School Parent and Family Engagement Policy

DeKalb International Student Center 2018 – 2019 School Year

www.internationalct.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Revision Date: 9/17/2018

Title I, Part A, Section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that each school served under Title I, Part A, develop jointly with, agree on with, and distribute to parents and family members of participating children a written parent and family engagement policy/plan.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THE SCHOOL WILL IMPLEMENT REQUIRED SCHOOLWIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT GOALS:

Goal Area I: Student Success with Equity and Access Improve student’s mastery of learning standards

•	 The DeKalb County School District will increase the percentage of students scoring at the Developing Learner level or above on the Georgia Milestones Literature End of Grade (EOG) Assessment.

•	 The DeKalb County School District will increase the percentage of students scoring at the Developing Learner level or above on the Georgia Milestones Math End of Grade (EOG) Assessment.

DeKalb International Student Center ACADEMIC GOALS:

Adapted from the Georgia Department of Education | Revised September 17, 2018 | Page 1 of 8

By the end of the school year, we will improve student mastery of academically rigorous learning standards in Language and Reading Comprehension, as measured by:

 Increase the number of students achieving a positive movement within a performance band on the ACCESS 2.0 by 3%
 Increase the percentage of students’ performance moving from Level A to Level B on iRead by 3%
 Meet or exceed mean expected growth projection for RIT scores by 3% on the Reading and Language MAP assessment in grades 7-8.

Our school will focus on the following areas of achievement: • Reading Comprehension
• All language domains: Speaking, Writing, Listening, Reading • MAP Skills
• MAP Growth Reports • iRead
• ACCESS 2.0
• Leveled Literacy Intervention
• WIDA Can-do Descriptors (Language Progress Monitoring Tool)

JOINTLY DEVELOPED

The DeKalb International Student Center will take the following actions to involve parents in an organized, ongoing, and timely manner in the planning, review, and improvement of Title I programs, including opportunities for regular meetings, if requested by parents, to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their child and respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible.

Parents are encouraged to attend Stakeholder’s Input Meetings to jointly develop the Parent and Family Engagement Policy, School-Parent Compact, provide suggestions for Building Capacity of School Staff, and use of the 1% parent and family engagement set aside. Suggestions should be based on student needs and school improvement goals. Parents are encouraged to participate in the school’s parent surveys. We also encourage our parents to attend school events/activities to provide input throughout the year. The events/activities are listed below, but not limited to:
·	Stakeholder’s Input Sessions ·	International Day
·	Technology Day ·	Title I Meetings

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ANNUAL TITLE I MEETING

DeKalb International Student Center 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 schoolwide plan, and the school-parent compact.

DeKalb International Student Center will hold the Annual Title I Meeting in September 19, 2018. Invitations will be sent to all parents via: School Messenger, school website, flyers in primary languages and school marquee.

COMMUNICATIONS

The DeKalb International Student Center will take the following actions to provide parents of participating children the following:
·	Timely information about the Title I programs

·	 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.
·	 Residential facilities (Homeless, foster care, and N&D) in our school’s attendance area are included in our parent and family engagement correspondence and activities
·	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:

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We provide timely notices of Title I meetings, activities, and academic progress via the school website, Infinite Campus, and School Messenger, marquee, Parent bulletin board and flyers in primary language. These communications allow parents time to adjust their schedules for meetings and to be aware of their child’s performance at school.

The school marquee is provided as an additional means of communication with our stakeholders. Curriculum Night is held at the beginning of each year where administrators and teachers provide parents information about the curriculum, academic assessments used to measure student progress and testing data. Title I Stakeholder Input meetings are provided at multiple dates and times to parents and stakeholders to respond to any suggestions or ideas they may have related to the education of their child. This information is then used to develop the school parent policy, school-parent compact, and 1% parent and family engagement set aside.

SCHOOL-PARENT COMPACT

DeKalb International Student Center will take the following actions to jointly develop with parents of participating children a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, the school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement. The school-parent-compact will serve as an additional means of communicating how the school and parents will strengthen the partnership between school and home to increase student achievement.

As part of this plan, our school and families will jointly develop a school-parent compact, which is an agreement that parents, teachers, and students will develop that explains how parents and teachers will work together to make sure all our students approach and/or are exposed to grade-level standards. The compacts will be reviewed and updated annually based on feedback from parents, students, and teachers during the Title I Stakeholder’s Input Meeting.

The compact will explain how the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children improve student mastery of academically rigorous learning standards in all Science, Math, Social Studies, and English Language Arts classes. Compacts will be sent home with all students in the primary language, placed on the school’s website and in the front office. Parents are asked to sign and return the signature sheet.

