Tallapoosa County Parent and Family Engagement

Tallapoosa County Schools understand that parent and family engagement means the participation of parents and families in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring:

• Parents and families play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning
• Parents and families are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school
• Parents and families are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child

Tallapoosa County Schools agree to implement the following requirements as outlined by ESSA Section 1116:

A. Annual Title I Meeting

Tallapoosa County Schools will take the following actions to conduct an annual meeting, at a convenient time, and encourage and invite all parents of participating children to attend to inform them about the school’s Title I program, the nature of the Title I program, the parents’ requirements, the school parental involvement policy, the school-wide plan and the school-parent compact.

B. Jointly Developed

Tallapoosa County Schools will take the following actions to involve parents in an organized, ongoing, and timely way, in the planning, review, and improvement of programs under Title I, Part A, including the planning, review, and improvement of the Parent and Family Engagement Policy and the joint development of the school-wide program plan. At the beginning of the school year, each school will meet with parents and other stakeholders. During this meeting, parents will receive information about the Parent and Family Engagement Plan and will be informed of their parental right to be involved in the planning and development of the plan through meetings, surveys, and questionnaires. If the program plan is not satisfactory to parents, they may submit comments on the plan to the school administrator.

C. Communication

Tallapoosa County Schools will provide parents of participating children timely information about programs under Title I, including:

a) A description and explanation of the curriculum in use

b) Forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress

c) Achievement levels of the challenging State academic standards

d) If requested by parents, opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions and participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children and respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicable possible information related to the school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities, will be 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. The Parent and Family Engagement Policy will be discussed with parents during parent-teacher conferences at the beginning of the school year. The policy will be assessed each year based on the number of participants, the number of volunteers, and the responses to the parent questionnaires and/or surveys. Parents will be involved in planning, reviewing, and improving the policy through a yearly review. All parents will have the opportunity to participate in this review.

D. Dissension Process

Each school will submit any comments/concerns to the Tallapoosa County Superintendent’s office if the school-wide plan and/or parent and family engagement policy is not satisfactory to parents. Any comments/concerns can be emailed to the Director of Federal Programs, Kathy Ledbetter: kathy.ledbetter@tallapoosak12.org

E. School-Parent Compact

Tallapoosa County Schools will take the following actions to jointly develop with parents of participating children a school-parent compact that outlines how families, school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and develop a partnership to help children achieve the state’s high standard and how the plan is used, reviewed, and updated. Each Tallapoosa County School will hold an annual parent meeting to review and discuss any needed changes to jointly developed school compact. This compact will outline how the entire school staff, parents, and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement. The compact will describe not only the school’s responsibility in providing high-quality instruction and curriculum but the student and parent's responsibilities for meeting and supporting the learning processes.

F. Build Capacity of Parents

Tallapoosa County Schools will build the parents’ capacity for strong parental involvement to ensure effective involvement of parents and families and to support a partnership among the school and the community to improve student academic achievement through the following:

a) Materials and training to help parents to work with their child to improve their child’s achievement, such as literacy training and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement

b) Provide assistance to parents of participating children, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following:

• The State’s academic content standards
• The State’s student academic achievement standards
• The State and local academic assessments including alternate assessments
• The requirements of Title I, Part A
• How to monitor their child’s progress
• How to work with educators to improve the achievement of their children

c) Educate school personnel, specialized instructional support personnel, principals, and other school leaders, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of the 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.

d) Coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with other Federal, State, and local programs, including public preschool programs, and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents to fully participate in the education of their child(ren).

G. Accessibility

Tallapoosa County Schools are carrying out the parent and family engagement requirements of this part, to the extent practicable, shall provide full opportunities, for the participation of parents and family members (including parents and family members with limited English proficiency, parents and family members with disabilities, and parents and family members of migratory children), including providing information and school reports required under section 1111 in a format, and to the extent practicable, in a language such parents understand.

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Parent volunteers may be asked to work within the community to garner support for events such as Field Day, Family Nights, PTA Meetings, parent conferences, and various other parent events. Surveys will be sent out to parents to gather input from parents regarding topics of need and to identify barriers to parent participation. Parent workshops will be held as needed to encourage parental involvement in academia.

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