PARENT INFORMATION

 

  

Parent Involvement Policy

2009-2010

Part I. General Expectations

Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring that parents:

· play an integral role in assisting their child's learning

· are encouraged to be actively involved in their child's education at school

· 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.

Marquette School agrees to implement the following:

· The building will put into operation programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of parents in our school. Those programs, activities, and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents.

· The school 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 in an understandable and uniform format and including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents understand.

· The school will involve the parents of children in decisions about how Title I funds reserved for parental involvement are spent.

 

Part II. Implementation of Parental Involvement Components

Marquette School will involve parents in the development of its school-wide parental involvement policy.

Marquette School will welcome, encourage, and recruit parents to participate in the process of school review and improvement to improve student academic achievement and performance.

Marquette School will provide an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of the school at an annual meeting with the involvement of parents. This 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 used findings of the evaluation/surveys about its parental involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary, its parental involvement policies and activities.

Marquette School's parental involvement policy will be presented to parents at an annual parent meeting for review, parental input, and dissemination. The policy will also be available in various formats including a paper document or online at our web site.

 

Marquette School will work together with parents to enhance the school community's capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and the community to improve students' academic achievement, through the following activities:

 

1. Provide assistance to parents of children served by the school district or school in understanding topics such as the following:

· Michigan's academic content standards

· Michigan's student academic achievement standards

· Michigan and local academic assessments

· The Title I, Part A requirements

· How to monitor their child's progress

· How to work with educators

 

2. Provide communication, materials and training in a variety of ways including classroom and school-wide newsletters and parent meetings to help parents work with their children to improve their academic achievement. We will also make access to technology available to our parents in our building.

 

3. Marquette will continue to educate its teachers and other staff in parental involvement strategies to include: how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners; the importance of parental contributions, and how to implement and coordinate parent programs to build ties between our parents and school.

 

4. Marquette will develop practices that encourage parent involvement: This will consist of such things as:

· making sure that all activities are offered at times convenient to parents

· setting high expectations for parent involvement

· using Easy Caller system to keep parents involved

· sending frequent communication to parents about units of instruction and required learning

· helping parents to understand expected performance standards and what they can do help students achieve those standards

· recognizing parents who assist, participate, and attend school functions; i.e. PTO meetings, volunteering in classroom, assisting with field trips, provision of assistance at home, attending parent meetings, etc.

We must work together to be accountable for the learning of all students.

 

5. Marquette School will develop with parents, students, and staff a school-parent-student compact that outlines how all parents, the school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student achievement. The compact includes the schools responsibility to provide high quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment in order for children to meet the State's student achievement standards. It also outlines the parent responsibility to support their children's learning in different ways. The students' responsibility to participate fully and take advantage of the learning opportunities provided is also described.

 

6. Marquette School will ensure that the information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities be sent to parents in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and to the extent practicable in a language the parents can understand.

 

7. Marquette School will integrate and coordinate parental involvement strategies with parental involvement strategies under the following programs: Reading First, MiBLSI, Michigan School Readiness Program, High Scope, National Network of Partnership Schools, and any other similar programs developed.

 

Part III. Adoption

This school Parental Involvement Policy has been developed jointly, with, and agreed upon with, parents of students in our building, including those involved in Title I, Part A programs. The members of the committee who participated in its development included the building administrator, the school improvement team, and parents.