RESERVATION OF FUNDS

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DeKalb International Student Center will take the following actions to involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the 1 percent of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent by:

Parents will participate in the development of the 1% parent and family engagement set aside during the Stakeholder’s Input Meetings. Interpreters will be provided, as necessary. Parents are also encouraged to complete surveys regarding the parental set-aside. Surveys will be made available in the top 5 languages of the student body. The information will be shared at the Annual Title I meeting on September 19, 2018.

COORDINATION OF SERVICES

DeKalb International Student Center will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Even Start, 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 in more fully participating in the education of their children by:

Our school will designate a staff member to collaborate with schools in DeKalb County School District and designated agencies to support students and families. Additionally, we will provide families and students support in transitioning to their home school. We will also provide support as students’ transition from 5th and 8th grades by inviting parents and students to a rising sixth and ninth grade orientation at their home school. Interpreters will be available for activities, as requested.

BUILDING CAPACITY OF PARENTS

DeKalb International Student will build the parents’ capacity for strong parental involvement to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school and the community to improve student academic achievement through the following:
·	 Providing parents with a description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessments used to measure student progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet.
·	 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
·	Providing 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.

Adapted from the Georgia Department of Education | Revised September 17, 2018 | Page 5 of 8

Our school will provide parents a description and explanation of the curriculum during our Curriculum Night. The school will provide parents with individual results of academic assessments including MAP, ACCESS 2.0 and Georgia Milestones End of Grade (EOG). Parents will be informed of the required assessments during Curriculum Night, parent teacher conference, information provided on website, flyers and School Messenger.

Parents are highly encouraged to provide topics at the Stakeholder’s Breakfast as deemed necessary on building staff capacity. Additionally, parents will be helped in understanding topics such as:

·	Georgia Milestones
·	New DCSD Curriculum and Georgia Standards of Excellence ·	Title I, Part A requirements
·	MAP Growth reports
·	Strategies parents can use to support their child’s academic progress ·	Infinite Campus
·     Support from GA Public Library ·     College and Career-related skills
·	Technology Day/International Day/Literacy Night
·	Collaborating with teachers to support their child’s academic achievements
·	Parents will be provided with materials and trainings to help their students improve mastery via DeKalb County School District Regional Parent & Family Engagement Centers, Title III Parent Outreach Classes, and DeKalb International Student Center Parent Workshops.

BUILDING CAPACITY OF SCHOOL STAFF

DeKalb International Student Center will provide training to educate the teachers, pupil services personnel, principal, and other staff in how to reach out to, communicate, 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 the school by:

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Our school staff meetings will double as professional development where staff members will discuss strategies and develop ideas to enhance communication, resource sharing, and enhance relationships with community stakeholders to increase student achievement.

·	Provide list of school staff capacity workshops within the following topics: How to reach out to, communicate, 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 the school

In addition, the Title I Family Engagement Facilitator will support the school by meeting with the Leadership Team to develop professional learning opportunities based on feedback from parent input to strengthen ties between home, school, and community.

DeKalb International Student Center will provide other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under Section 1116 as parents may request by:

·	Inviting parents to attend school activities
·	Asking parents to monitor student progress via the Infinite Campus Parent Portal
·	Incorporating a convenient, easier way for parents to schedule parent conferences via the counseling office and teachers contacting parents utilizing the Live Language Line to remove any communication barriers.
·	Supporting families attending Title III Parent Outreach classes with supplemental resources.

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DISCRETIONARY SCHOOL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

NOTE TO SCHOOLS: The School Parental Involvement Policy may include additional paragraphs listing and describing other discretionary activities that the school, in consultation with its parents, chooses 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 under Section 1116(e) of the ESSA.

Indicate which of the following discretionary (optional) school parental involvement policy components the school will implement to improve parental involvement:
Check all that apply:

☐Involve parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of that training.
☐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.
☐Pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions.
☐Train parents to enhance the involvement of other parents.

☒To maximize parental involvement and participation in their child’s education, arrange school meetings at a variety of times or conduct in-home conferences with teachers or other educators who work directly with participating children and parents who are unable to attend conferences at school.
☒Adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement

☐Establish a school-wide Parent Advisory Council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title I, Part A programs.
☒Develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith-based organizations, in parental involvement activities.
NOTE TO THE SCHOOLS: Describe how each discretionary item checked above will be implemented.

DeKalb International Student Centertakes into consideration thetimeand resource constraints that our parents face. Parents are encouraged to conference with teachers at any time but because most ofthemworkduringschoolhourswewillholdeveningconferences duringtheschool year.Parents are also encouraged to communicate with teachers via Infinite Campus (Parent Portal) and contacting the Front Office. Parent workshops are held on different days and times throughout the year based on the data we received on the parent surveys. The School will collaborate with community based organizations to share school communications as well as parent engagement workshops based on parent feedback.

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