parents and family members, including providing information and school reports required, in a format and language that parents can understand:

Information will be shared in a language parents can understand by providing:

·       Accommodations for families with disabilities and limited English proficiency

·       Curriculum/Assessment documents in parent friendly language, including assessment letters with student scores and proficiency targets, parent friendly rubrics for report cards

·       Various meetings to review assessments, curriculum information, and student progress in a way that parents can understand, including the parent assessment meeting, parents workshops, parent/teacher conferences to share information

·       Other methods as requested by families to support them in understanding information about the school or their child’s progress

 

 

Part II: Building Capacity for Involvement

To ensure effective involvement of parents and support a partnership between the school, parents, and the community in order to improve student achievement, Johnson Elementary will use the following strategies:

The School will coordinate with other programs including the following:

·       Transition to Kindergarten – Kindergarten activities may include educating preschool families and providing activities to educate daycares and community stakeholders on Kindergarten expectations.

·       Parent Volunteers

·       After School Program

·       Collaboration with School Engagement Specialist, local library, health agencies, and other community organizations/services to support families

8.      Johnson Elementary will provide assistance to parents of children served by the school in understanding the following topics:

·       The challenging State academic standards

·       State and local academic assessments

·       Title I, Part A requirements

·       How to monitor their child’s progress

·       How to work with educators to improve their children’s achievement

The school agrees to take the following actions in order to provide this assistance:

 

Materials, training, and meetings will be provided to families through the following:

·       Curriculum and parent workshops throughout the school year

·       Curriculum materials/grade level expectation/PowerSchool information provided to families at conferences and/or meetings

·       Meetings with school staff to share materials/training

·       Parent/Teacher Conferences

·       Open House

·       Kindergarten Transition Events

 

At parent-teacher conferences, assessment information on student academic progress and grade level standards are shared with parents. Student progress in relation to state and priority standards and national norms will be explained to parents including curriculum being used, grade level expectations for proficiency, local assessments, and available intervention in reading, language arts, and mathematics for students needing assistance.

 

9.      Johnson Elementary agrees to educate its teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, principals and other school leaders, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in the following areas:

·       The value of contribution of parents

·       How to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners

·       How to implement and coordinate parent programs

·       How to build ties between parents and school

 

Buildings will provide:

·       Professional development for staff that focuses on family engagement

·       The opportunity for staff to be reached via email, phone, visits to the classroom that can be arranged through the office, and attendance at building activities.

·       Staff meetings and grade-level team meetings will provide the time and opportunity to discuss strategies to enhance parent involvement and how best to integrate this involvement into the educational program.

 

10.  Johnson Elementary will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate Title I parent involvement programs and activities with other Federal, State, and local programs and conduct other activities that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children. The school agrees to take the following actions to coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs:

Buildings will coordinate with other programs including the following:

 

·       Transition to Kindergarten – Kindergarten activities may include educating preschool families and providing activities to educate daycares and community stakeholders on Kindergarten expectations.

·       Parent Volunteers

·       After School Program

·       Collaboration with School Engagement Specialist, local library, health agencies, and other community organizations/services to support families

 

11.  Johnson Elementary agrees to take the following actions to ensure that information related to the school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to parents of participating children in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language that parents can understand:

Information will be shared in a language parents can understand by providing:

·       Accommodations for families with disabilities and limited English proficiency

·       Curriculum/Assessment documents in parent friendly language, including assessment letters with student scores and proficiency targets, parent friendly rubrics for report cards

·       Various meetings to review assessments, curriculum information, and student progress in a way that parents can understand, including the parent assessment meeting, parents workshops, parent/teacher conferences to share information

·       Other methods as requested by families to support them in understanding information about the school or their child’s progress

 

12.  Johnson Elementary agrees to take the following actions to provide other reasonable support for parent involvement activities, as parents may request:

Parents can submit comments and requests to the school principal, who will do their best to provide reasonable supports for parent involvement activities.

 

Part III. Procedure Approval

This School and Family Engagement procedure has been developed jointly with, and agreed on with, parents of children participating in Title I, Part A programs.