Title I – Supplemental Programs and Family Engagement

20-21 Title-I-Supplemental Programs-Letter – Spanish
20-21 Title I Family Engagement Policies – Spanish

 

Revised 10/28/2020

UNION AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT

 

PARENT AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT POLICY

 

PART I. GENERAL EXPECTATIONS

The Union Area School District agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

The school district will put into operation programs, activities and procedures for the engagement of parents and families in all of its schools with Title I, Part A programs, consistent with section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  Those programs, activities and procedures within the district’s Title I program will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with families of participating children. (ESSA Section 1116 (a)(2)(A))

Consistent with section 1118, the school district will work with its schools to ensure that the required school-level parent and family engagement policies meet the requirements of section 1118(b) of the ESEA, and each include, as a component, a school-family compact consistent with section 1118(d) of the ESEA.

The school district will incorporate this district-wide parent and family engagement policy into its LEA plan developed under section 1112 of the ESEA.

In carrying out the Title I, Part A parent and family engagement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school district and its schools will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents and families with limited English proficiency, families with disabilities, and families 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 a language parents and families understand.

If the LEA plan for Title I, Part A, developed under section 1112 of the ESEA, is not satisfactory to the families of participating children, the school district will submit any comments with the plan when the school district submits the plan to the State Department of Education.

The school district will involve the parents and families of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the Title I, Part A funds reserved for family engagement is spent, and will ensure that not less than 95 percent goes directly to the schools.

The school district will be governed by the following statutory definition of family engagement, and expects that the Title I schools will carry out programs, activities and procedures in accordance with this definition:

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–

(A) that parents and families play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;

(B) that parents and families are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education;

(C) that parents and families are full partners in the child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child;

(D) the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA and section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

The school district will inform families and family-based organizations of the purposes and existence of the Parent and Resource Center in the state.

 

PART II. DESCRIPTION OF HOW DISTRICT WILL IMPLEMENT 

REQUIRED DISTRICT WIDE PARENT AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

 

  1. The Union Area School District will take the following actions to involve PARENTS AND families in the joint development of its district wide family engagement plan under section 1116(a)(2)(A))of the ESSA:

–Conduct meetings between administration, teachers, staff, families, and students

–Extend opportunities to attend other conferences with the Intermediate Unit IV and SPAC (Pennsylvania State Parent Advisory Council)

–Plan Title I Reading oriented in-service sessions for staff members

 

  1. The Union Area School District will take the following actions to involve families in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116(a)(2)(A) of the ESSA:

–Invitation to Open House/Meet & Greet Night

–Invitation by Superintendent

–Informational reports throughout the school year

–Family Conferences

–Distribute school calendar

–PTO meetings and workshops

–Committee of the Whole meetings

–IUIV Title I Parent Engagement Presentations

–Provide information about programs provided under Title I through handouts, letters, and brochures.

 

  1. The Union Area School District will provide the following necessary coordination, technical assistance, and other support to assist Title I, Part A schools in planning and implementing effective family engagement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance as required in the ESSA (Section 1116 (a)(2)(B)):

–Maintain district website

–Accelerated Reader program

–Read to Read program

–Study Island program

–AmeriCorps tutoring program

–STAR program (Students Taking Academic Responsibility)

–Summer school program for students who are not successful in the regular classroom

–School-Wide Testing

–Child Study Team

–Tutoring program associated with School-Wide Testing

–School-wide programs such as Family Reading Week

–After-school activities involving Family Engagement Evenings

  1. The Union Area School District will coordinate and integrate family engagement strategies in Part A with family engagement strategies under the following other Federal, State and local laws and programs (ESSA, Section 1116 (a)(2)(C):

–Scottie Pups Literacy Program (0-3 years old)

–Scottie 3’s Pre-school program(3-year-olds)

–Half-day Pre-Kindergarten program (4-year-olds)

–Full day Kindergarten program

–Read to Read  program

–Read Across America   program

–Library PM program

–AmeriCorps tutoring program

–Head Start program

  1. The Union Area School District will take the following actions to conduct, with the involvement of parents and families, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parent and family engagement policy in improving the quality of its Title I, Part A schools.  The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by families in family engagement activities (with particular attention to families who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background).  The school district will use the findings of the evaluation about its family engagement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective family engagement, and to revise, if necessary (and with the involvement of families) the parent and family engagement policies and all strategies to support successful school and family interactions (ESSA, Section 1116 (a)(2)(D)(i-iii)).

