December 16, 2015

School Parental Involvement Policy

The home/school cooperative system will help each student arrive at

 his/her academic potential as well as develop responsibility and self

discipline. This combined effort of home and school assists the

academic achievement.

 Gregory-Lincoln Education Center has established such programs as

 the following to encourage strong parental involvement at a school wide level.

·         School Calendar

·         Title 1 Family Math/Science Nights

·         Parent Questionnaires/Surveys

·         Dig It Days

·         Occasional School Contest-Spelling Bee, Math Contest…

·         School Open House

·         Meet the Teacher Night

·         Parent/Teacher Organization-P.T.O.

·         Parent Advisory Council-PAC

·         Title 1 School/Parent Compact

·         Sit and Sip with the Principal

·         Volunteers-In Public Schools

·         School Sports games/ Field Lessons

 Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will implement these and other activities that will encourage parental involvement through the Title 1 program.  Individual personnel will assist in carrying out these activities as well as participate in workshops and meetings

All activities will be in compliance with Houston Independent School District Parental Involvement Plan.  Parents will have an adequate opportunity to participate in all segments of parental activities.

PART 1   GENERAL EXPECTAIONS

Gregory-Lincoln Education Center agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

• Consistent with section 1118, the school will work to ensure that the required school level parental involvement policies meet the requirements of section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). See Enclosure.

• Schools will notify parents of the policy in an understandable and uniform format and. To the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand.  The policy will be made available to the local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of the parents and the school.

• In caring out the Title 1, Part A, parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, 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 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 language parents understand.

• If the school-wide program plan for Title 1, Part A, developed under section 1114 (b) of the ESEA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school will submit any parent comments with the plan when the school submits the plan to the local educational agency (school district).

• The school will build its own and the parent’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 student academic achievement.

• The school will provide other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under section 1118 of the ESEA as the parents may request.

• The school will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and 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—

1. That parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;
2. That parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;
3. That parents 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;
4. The carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA.

Part II   Description of how schools will implement required school   

               parental involvement policy components

2. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of its school parental involvement plan under section 1118 of the ESEA: Our school annually invites parents to participate in review and revision meetings to examine and discuss Our  School Improvement Plan and Parent Involvement Policy. Participating in the PAC by attending the Four  yearly meetings: October 22, 2015; December 17, 2015;February 25, 2016; and May 19, 2016.
3. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116 of the ESEA: The school’s parent council consistently reviews school policy in an organized, ongoing and timely way.  An organized Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) has been established in our school to create a forum for parental input and involvement.  Our PTO affiliation connects our school to parental involvement resources at the state and national level.  The parent advisory council (PAC) is a collaboration between the school and parents which allows parents to participate in jointly developing and building consensus for a school Parental Involvement Policy.

3. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will hold annual meetings to inform parents of the school’s participation in Title 1, Part A programs.  The school will convene the meeting at a time convenient for parents and will offer a flexible number of additional parental involvement meetings, such as in the morning or evening, so that as many parents as possible are able to attend.  The school will invite all parents of children participating in Title 1, Part A programs to this meeting, and will encourage them to attend by:

      Parents are invited to participate in a variety of meetings and activities over the

             course of the school year.  An Open House and Meet the Teacher Night is held in

     August and September to provide parents the opportunity to formally visit their

     child’s classroom to become better informed about grade level expectations and

     their student’s academic progress. The Open House for 2015 was held August 17.

     In order to meet the needs of our diverse of parents, training on a multitude of topics are

     obtainable year round between the hours of 7:00 am and 7:00 pm.  Formal trainings and

     workshop are scheduled throughout the year guided by a parent input and survey data and

     vary in date and time.  Childcare is offered on site for these events.  In cases in which

     transportation is a barrier for a parent to become involved in our school, the

     Administrative Team makes special arrangements to link that parent to needed

     resources and events. The PTO meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of each month

     except for November and December. 

     Parents are invited to participate in a parent-teacher conference at lease twice a

     year to discuss their child’s progress.  Teachers may receive parents before, during

     and after school to accommodate as many reciprocating parents as possible.

4. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will provide parents of participating children information in a timely manner about Title 1, Part A programs that includes a description and explanation of the school’s curriculum, the forms of academic assessment used to measure children’s progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet by: Our school communicates with parents often the state’s curricular and assessment expectations, school wide requirements in relation to the delivery of instruction, the techniques utilized to evaluate student work, and individual classroom routines pertinent to the academic success of our students.  We use a variety of communicative techniques such as our School Handbook, Communication Folders, School Messenger  (phone call system), individual notes/calls home, parent/teacher conferences, PTO meetings, PAC meetings, Family Fun Nights,  Surveys (paper and phone)The Voice, parent workshops, Open House and Meet the Teacher Night.

 The HISD curriculum is based on the TEKS, including non-negotiable objectives that must be taught at every grade level.  The sutdents are evaluated using Benchmark testing, IStation, MyOn, Think Through Math  and teacher made test. Parents are notified of their child’s progress with Mid-term progress reports, report cards, benchmark results, and fluency scores.

5. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will at the request of parents, provide opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions about the education of their children.  The school will respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible by: Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will provide each parent an individual student report about the performance of their child on the State assessment in at least math, language arts and reading by: Sending home reports to parents each nine weeks: October 30, 2015; January 8, 2016; March 24, 2016; May 25, 2016.  Test results will be sent to parents in April, May and June.

6. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will take the following actions to provide each parent timely notice when their child has been assigned or has been taught for four (4) or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified within the meaning of the term in section 200.56 of the Title 1 Final Regulations (67 Fed. Reg. 71710, December 2,2002) by: Notices will be sent to the parents

7. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will provide assistance to parents of children served by the school, as appropriate, in understanding topics by undertaking the actions described in this paragraph---

·         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 Part A,

·         How to monitor their child’s progress, and

·         How to work with educators:

·         The Starr Parent Trainings

·         SWOT Analysis with parents

8. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will 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:

Providing monthly parent training meetings

9. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will, with the assistance of its parents, educate its teachers, pupil service 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: Offering a Summer Forum for Parent Involvement

10. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters, the Parent as Teachers Program, public preschool, and other programs.  The school will also conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children, by: Offering the parents the use of the Parent Resource Room/ Library

11. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will take the following actions to ensure that the information related to the school and parent-programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to 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 school calendar, web site, school flyers and School Messenger call out system will keep the parents up to date about school activities and testing.  All communication will be in English and Spanish.

PART  III.       ADOPTION

 This school Parental Involvement Policy has been developed jointly with, and agreed on with, parents of children participating in Title1, Part A programs, as evidence by___________________________________________.

 This policy was adopted by Houston Independence School District on December 9, 2010 and will be in effect for the period of the 2015-2016 school year.  The school will distribute this policy to all parents of participating Title 1, Part A children on or before December 17, 2014.