Family and Community Involvement

Family and Community Involvement Family and Community Involvement MA ESE October 2010

What does research tell us…? • When schools work together with families to support learning, children tend to succeed not only in school, but throughout life.

Research cont… • When families and schools cooperate, the results include: • Higher grades and test scores • Better attendance • More homework completed • Higher graduation rates/greater enrollment in post-secondary education ADD IT UP: Using Research to Improve Education for Low-Income & Minority Students. Poverty & Race Research Action Council(2001)

The most accurate predictor of a student’s achievement is NOT income or social status, but the extent to which the student’s family is able to:

Create a home environment that encourages learning Express high (but not unrealistic) expectations for their children’s achievement and future careers Become involved in their children’s education at school and in the community. Notes from Research: Parent Involvement and Student Achievement, San Diego County Office of Education, 1997.

Federal Requirements • Parent and community involvement is a requirement by the federal NCLB Act. (Titles IA, IC, IIA, IID, III, IVA, VA, IX, X) • Parental Involvement Title I, Subpart A, Non-Regulatory Guidancehttp://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/parentinvguid.doc • Parent and community involvement is a requirement by the federal NCLB Act. (Titles IA, IC, IIA, IID, III, IVA, VA, IX, X) • Parental Involvement Title I, Subpart A, Non-Regulatory Guidancehttp://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/parentinvguid.doc • Parent and community involvement is a requirement by the federal NCLB Act. (Titles IA, IC, IIA, IID, III, IVA, VA, IX, X) • Parental Involvement Title I, Subpart A, Non-Regulatory Guidancehttp://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/parentinvguid.doc

NCLB Title I, Section 1116 • Schools that are identified for Title I-A School Improvement and their respective districts have an obligation to provide parents with information about AYP and improvement efforts. • To the extent practicable, the notification must be in a language the parents can understand and must include the following:

AYP Accountability cont… • An explanation of what Title I-A School Improvement status means, and how the school compares in terms of academic achievement to other elementary schools or secondary schools; • Reasons for the identification; • An explanation of what the school in improvement status is doing to address the problem of low achievement;

AYP Accountability cont… An explanation of: • what the district is doing to help the school address the achievement problem; • how the parents can become involved in addressing the academic issues that caused the school to be identified for School Improvement status; and • the parents’ option to transfer their child to another public school, or to obtain SES for their child, where applicable, at district expense.

NCLB Title I, Section 1118 requires districts to: • Develop a written district parent involvement policy • Involve parents in the joint development of the district CIP • Involve parents in the process of school review and improvement

…requires districts to (cont): • Provide TA , support and coordination to assist participating schools in planning and implementing effective parent involvement to improve student achievement

…requires districts to (cont) : • Coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies with other programs • Conduct, with involvement of parents, annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parent involvement policy

…requires districts to (cont) : • Involve parents in the activities of the schools being served • Involve parents of children receiving services in the decisions regarding how funds reserved are allotted for parent involvement activities

…requires districts to (cont): • Set aside Title I-A funds. • Use funds to “build capacity” of parents and “support parent partnerships”

Section 1118 requires schools to: • Develop a written school parent involvement policy • School-level parent involvement activities, including annual parent meeting and individual student progress reports

…requires schools to (cont): • Provide full participation opportunities for underrepresented groups • Have school-parent compacts

…requires schools to (cont): • Involve parents in an organized, ongoing and timely way, in the: • planning, review and improvement of the programs, and; • planning, review and improvement of the school parent involvement policy

Families must be invited to actively participate in ways that are: • Regular • Two-way • Meaningful

School-Family Communication Communication to families must be understandable to all families to the extent possible in a language and format they can understand. • Language • Accessibility • Readability

Best Practices and Effective Strategies • Family Involvement Network of Educators at Harvard Family Research Project: www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine.html • Epstein’s 6 Types of Family Involvement: http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/sixtypes.htm • Office of English Language Acquisition Family Involvement Toolkit: www.ncela.gwu.edu/oela/summit2004/cd/parent_toolkit.pdf

Tools and Resources Keep checking the ESE website at: http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/Grants/grants07/rfp/doc/305_appn_a.pdf http://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/parentinvguid.doc http://www.sedl.org/connections/toolkit/contents.html

For additional information contact: Cathryn Gardner cgardner@doe.mass.edu

Family and Community Involvement