–Administer State-Driven Standards Testing–Tests conducted by the following:

 Guidance Counselors, School Psychologists, Classroom Teachers.  Families are notified of their child’s scores.

–Administer Curriculum-Based Testing–Testing conducted by the following: 

  Title I teachers, classroom teachers.  Families of qualifying Title I students are notified.

–Administer School-Wide Testing–Testing conducted by the following: 

Title I teachers, classroom teachers and staff.  Families are notified of the results.

 

  1.   The Union Area School District will build the schools’ and family’s capacity for strong family engagement, in order to ensure effective involvement of families and to support a partnership among the school involved, the families, and the community to improve student academic achievement, through the following activities specifically described below (ESSA, Section 1116(a)(2)(E)):

 

  1. The school district will, with the assistance of its Title I Part A schools, provide assistance to families of children served by the school district or school, 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 assessment including alternate assessments,

–the requirements of Part A,

–how to monitor their child’s progress

–how to work with educators by providing experiences and opportunities including:

–SPAC conferences (Pennsylvania State Parent Advisory Council)

–IUIV meetings, workshops, or conferences

–District-based workshops

–District-provided technological equipment, software, textbooks and supplies

  1. The school district will, with the assistance of its schools, provide materials and training to help families work with their children to improve their children’s academic achievement, such as literacy training, and using technology, as appropriate, to foster family engagement, by:

–SPAC conferences (Pennsylvania State Parent Advisory Council)

–IUIV workshops

–IUIV Title I Parent Resource Center Order Forms

–Links from the school website

  1. The school district will, with the assistance of its school and families, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals and other staff; in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with families as equal partners in the value and utility of contributions of families and in how to implement and coordinate family-based programs and build ties between families and schools, by:

Title I School Compacts

–Handouts/Brochures

–Personal Contracts: meetings, phone calls, letters

–Links from the school website

  1. The school district will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate family engagement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, 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 family resource centers, that encourage and support families in more fully participating in the education of their children, by:

–Scottie Pups Literacy Program (0-3 years old)

–Pre-school program (4 year olds)

–AmeriCorps tutoring program

–Head Start program

–STAR Program (Students Taking Academic Responsibilities)

–Family Reading Week

–Read Across America

  1. The school district will take the following actions to ensure that information related to the school and family–programs, meetings, and other activities, is sent to the families of participating children in an understandable and uniform format including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language the family can understand:

–Letters and information sent home

–Phone calls home

–Provide invitations, personal meetings, conferences, and programs

PART III. DISCRETIONARY DISTRICT WIDE FAMILY ENGAGEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

NOTE: The district-wide Parental and Family Engagement Policy may include additional paragraphs listing and describing other discretionary activities that the school district, in consultation with its families, chooses to undertake to build the family’s capacity for involvement in the school and school system to support their children’s academic achievement, such as the following discretionary activities listed under section 1118(e) of the ESEA and ESSA, Section 1116(a)(2)(F):

–involving families in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of that training;

–providing necessary literacy training for families from Title I, Part A funds, if the school district has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of  funding for that training;

–paying reasonable and necessary expenses associated with family engagement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable families to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;

–training families to enhance the involvement of other families;

–in order to maximize family engagement and participation in their children’s education, arranging school meetings at a variety of times, or conducting in-home conferences between teachers or other educators, who work directly with participating children, with families who are unable to attend those conferences at school;

–adopting and implementing model approaches to improving family engagement

–establishing a district-wide advisory board to provide advice on all matters related to family engagement in Title I, Part A programs by revising and reviewing the policy

–developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith-based organizations, in family engagement activities; 

–providing other reasonable support for family engagement activities as parents may request.

