Parental Options and Involvement

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Parental Options and Involvement

• KSDE

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Vision

• Parents are the key stakeholders in their
  childrens education
• No Child Left Behind imposes new mandates for
  states, districts and schools to answer directly
  to parents
• Parents have new opportunities to respond

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How Did We Get Here?

• First formal role for Title I parents in early
  1970s
• Policy involvement
• Greater emphasis on schools helping parents to
  help their children from 1988-1994
  reauthorization
• Homework monitoring, school/home communication,
  compacts

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How Did We Get Here? (cont.)

• Along with these existing roles, 2001
  reauthorization emphasizes a new role for
  parents
• consumers of the education provided by schools

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Reports and Notices

• in an understandable and uniform format and, to
  the extent practicable, in a language the parents
  can understand

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Reports and Notices (cont.)

• State and Local Report Cards
• Status of schools, districts and states in
  raising student achievement
• Disaggregated data, schools on improvement,
  graduation rates
• Available to all parents
• Available through public means

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Reports and Notices (cont.)

• Title I schools must provide individual student
  reports
• Level of achievement on each state assessment

8
Accountability Notices

• Review of adequate yearly progress
• Detailed notice regarding a schools
  identification as in need of improvement
• What identification means
• Reasons for identification
• How parents can be involved in addressing
• Parents options

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Accountability Notices (cont.)

• Action taken to address the problems
• What the school is doing
• What the district and state are doing
• Corrective actions or restructuring plans

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Parent Options

• School Choice
• All students in Title I schools on improvement
• Notice by mail, information through broader means
• Beginning of school year
• Reasonable deadline to respond
• LEA pays for transportation

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Parent Options (cont.)

• Supplemental Services
• Title I schools 2nd year on improvement
• Eligible students low income
• Annual notice
• Providers within the area
• Description of services
• Assist in decision, if requested
• Parents choose the provider

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Parent Options (cont.)

• Unsafe School Choice Option
• All schools
• Persistently dangerous
• Victim of violent criminal offense
• Notify parents of each student
• Offer opportunity to transfer

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Teacher Qualification NoticesParents Right to
Know

• Notify parents of all children in all Title I
  schools that they have the right to request and
  receive timely information on the professional
  qualifications of their childrens classroom
  teachers
• At the start of each school year
• Describe the type of information available

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Parents Right to Know

• At a minimum
• Met qualifying and licensing criteria
• Emergency or provisional status
• Degree major
• Services by paraprofessionals

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Parents Right to Know (cont.)

• Additional timely notification
• If student is assigned or taught by a teacher who
  is not highly qualified for four or more
  consecutive weeks

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LEP Students

• Parents may opt out of language program
• Inform within first 30 days
• Reasons for identification
• Level of English proficiency
• Methods of instruction
• Meeting strengths and needs
• IEP objectives
• Parental rights
• Within 2 weeks during the year

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Parental Involvement Policy

• Key Changes
• State to review policies and practices collect
  and disseminate effective techniques
• LEAs required to review plan annually
• Increased academic quality
• Title I Schools required to hold regular parent
  meetings, if requested

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Requirements

• LEA Parental Involvement Policy
• School Parental Involvement Policy
• School/Parent Compacts
• Building Capacity for Involvement

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Title I SchoolParental Involvement policy

• Annual meeting
• Flexible number of meetings
• Involve parents in program planning
• Timely information
• Dissenting views

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Title I School/Parent Compacts

• Developed jointly with parents
• Schools responsibilities
• Parents support
• Annual conferences
• Frequent progress reports
• Reasonable access

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Building Capacity for Involvement

• Accessibility
• Shall provide
• Program information
• Materials and training
• Educate personnel
• Preschool coordination
• Understandable communication
• Other

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Building Capacity for Involvement (cont.)

• May provide
• Input on professional development
• Literacy training
• Parents expenses
• Parent to parent training
• Convenient school meetings
• Model approaches
• Districtwide parent council
• Community involvement

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PTA National Standards For Parent/Family
Involvement

• Standard I Communicating
• Standard II Parenting
• Standard III Student Learning
• Standard IV Volunteering
• Standard V School Decision Making/Advocacy
• Standard VI Collaborating with Community

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Parental Information and Resource Centers

• Title I LEAs and schools must inform parents
• 3 PIRCs in Kansas
• Keys for Networking, Inc., Topeka, KS
  http//www.keys.org.
• Kansas Alliance of Black School Educators,
  Topeka, KS http//www.kabse.org.
• Kansas Parent Information Resource Center,
  Lecompton, KS http//www.kpirc.org.