510 - Parent and Family Engagement

Parent and family engagement is an important component in a student’s success in school. The board encourages parents and families to become involved in their child’s education to ensure the child’s academic success. In order to facilitate parent and family involvement, it is the goal of the district to conduct outreach and implement programs, activities, and procedures to further involve parents and families with the academic success of their students. The board will:

Involve parents and families in the development of the Title I plan, the process for school review of the plan and the process for improvement. Title I is a federal aid program designed to ensure a high-quality education for every child. The Title I plan explains how the Red Oak Community School District provides additional reading assistance to qualifying students in grades K-5. The district will post the Title I plan on the district website and invite public comment and will review the plan with the School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) and solicit feedback.
Provide the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist and build capacity in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement activities. Academic achievement and school performance will be improved through administrative professional development and support, staff professional development on research-based instructional strategies, ongoing data analysis, academic interventions, and SIAC involvement.
To the extent feasible, coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies under Title I with parent and family engagement strategies outlined in other relevant Federal, State, and local policies and programs. District personnel will attend regional and state trainings and adopt Iowa Department of Education best practice principles.
Conduct with the involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parent and family engagement policy in improving the academic quality of the school served. This evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in Title I activities (with particular attention to low-income parents, Limited English Proficient (LEP) parents, parents of any racial or ethnic minority, parents with disabilities and parents with limited literacy); needs of parents and family to assist their children’s learning; and strategies to support successful school and family interactions. An annual survey of parents will be conducted to address barriers, needs, and strategies.
The district will use the findings of the annual evaluation to design strategies for more effective parent and family involvement and to revise, as necessary, parent and family involvement policies. Parent feedback will inform plan revision.
The district will involve parents and families in Title I activities through SIAC, building parent nights, summer school, and other appropriate activities.
The district shall involve parents in determining how to allocate reserved Title 1 funds in accordance with applicable laws.

The board will review this policy annually. The superintendent or designee is responsible for notifying parents and families of this policy annually or within a reasonable time after it has been amended during the school year. The Superintendent or designee will develop administrative regulations regarding this policy.

Approved: January 25, 2024

Reviewed:

Revised:

lorenzr@redoak… Thu, 01/25/2024 - 14:31

510R1 - Parent and Family Engagement - Building Level Regulation

To further the interests of student achievement, the superintendent will create necessary rules to engage parents and family members within the district in the following ways on a building-level basis:

1. Policy Involvement

The district will host an annual meeting, invite all parents to attend and inform parents of their rights and the district’s requirements under Title I. This meeting will also allow parents to become involved in the planning, review, and improvement of a building policy and in developing the district plan. The district will inform parents of:

programs under this policy
curriculum and assessment used for students
the opportunity to meet with administration to participate in decisions related to their children’s education,
a description and explanation of curriculum used in the school forms of academic assessment used to
measure student progress and
achievement levels of the challenging State academic standards

2. Accessibility

Provide opportunities for informed participation of parents and family members in understandable formats and languages. This includes participation by parents and family members who may have disabilities, limited English proficiency, and migratory children. Offer a flexible number of meetings during the day and evening to facilitate parent involvement.

3. High Student Academic Achievement

Each school in the district will jointly develop with parents and family members a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, staff and students share responsibility for improving student academic achievement and how a partnership will be built to achieve this. The compact will describe the responsibility of the school to provide high quality curriculum and instruction, and the parents’ responsibility to support their children’s learning. This will also address the importance of communication between schools and parents through parent teacher conferences, regular reports to parents on their children’s progress, and ensuring regular meaningful communication between family and school staff.

4. Building Capacity for Involvement

Each school within the district will include in their plan ways to achieve the following:

Assist parents and families to understand topics including academic standards and assessments and how to monitor student progress;
Provide materials and training to help parents work with students to improve achievement;
Educate teachers and staff in how to communicate with parents and build ties to foster academic success;
Coordinate and integrate other federal, state and local programs to support parents in more fully participating in students’ education

lorenzr@redoak… Thu, 01/25/2024 - 14:37