In support of strengthening learner academic achievement, the West Fargo Public Schools which receives Title I, Part A funds, hereafter referred to as “District/Schools”, must jointly develop with, agree with, and distribute to parents and family members of participating children a written Parent and Family Engagement Policy that contains information required by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  The policy establishes the District/School’s expectations and objectives for meaningful parent and family engagement and describes how the district will implement a number of specific parent and family engagement activities.

Definitions

This policy defines the following:

• Parent means a biological, adoptive, step or foster father or mother, or any other individual who stands in loco parentis to the learner.
• Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving learner academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring:

1. Parents play an integral role in assisting their child's learning;
2. Parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child's education at school;
3. 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; and
4. Other activities are carried out, such as those described in ESSA.

• Family/family members are adults living in a learner’s household who are related to the learner and/or adult relatives living outside the learner’s household who, based on a school administrator’s knowledge, play a direct and active role in the learner’s education (e.g., volunteer in school, attend school meetings).

District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy Requirements

The District/Schools agree to implement the following requirements as outlined in law:

1. The District/Schools shall put into operation programs, activities, and procedures for the engagement of parents and family members in all its schools with Title I, Part A programs.  These programs, activities, and procedures must be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents and family members of participating children.
2. The District/Schools shall work to ensure that the required District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy meets the Title I, Part A requirements, and includes as a component, a school-parent compact.
3. The District/Schools shall incorporate this District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy into its district plan.
4. The District/Schools shall 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 District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy and the joint development of the targeted assistance or schoolwide program plan.
5. The District/Schools shall update the District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school, distribute it to the parents of participating children, and make the Parent and Family Engagement Policy available to the local community.
6. The District/Schools shall provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, limited literacy, disabilities, of migratory children, who are economically disadvantaged, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background, including providing information and school reports required under ESSA in an understandable and uniform format including alternative formats upon request and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents understand.
7. If the District/Schools plan for Title I, Part A is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the District shall submit any parent comments with the plan when the District submits the plan to Department of Public Instruction.

Required District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy Components

The District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy includes a description of how the school may implement or accomplish each of the following components:

1. Joint Development

The District/Schools shall take the following actions to involve parents and family members in jointly developing its district-school plan, and in the development and review of support and improvement plans: Parents will be involved in reviewing the Parent and Family Engagement Policy annually and providing school personnel with feedback, if needed. In additional Parent and Family stakeholders will provide input on Targeted Assistant or Comprehensive support plans, when appropriate.

2. Annual Title I, Part A Meeting

Each district school who receives Title I, Part A funds shall 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 District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy, the schoolwide plan, and the school-parent compact.

     3. Technical Assistance

The District/Schools shall provide the following coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist and build capacity of all Title I, Part A schools in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement activities to improve learner academic achievement and school performance, which may include meaningful consultation with employers, business leaders, and philanthropic organizations, or individuals with expertise in effectively engaging parents and family members in education.

4. Annual Evaluation

The District/Schools shall take the following actions to conduct, with the meaningful involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy in improving the academic quality of its Title I, Part A schools.  The evaluation must include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in 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 evaluation must also include identifying the needs of parents and family members to assist with the learning of their children, including engaging with school personnel and educators and strategies to support successful school and family interactions.  The District may use the findings of the evaluation about its District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy to design evidence-based strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary, its District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy.

1. 1. Educators will send home information and materials will be translated if necessary and practicable.
   2. Title I Progress Reports
   3. Annual Review Meeting Minutes
   4. Parent Notification Letters
   5. School-Parent Compact
   6. Solicited feedback in the spring of each year to plan for continuous improvement in the upcoming school year

5. Reservation of Funds (only applicable to districts with Title I allocations of $500,000 or more)

If applicable, the District/Schools shall involve the parents and family members of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the 1 percent of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parent and family engagement is spent and will ensure that not less than 90 percent of the 1 percent reserved goes directly to Title I schools.