 

      

                                                                                               

    Revised 10/28/2020

        

SCHOOL-FAMILY COMPACT

The Union Memorial Elementary School and the families of the students participating in activities, services, and programs funded by Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) participating children, agree that this compact outlines how the families, the entire school staff, and the students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and families will build and develop a partnership that will help children achieve the State’s high standards.

This school-family compact is in effect during the 2020-21 school year.

School Responsibilities

The Union Memorial Elementary School will:

  1.   Provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the participating children to meet the State’s student academic achievement standards as follows:

–as support in the regular classroom and in a small group setting

–by using texts and educational material that meet state educational standards

–by using available computer-based educational materials

–by monitoring student achievement with school-wide assessment and individual assessment at the beginning, middle and end of the school year

  1. Hold family-teacher conferences during which this compact will be discussed as it relates to the individual child’s achievement.  Those conferences will be held specifically at the beginning of the school year during the initiation of the program.
  2. Provide families with frequent reports on their child’s progress.  
  3. Provide families reasonable access to staff.  The staff will be available to the families as requested throughout the year at the school.
  4. Provide families opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and to observe classroom activities as a regular volunteer in the class, to view the work of the student, to monitor the progress that has occurred and to encourage that progress within the classroom.

 

Family Responsibilities

We, as families, will support our children’s learning in the following ways:

–monitoring attendance

–making sure that homework is completed

–monitoring the amount of time my child is exposed to educational technology

–volunteering in my child’s classroom

–participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to my child’s education

–staying informed about my child’s education and communicating with the school by promptly reading all notices from the school or school district either received by my child or by mail and responding, as appropriate

–serving, to the extent possible, on policy advisory groups, such as being the Title I Part A representative on the school’s School Improvement Team, the Title I Policy Advisory Committee, the District-wide Policy Advisory Council, the State’s Committee of Practitioners, the School Support Team or other school advisory or policy groups

 

Student Responsibilities

I, as a student, will share the responsibility to improve my academic achievement and achieve the State’s high standards.  Specifically, I will:

–do my homework daily and ask for help when needed

–read at least 15 minutes every day outside of school time

–give to my family member, or the adult who is responsible for my welfare, all notices and information received by me from my school every day.

 

Revised 10/28/2020

 

Title I School-Family Engagement Policy

Union Memorial Elementary School

The Title I Family Engagement section of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires each Title I school to develop a written family engagement policy that describes the means for carrying out the requirement of section 1118.  The Union Memorial Elementary School does this by these methods:

–The family of the school’s Title I students may review the Parent Involvement Policy in an understandable format and language provided to them by the fall of each year.

–The family of the school’s Title I students may be involved in the planning review, and improvement of the school’s Parent Involvement Policy through the distribution of the school-family compact in the fall of each year.

–The family of the school’s Title I students may be invited to annual meetings held to inform them of the school’s participation in the title I program and to explain the requirements of the program and their right to be involved by the yearly open house, Meet and Greet, or  parent conferences held at their convenience.

–The family of the school’s Title I students may be reimbursed for reasonable expenses associated with family engagement activities to enable them to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions by Title I funds

–The family of the school’s Title I students may be involved in the planning, review and  improvement of the program and by the timely informational report about the program offered at the middle and end of the school year.

–The family of the school’s Title I students may review the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessment used to measure student’s progress and the proficiency levels that the students are expected to meet.

–The family of the school’s Title I students may receive assistance in understanding the state’s  academic content standards and student achievement standards, local academic assessments and    how to monitor a student’s progress and work with teachers to improve the achievement of their children.

–The family of the school’s Title I students may receive when requested, opportunities for  regular meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children and to respond to any such suggestions as soon as  possible.

–The family of the school’s Title I students may be invited to jointly develop a school-family compact the outlines the responsibilities of the family, entire school staff and students to improve student achievement.

–The family of the school’s Title I students may receive material and training to help in working  with their children to improve their child’s achievement, as appropriate, to foster family engagement.

