Title I and Family Involvement

All parents are welcome to volunteer and participate in their child’s class and observe classroom activities.

The purpose of our parent involvement policy is to insure that we involve our parents to the maximum extent possible in their children’s education and in their school. To that end, we will:

1. Conduct an annual meeting in the first month of the school year to which all parents are invited and at which the requirements of Title I and the rights of the parents to be involved will be discussed. Sign-in sheets will be used to document parental participation at this and all meetings. Minutes will be taken, which will include parents’ comments and questions.
    
2. Additionally, we will hold meetings during the year (including parent involvement meetings, parent/teacher conferences, family nights, etc) for the parents at various times to ensure that the parents have the opportunity to participate in their children’s education and in their school.
    
3. All parents will be encouraged and invited to participate in the development of and implementation of this policy. We will insure that parents have a voice in the development of all Title I policies and programs and they are signatories of all plans and policies.
    
4. Title I information will be included in all school newsletters, on the marquee as appropriate, on School Link and on the school’s website. In addition, we will hold an annual open house/curriculum night at which the school’s program, including assessments and the results of the assessments, will be discussed. The teachers all have phone extensions and/or email addresses that will be published so that parents can freely contact their children’s teacher to discuss their children’s education.
   
   The curriculum in use at the school will be made available to all parents. Parents will be able to view the curriculum during our open house, Title I family fun nights and whenever a parent requests. We will follow the Albuquerque Public School’s forms of academic assessment used to measure student growth by using the District Based Assessment three time a school year and the NMSBA (New Mexico Standard Based Assessment) in the spring. All students are expected to meet the proficient or advanced level on all tests.
   
   Student led conferences will be held twice a year to help keep parents informed of their child’s progress. If a parent requests additional meetings, parents are welcomed to schedule a conference with the teacher and/or grade level team to talk about any concerns.
    
5. If any parents are not satisfied with the Title I program plan, they may submit comments to the school, which will be shared with the district. All comments and correspondences from parents, positive or negative, will be saved and kept in the Title I notebook and used to help with the design and running of the Title I program.
    
6. A parent/teacher/student/school/administration compact will be/has been developed with the parents that spell out the responsibilities of all of the parties that will assure that all children reach their potential. In addition, the compact will spell out the methods of communication the school will use to ensure maximum contact between the parents and those in the schools responsible for the education of their children. These will include, but not be limited to parent/teacher conferences, regular (weekly, biweekly, monthly) progress reports, and the publication of teachers’ email addresses and phone extensions mentioned above which can be found on the JMS website. Parents can also communicate through the student’s agenda/notes and text messaging.

The parent involvement meetings and family academic theme nights (agendas from past events attached) will include the sharing of test score information and AYP status, information on how parents can support the academic education of their children. Feedback from the parents will be sought on how to best meet their and their children’s needs. The school staff will work with the parents to ensure that all parties are aware of and understand the state standards.

We will ensure that the parental involvement is not limited to Title I, but will extend to all programs that their children may be participating in, regardless of the source of funding and the origin of the program (school, district, state or federal).

All meetings will be announced in a timely fashion and in multiple formats and in the languages of the families that send children to the school. Also, when needed, childcare will be offered to those parents who need it. Data collected (participation rates, plus/deltas, comments, etc) will be used to plan the following year’s parental involvement policy and activities.