1. 1. Each Title I building will communicate the opportunities that are planned utilizing these funds and solicit feedback for future events and activities.

      6. Coordination of Services

The District/Schools shall, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement programs and activities with other relevant Federal, State, and local laws and programs such as community service providers and area colleges that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children.

      7. Building Capacity of Parents and Family Members

The District/Schools shall build the schools’ and parents’ capacity for strong parent and family engagement by providing materials and training on such topics as literacy training and using technology to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s academic achievement.  Assistance will also be provided to parents in understanding the following topics:

1. 1. The challenging State academic standards;
   2. The State and local academic assessments including alternate assessments;
   3. The requirements of Title I, Part A;
   4. How to monitor their child’s progress; and
   5. How to work with educators to improve the achievement of their child.

Each Title I building will provide information annually through building newsletters on the specific activities that they will provide to support families in helping their children’s academic success.  

The District/Schools shall provide parent and family engagement of participating children, if requested, 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 request as soon as practically possible:

Each Title I building will utilize a newsletter and/or other digital communication strategy in order to regularly provide communication with families, and receive communication. Requests for further meetings will be requested through those communications, as set up in the fall of each school year.

     8. Building Capacity of District Staff

The District/Schools shall, with the assistance of its schools and parents, educate its educators, specialized instructional support personnel, principals and other school leaders, and other staff 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 schools by:

Each Title I building will provide information annually through their Strategy Map and Schoolwide Title I goals. These plans are built off an annual needs assessment, which will drive the activities that are planned to support educating the personnel in each Title I building. 

The District/Schools shall provide other reasonable support for parent and family engagement activities as parents may request.

      9. School-Parent Compact

Each district school who receives Title I, Part A shall take the following actions to jointly develop with parents of participating children a school-parent compact (KAB-E) that outlines how parents, the entire school staff, and learners may share the responsibility for improved learner academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents may build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the state’s high standards.

Each Title I building will review the school-parent compact from the previous year with stakeholders (staff and parents) to work towards continuous improvement of the document, while maintaining all required components. Once the version is updated for the school year, it will be provided to all learners and parents at the school.

      10. Communications

Each district school who receives Title I, Part A shall take the following actions to provide parents of participating children the following:

1. Timely information about the Title I programs,
2. Flexible number of meetings, such as meetings in the morning or evening, and may provide with Title I funds, transportation, childcare or home visits, as such services relate to parent and family engagement, and
3. 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.

Each Title I building will provide this information in full to all learners and parents in the first trimester of the school year and will continue to make notes of ongoing dates and opportunities through the schools newsletter and communication tools set up in each classroom.

Building Capacity for Engagement

The District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy may include additional paragraphs listing and describing other discretionary activities that the district, in meaningful consultation with its parents, choose to undertake to build parents’ capacity for involvement in the school to support their children’s academic achievement, such as the following discretionary activities listed in ESSA. The District shall implement the following District/Schools Parent and Family Engagement Policy components to improve family-school partnerships:

1. Involve parents in the development of training for educators, principals, and other staff to improve the effectiveness of that training;
2. Provide necessary literacy training for parents from Title I, Part A funds if the school has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for that training;
3. Pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with local parent and family engagement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;
4. Train parents to enhance the engagement of other parents;
5. Maximize parent and family engagement and the participation in their child’s education, arrange school meetings at a variety of times or conduct in-home conferences with educators or other staffs who work directly with participating children and parents who are unable to attend conferences at school;
6. Adopt and implement model approaches to improving parent and family engagement;
7. Establish a districtwide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parent and family engagement in Title I, Part A programs; and
8. Develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith-based organizations, in parent and family engagement activities.

Policy Adoption and Dissemination

The Board shall annually review this policy and any associated policy templates.  The District/Schools will distribute this policy annually to all parents of participating Title I, Part A children.

Adopted:    02/13/06

Reviewed: 10/4/2016

Revised: 09/27/11

09/05/17

05/23/23