Parent and Family Engagement
NOTE: Schools receiving federal Title 1 funds are required to have a parent involvement policy. This sample policy can be used as the basis for the joint development of a policy, as required by the federal legislation. This policy cannot be RISE Charter School’s policy without some parental involvement in its development at the local level.
RISE Charter School may receive Title I funds only if it conducts outreach consistent with federal law to all parents and family members and implements programs, activities, and procedures for the involvement of parents and family members in programs assisted under Title I. Such programs, activities, and procedures shall be planned and implemented following meaningful consultation with the parents of participating children.
The School shall develop jointly with, agree on with, and distribute to, parents and family members of participating children a written parent and family engagement policy. The policy will establish RISE Charter School's expectations and objectives for meaningful parent and family involvement, and specifically describe how the School will:
- Demonstrate Joint Development of Engagement Plan: RISE Charter School shall involve parents and family members in jointly developing the School’s Plan; and
- Coordinate Assistance and Support: RISE Charter School shall provide the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist in implementing effective parent and family involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance, which may include meaningful consultation with employers, business leaders, and philanthropic organizations, or individuals with expertise in effectively engaging parents and family members in education; and
- Coordinate with Other Programs: RISE Charter School shall coordinate and integrate its parent and family engagement strategies to the extent feasible and appropriate, with the School’s other relevant federal, state, and local programs; and
- Conduct Annual Program Evaluation: RISE Charter School shall conduct, with the meaningful involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of its parent and family engagement policy in improving the academic quality of all its schools receiving Title I funds, including identification of:
- The barriers to greater participation by parents in improvement plan activities (with particular attention paid to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background)
- The needs of parents and family members to assist with the learning of their children, including engaging with school personnel and teachers; and
- The strategies that will be implemented to support successful school and family interactions.
- Implement Evaluation Findings: RISE Charter School shall use the findings of the evaluation performed pursuant to Paragraph 4, above, to design evidence-based strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary, the School’s parent and family engagement policy described herein; and
- Establish a Parent Advisory Board: RISE Charter School shall involve parents in the activities of the schools receiving Title I funds, which may include establishing a parent advisory board comprised of a sufficient number and representative group of parents or family members served by RISE Charter School to adequately represent the needs of the population served by the School for the purpose of developing, revising, and reviewing RISE Charter School’s Parent and Family Engagement Policy.
Policy Development
RISE Charter School shall jointly develop with, and distribute to, parents and family members of participating children a written parent and family engagement policy, agreed on by such parents, that shall describe the means for carrying out the requirements of paragraphs 1 through 4 below. Parents shall be notified of the policy in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, provided in a language the parents can understand. Such policy shall be made available to the local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and RISE Charter School.
- Parental Involvement: All Charter Schools receiving Title I funds shall:
- Convene 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 their school's programs, to explain the requirements of this policy, and the right of the parents to be involved; and
- Offer a flexible number of meetings, such as meetings in the morning or evening, and may provide, with reserved Title I funds, transportation, child care, or home visits, as such services relate to parental involvement; and
- Involve parents, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way, in the planning, review, and improvement of RISE Charter School’s available programs, including the planning, review, and improvement of the school’s parent and family engagement policy and the joint development of the schoolwide program plan, except that if a school has in place a process or procedure for involving parents in the joint planning and design of the school's programs, the school may use that process or procedure, if such existing process or procedure already includes an adequate representation of parents of Title I qualifying children; and
- Provide parents of participating children:
- Timely information about qualifying programs;
- A description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and the achievement levels of the challenging state academic standards; and
- 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.
- School-Parent Compact to Achieve High Student Academic Achievement: As a component of the parent and family engagement policy developed under this policy, RISE Charter School shall jointly develop with the parents of Title I children a school-parent compact that describes how parents, the entire school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and identify the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the challenging state academic standards. Such compact shall:
- Describe the school's responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the children to meet the challenging state academic standards, and the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting their children's learning; 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;
- Address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis through, at a minimum:
- Parent-teacher conferences in elementary schools, at least annually, during which the compact shall be discussed as the compact relates to the individual child's achievement;
- Frequent reports to parents on their children's progress;
- Reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child's class, and observation of classroom activities; and
- Ensuring regular two-way, meaningful communication between family members and school staff, and, to the extent practicable, in a language that family members can understand.
- Empowering Parents: To ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, RISE Charter School:
- Shall provide assistance to parents of children served by the School, as appropriate, in understanding such topics as the challenging state academic standards, state and local academic assessments, the requirements of this policy, and how to monitor a child's progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their children;
- Shall provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children's achievement, such as literacy training and using technology (including education about the harms of copyright piracy), as appropriate, to foster parental involvement;
- Shall educate teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, other school leaders, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of parental participation, and in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, to implement and coordinate parent programs, and to build ties between parents and the schools;
- Shall, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement in programs and activities with other available federal, state, and local programs, including public preschool programs, and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents to more fully participate in the education of their children;
- Shall ensure that information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to the parents of participating children in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand;
- May involve parents in the development of training for teachers, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of such training;
- May provide necessary literacy training for parents from Title I funds in the event RISE Charter School has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for such training;
- May pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with local parental involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;
- May train parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;
- May arrange school meetings at a variety of times, or conduct in-home conferences between teachers or other educators who work directly with participating children and parents who are unable to attend such conferences at school, in order to maximize parental involvement and participation;
- May adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement;
- May establish a parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in programs supported under Title I;
- May develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses in parent involvement activities;
- Shall provide such other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under this section as parents may request; and
- Shall inform parents and organizations of the existence of the program.
- Accessibility of Information for Parents: In carrying out the parent and family engagement requirements of this policy, RISE Charter School, to the extent practicable, shall provide opportunities for the informed participation of parents and family members (including parents and family members who have limited English proficiency, parents and family members with disabilities, and parents and family members of migratory children), including providing information and school reports in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language such parents understand.
Cross Reference:
§ 4160 Parents Right to Know Notices
Legal References:
20 U.S.C. § 6311 Basic Program Requirements - State Plans
20 U.S.C. § 6312 Basic Program Requirements - Local Educational Agency Plans
20 U.S.C. § 6318 Basic Program Requirements - Parent and Family Engagement
Policy History:
Adopted on: June 14, 2021
Revised on:
Reviewed on: