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Pinelands
Regional Board
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A school district that
receives Title I funds must implement programs, activities and procedures for the
involvement of parents in programs assisted by Title I funding. The district will reserve not less than one
percent of its allocation under subpart 2 to carry out these requirements,
(unless the district’s allocation is $5,000 or less), which shall include
promoting family literacy and parenting skills. Parents of pupils receiving Title I services shall be involved in
the decisions regarding how funds will be allotted for parental involvement
activities.
Each school served with
Title I funds shall jointly develop with, and distribute to, parents of
participating pupils, this parental involvement policy, agreed on by such
parents, that shall describe the means for carrying out the requirements of No
Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001,
§1119(a) through (f). Parents
will be notified of this policy in an understandable and uniform format and, to
the extent practicable, provided in a language the parents can understand. This policy shall be made available to the
local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents
and schools within the district.
“Parent”, for the purposes
of this policy, means a parent and/or legal guardian. “School”, for the purposes of this policy, is a specific school
in a Target Assistance Title I program or schools within the district in a
school-wide Title I program.
Policy Involvement
Each
school served with Title I funds will:
1. Convene an annual meeting, at a
convenient time, to which all parents of participating pupils shall be invited
and encouraged to attend, to inform parents of their school’s participation and
the requirements of this Policy, and the right of the parents to be involved;
2. Offer a flexible number of meetings,
such as meetings in the morning or evening, and may provide, with Title I
funds, transportation, child care, or home visits, as such services relate to
parental involvement;
3. Involve parents, in an organized,
ongoing, and timely way, in the planning, review, and improvement of programs,
including the planning, review, and improvement of the school parental
involvement policy and the joint development of the school-wide program plan
under NCLB, §1114(b)(2);
4. Provide parents of participating
pupils:
a. timely information about programs
required by NCLB, §1118;
b. a description and explanation of the
curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessment used to
measure student progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to
meet; and
c. 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; and
5. Submit any parent comments on the plan
when the school makes the plan available to the Board of Education, if the
school-wide program plan under §1114(b)(2) of NCLB is not satisfactory to the
parents of participating pupils.
Shared Responsibilities
For High Student Academic Achievement
Each school served by Title
I funds shall jointly develop with parents of all pupils served with Title I
funds, a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, the entire school
staff, and 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 to help children achieve the State’s high standards. The compact will:
1. Describe the school’s responsibility to
provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective
learning environment that enables the pupils served by Title I funds to meet
the State’s student academic achievement standards, and the ways in which each
parent will be responsible for supporting their children’s learning, such as
monitoring attendance, homework completion, and television watching;
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; and
2. Address the importance of communication
between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis through, at a minimum:
a. parent-teacher conferences in
elementary schools, at least annually, during which the compact shall be
discussed as the compact relates to the individual pupil’s achievement;
b. frequent reports to parents on their
children’s progress; and
c. reasonable access to staff,
opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and
observation of classroom activities.
Building Capacity For
Involvement
To ensure effective
involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school involved,
parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, each school
and school district assisted with Title I funds:
1. Shall provide assistance to parents of
pupils served by the school in understanding such topics as the State’s
academic content standards and State student academic achievement 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;
2. Shall provide materials and training to
help parents to work with their children to improve their children’s
achievement, such as literacy training and using technology, as appropriate, to
foster parental involvement;
3. Shall educate teachers, pupil services
personnel, Building Principals, and other staff, with the assistance of
parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to
reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners,
implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and
the school;
4. Shall, to the extent feasible and
appropriate, coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs and
activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, the
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 to more
fully participate in the education of their children;
5. 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;
6. May involve parents in the development
of training for teachers, Principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness
of such training;
7. May provide necessary literacy training
from Title I funds if the school
district has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for
such training;
8. 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;
9. May train parents to enhance the
involvement of other parents;
10. 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, with parents who are unable to
attend such conferences at school, in order to maximize parental involvement
and participation;
11. May adopt and implement model approaches
to improving parental involvement;
12. May establish a district-wide parent
advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental
involvement in Title I programs;
13. May develop appropriate roles for
community-based organizations and businesses in parent involvement activities;
and
14. Shall provide such other reasonable
support for parental involvement activities under this Policy as parents may
request.
Accessibility
In carrying out the
parental involvement requirements of NCLB, §1118 and this Policy, the school
and school district, to the extent practicable, shall provide full
opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency,
parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, to include
providing information and school reports required under NCLB, §1111 in a format
and, to the extent practicable, in a language such parents understand.
The district will inform parents
of any parental information and resource centers that provide training,
information, and support to parents and individuals who work with local
parents, school districts, and schools receiving Title I funds.
The Superintendent of
Schools will submit this Policy to the New Jersey Department of Education for
review to be sure the Policy meets the requirements of NCLB, §1118.
No Child Left Behind Act of
2001, §1118
Adopted: 11 August
2005