Policies, Procedures, and Important Information / Title I

UNION AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY
PART I. GENERAL EXPECTATIONS

The Union Area School District agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

The school district will put into operation programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of parents in all of its schools with Title I, Part A programs, consistent with section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Those programs, activities and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children.

Consistent with section 1118, the school district will work with its schools to ensure that the required school-level parental involvement policies meet the requirements of section 1118(b) of the ESEA, and each include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with section 1118(d) of the ESEA.

The school district will incorporate this district wide parental involvement policy into its LEA plan developed under section 1112 of the ESEA.

In carrying out the Title I, Part A parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school district and its schools will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports required under section 1111 of the ESEA in an understandable and uniform format and, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents understand.

If the LEA plan for Title I, Part A, developed under section 1112 of the ESEA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school district will submit any parent comments with the plan when the school district submits the plan to the State Department of Education.

The school district will involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the 1 percent of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent, and will ensure that not less than 95 percent of the one percent reserved goes directly to the schools.

The school district will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and expects that its Title I schools will carry out programs, activities and procedures in accordance with this definition:

Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring–
(A) that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;
(B) that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;
©) that parents are full partners in the child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child;
(D) the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA.

The school district will inform parents and parental organizations of the purposes and existence of the Parental Information and Resource Center in the state.

PART II. DESCRIPTION OF HOW DISTRICT WILL IMPLEMENT
REQUIRED DISTRICT WIDE PARENTAL INVOVEMENT

1. The Union Area School District will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of its district wide parental involvement plan under section 1112 of the ESEA:

–Conduct meetings between administration, teacher staff, parents and students
–Extend opportunities to attend other conferences with the Intermediate Unit IV SPAC (Pennsylvania State Parent Advisory Council)
–Planning Title I Reading oriented in-service sessions for staff members
–Conduct time to conference

2. The Union Area School District will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116 of the ESEA:

–Invitation to Open House
–Invitation by Superintendent
–Informational reports throughout the school year
–Parent Conferences
–Distribute school calendar
–Distribute district-wide newsletter to residents
–PTO meetings and workshops
–Committee of the Whole meetings
–IUIV Title I Parent Presentations
–Provide information about programs provided under Title I through handouts, letters and brochures.

3. The Union Area School District will provide the following necessary coordination, technical assistance, and other support to assist Title I, Part A schools in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance:

–Maintain district website
–Accelerated Reader program
–Read to Read program
–Study Island program
–Americorps tutoring program
–STAR program (Students Taking Academic Responsibility)
–Summer school program for students who aren’t successful in the regular classroom
–School-Wide Testing
–Child Study Team
–Tutoring program associated with School-Wide Testing
–Family Reading Week
–Phonological Awareness program as part of the curriculum

4. The Union Area School District will coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies in Part A with parental involvement strategies under the following other programs:

–Scottie Pups Literacy Program (0-3 years old)
–Pre-school program (4 year olds)
–Full day Kindergarten program
–Read to Read program
–Read Across America program
–Library PM program
–Americorps tutoring program
–Head Start program

5. The Union Area School district will take the following actions to conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of

this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of its Title I, Part A schools. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities (with particular attention 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 school district will use the findings of the evaluation about its parental involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary (and with the involvement of parents) its parental involvement policies.

–Administer State-Driven Standards Testing–Tests conducted by the following:
Guidance Counselors, School Psychologists, Classroom Teachers. Parents are notified of their child’s scores.
–Administer Curriculum-Based Testing–Testing conducted by the following:
Title I teachers, classroom teachers. Parents of qualifying Title I students are notified.
–Administer School-Wide Testing–Testing conducted by the following: Title I teachers and staff. Parents are notified of the results.

6. The Union Area School District will build the schools’ and parent’s capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school involved, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, through the following activities specifically described below:

A. The school district will, with the assistance of its Title I Part A schools, provide assistance to parents of children served by the school district or school, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by undertaking the actions described:

–the State’s academic content standards,
–the State’s student academic achievement standards,
–the State and local academic assessment including alternate assessments,
–the requirements of Part A,
–how to monitor their child’s progress
–how to work with educators:

–May have SPAC conferences (Pennsylvania State Parent Advisory Council)

–May have IUIV meetings, workshops, or conferences

–May provide workshops in our district

–May purchase computers, technological equipment, software, textbooks and supplies with Title I funds.

B. The school district will, with the assistance of its schools, provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their

children’s academic achievement, such as literacy training, and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement, by:

–SPAC conferences (Pennsylvania State Parent Advisory Council)
–IUIV parental workshops
–IUIV Title I Parent Resource Center Order Forms
–Links from the school website

C. The school district will, with the assistance of its school and parents, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals and other staff; in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners in the value and utility of contributions of parents and in how to implement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and schools, by:

–Title I School Compacts

–Handouts/Brochures

–Personal Contracts: meetings, phone calls, letters

–Links from the school website

D. The school district will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters, the Parents as teachers Program, and public preschool and other programs, and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children, by:

–Scottie Pups Literacy Program (0-3 years old)
–Pre-school program (4 year olds)
–Americorps tutoring program
–Head Start program
–STAR Program (Students Taking Academic Responsibilities)
–Family Reading Week
–Read Across America

E. The school district will take the following actions to ensure that information related to the school and parent–programs, meetings, and other activities, is sent to the parents of participating children in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand:

–Letters and information sent home
–Phone calls home
–Provide invitations, personal meetings, conferences, and programs
PART III. DISCRETIONARY DISTRICT WIDE PARENTAL
INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

NOTE: The district-wide Parental Involvement Policy may include additional paragraphs listing and describing other discretionary activities that the school district, in consultation with its parents, chooses to undertake to build parents’ capacity for involvement in the school and school system to support their children’s academic achievement, such as the following discretionary activities listed under section 1118(e) of the ESEA:

–involving parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of that training;
–providing necessary literacy training for parents from Title I, Part A funds, if the school district has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for that training;
–paying reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;

–training parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;

–in order to maximize parental involvement and participation in their children’s education, arranging school meetings at a variety of times, or conducting in- home conferences between teachers or other educators, who work directly with participating children, with parents who are unable to attend those conferences at school;

–adopting and implementing model approaches to improving parental involvement

–establishing a district wide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title I, Part A programs;

–developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith-based organizations, in parental involvement activities; and

–providing other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under section 1118 as parents may request.

SCHOOL-PARENT COMPACT
The Union Memorial Elementary School and the parents of the students participating in activities, services, and programs funded by Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) participating children, agree that this compact outlines how the parents, the entire school staff, and the students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership that will help children achieve the State’s high standards.
This school-parent compact is in effect during the 2010-2011 school year.
School Responsibilities

The Union Memorial Elementary School will:

1. Provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the participating children to meet the State’s student academic achievement standards as follows:

–as support in the regular classroom and in a small group setting

–by using texts and educational material that meet state educational standards

–by using available computer-based educational materials

–by monitoring student achievement with school-wide assessment and individual assessment at the beginning, middle and end of the school year

2. Hold parent-teacher conferences during which this compact will be discussed as it relates to the individual child’s achievement. Those conferences will be held specifically at the beginning of the school year during the initiation of the program.

3. Provide parents with frequent reports on their child’s progress. The school will provide information as a bi-yearly report that will be sent home.

4. Provide parents reasonable access to staff. The staff will be available to the parents as requested throughout the year at the school.

5. Provide parents opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and to observe classroom activities as a regular volunteer in the class, to view the work of the student, to monitor the progress that has occurred and to encourage that progress within the classroom.

Parent Responsibilities

We, as parents, will support our children’s learning in the following ways:

–monitoring attendance

–making sure that homework is completed

–monitoring the amount of television my child watches

–volunteering in my child’s classroom

–participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to my child’s education

–staying informed about my child’s education and communicating with the school by promptly reading all notices from the school or school district either received by my child or by mail and responding, as appropriate

–serving, to the extent possible, on policy advisory groups, such as being the Title I Part A parent representative on the school’s School Improvement Team, the Title I Policy Advisory Committee, the District-wide Policy Advisory Council, the State’s Committee of Practitioners, the School Support Team or other school advisory or policy groups

Student Responsibilities

I, as a student, will share the responsibility to improve my academic achievement and achieve the State’s high standards. Specifically, I will:

–do my homework daily and ask for help when needed

–read at least 15 minutes every day outside of school time

–give to my parents or the adult who is responsible for my welfare all notices and information received by me from my school every day

Title I School-Parent Involvement Policy
Union Memorial Elementary School

The Title I Parent Involvement section of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires each Title I school to develop a written parental involvement policy that describes the means for carrying out the requirement of section 1118. The Union Memorial Elementary School does this by these methods:

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may review the Parent Involvement Policy in a understandable format and language provided to them by the fall of each year.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may be involved in the planning review, and improvement of the school’s Parent Involvement Policy through the distribution of the school- parent compact in the fall of each year.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may be invited to annual meetings held to inform them of the school’s participation in the title I program and to explain the requirements of the program and their right to be involved by the yearly open house and parent conferences held at their convenience.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may be reimbursed for reasonable expenses associated with parent involvement activities to enable them to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions by Title I funds.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may be involved in the planning, review and improvement of the program and by the timely informational report about the program offered at the middle and end of the school year.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may review the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessment used to measure student’s progress and the proficiency levels that the students are expected to meet.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may receive assistance in understanding the state’s academic content standards and student achievement standards, local academic assessments and how to monitor a student’s progress and work with teachers to improve the achievement of their children.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may receive when requested, opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children and to respond to any such suggestions as soon as possible.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may be invited to jointly develop a school-parent compact the outlines the responsibilities of the parents, entire school staff and students to improve student achievement.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may receive material and training to help in working with their children to improve their child’s achievement, as appropriate, to foster parent involvement.

–The parents of the school’s Title I students may be ensured that information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities will be sent to the parent of participating children in a format and in a language the parents can understand.

SCHOOL-PARENT COMPACT
The Union Area Middle School and the parents of the students participating in activities, services, and programs funded by title I, Part a of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) participating children agree that this compact outlines how the parents. The entire school staff, and the students will share the responsibility for improved students academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership that will help children achieve the State’s high standards.
This school-parent compact is in effect during school year 2010-2011..
School Responsibilities

The Union Area Middle School will

–as support in the regular classroom and in a small group setting

–through the use of texts or educational materials that meet state standards

–through the use of computer-based educational materials to aid in academic achievement

–by monitoring student achievement through assessment at the beginning, middle and end of the school year

2. Hold annual parent-teacher conferences during which this compact will be discussed as it relates to the individual child’s achievement. These conferences will be held specifically at the beginning of the school year during the initiation of the program.

3. Provide parents with frequent reports on their children’s progress. Specifically, the school will provide reports through a bi-yearly report sent home with students.

4. Provide parents reasonable access to staff. The staff will be available for consultation with parents at conferences arranged on an as-needed basis at the school.

5. Provide parents opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and to observe classroom activities as a regular volunteer of services and to view the work of the student and the school setting.

Parent Responsibilities

We, as parents, will support our children’s learning in the following ways:

–monitoring attendance

–making sure that homework is completed

–monitoring the amount of television my child watches

–volunteering in my child’s classroom

–participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to my children’s education

–promoting positive use of my child’s extracurricular time

–staying informed about my child’s education and communicating with the school by promptly reading all notices from the school or the school district either received by my child or by mail and responding as appropriate.

Student Responsibilities

I, as a student, will share the responsibility to improve my academic achievement and achieve the State’s high standards. Specifically, I will:

–do my homework daily and ask for help when needed

–read at least 15 minutes every day outside of school time

–give to my parents or the adult who is responsible for my welfare all notices and information received by me from my school every day

Title I School Parent Involvement Policy
Union Area Middle School

–Title I parents may review the program policy by the fall of each year.

–A copy of the policy is given or made available to parents of qualified Title I students.

–The policy is written in a format and language that is understandable for parents.

–The policy states how parents will be involved in the planning, review, and improvement of the school’s Parent Involvement Policy.

–The policy states that an annual meeting will be held to inform parents of the school’s participation in the Title I program, the requirements of the program, and their right to be involved.

–The policy states that meetings with administration, teachers, parents and students will be available during school hours.

–The policy state that Title I funds may be used to pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parent involvement activities.

–The policy describes responsibilities in parental involvement, planning, review and improvement of the school’s Title I program.

–Parents will be notified of student progress with various reports sent home throughout the school year.

–The school will provide parents with the information/explanation of the curriculum and forms of assessment used to monitor student progress.

–Parents will be provided opportunities to participate in various workshops, meetings, and conferences to help improve academic achievement of their children.

–Parents will have the opportunity to discuss, suggest and participate in meetings concerning the education of their children.

–In order to improve student achievement, a school compact exists which lists the school, parent and student responsibilities.

–The policy describes how the school provides materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s achievement and foster positive parent involvement.

–Notification of school information, programs, meetings, and other activities will be sent home in a format and language that the parents can understand.