–The family of the school’s Title I students may be ensured that information related to school and family programs, meetings, and other activities will be sent to the family of participating  children in a format and in a language the family can understand.

 

Revised 10/28/2020

SCHOOL-FAMILY COMPACT

 

The Union Middle School and the families of the students participating in activities, services, and programs funded by Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) participating children, agree that this compact outlines how the families, the entire school staff, and the students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and families will build and develop a partnership that will help children achieve the State’s high standards.

This school-family compact is in effect during the 2020-2021  school year.

School Responsibilities

The Union Area Middle School will

  1. Provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the participating children to meet the State’s student academic achievement standards as follows:

–as support in the regular classroom and in a small group setting

–through the use of texts or educational materials that meet state standards

–through the use of computer-based educational materials to aid in academic achievement

   –by monitoring student achievement through assessment at the beginning, middle and end of the school year

  1. Hold annual family-teacher conferences during which this compact will be discussed as it   relates to the individual child’s achievement.  These conferences will be held specifically at the beginning of the school year during the initiation of the program.
  2. Provide families with frequent reports on their children’s progress.  Specifically, the school will provide reports through a bi-yearly report sent home with students.
  3. Provide families reasonable access to staff.  The staff will be available for consultation with the family at conferences arranged on an as-needed basis at the school.
  4. Provide families opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and to observe classroom activities as a regular volunteer of services and  to view the work of the student and the school setting.

 

Parent Responsibilities

 

We, as a family, will support our children’s learning in the following ways:

–monitoring attendance

–making sure that homework is completed

–monitoring the amount of time my child is exposed to educational technology

–volunteering in my child’s classroom

–participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to my children’s education

–promoting positive use of my child’s extracurricular time

–staying informed about my child’s education and communicating with the school by promptly  

reading all notices from the school or the school district either received by my child or by mail    

and responding as appropriate. 

–serving, to the extent possible, on policy advisory groups, such as being the Title I Part A parent     representative on the school’s School Improvement Team, the Title I Policy Advisory        Committee, the District-wide Policy Advisory Council, the State’s Committee of Practitioners, the School Support Team or other school advisory or policy groups

 

Student Responsibilities

 

I, as a student, will share the responsibility to improve my academic achievement and achieve the State’s high standards.  Specifically, I will:

–do my homework daily and ask for help when needed

–read at least 15 minutes every day outside of school time

–give to my family or the adult who is responsible for my welfare all notices and information  received by me from my school every day

 

Revised 10/28/2020

Title I School Family Engagement Policy

Union Area Middle School

 

The Title I Family Engagement section of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires each Title I school to develop a written family engagement policy that describes the means for carrying out the requirement of section 1118.  The Union Memorial Elementary School does this by these methods:

 

–Title I families may review the program policy by the fall of each year.

–A copy of the policy is given or made available to families of qualified Title I students.

–The policy is written in a format and language that is understandable for the family.

–The policy states how a family will be involved in the planning, review, and improvement of the school’s Family Engagement Policy.

–The policy states that an annual meeting will be held to inform families of the school’s  participation in the Title I program, the requirements of the program, and their right to be     involved.

–The policy states that meetings with administration, teachers, families and students will be available during school hours.

–The policy state that Title I funds may be used to pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with family engagement activities.

–The policy describes responsibilities in family engagement, planning, review and improvement of the school’s Title I program.

–The family will be notified of student progress with various reports sent home throughout the school year.

–The school will provide the family with the information/explanation of the curriculum and formsof assessment used to monitor student progress.

–The family will be provided opportunities to participate in various workshops, meetings, and    conferences to help improve academic achievement of their children.

–The family will have the opportunity to discuss, suggest and participate in meetings concerning the education of their children.

–In order to improve student achievement, a school compact exists which lists the school, family and student responsibilities.

–The policy describes how the school provides materials and training to help the family work with their children to improve their children’s achievement and foster positive family engagement.

–Notification of school information, programs, meetings, and other activities will be sent home in a format and language that the family can understand.