Title I, Part A - No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

Parent Involvement

Parental involvement is the centerpiece of Title I.  Title I, Part A provides information and guidance on activities, procedures, and programs to involve parents of participating children in the program in a meaningful and sustained manner.

Sections 1111 and 1118 are two of the most critical parental involvement provision in NCLB.

Purpose

• Montgomery Public Schools is committed to providing a quality education for every child in the district.  The child benefits if the school and home form a partnership promoting high expectations for our children.  Parents are the children’s first teachers.  Parental support is critical to student success at every step along the way.  Montgomery Public Schools intends to include parents in all aspects of the district’s Title I programs.  The goal is strong school/home partnerships that will help all students in the district succeed.
• The goal of Title I is to encourage greater involvement of parents in the education of their children by developing strong partnerships with teachers, principals, other staff, the community, and their school.  The district shall solicit parental involvement of parents in the educational process.  When planning activities to increase parental involvement parents input is encouraged.
• The Parent Advisory Committee jointly developed the MPS (District) Parental Involvement Policy.  The policy establishes the district and school level commitment to parent and community involvement.

Montgomery Public Schools (District) will:

• Support and strengthen home/school/community partnership.
• Notify parents of children attending Title I schools that they may request information about the qualification of their children’s teachers and paraprofessional in a language that parents can understand.
• Coordinate with Early Intervention programs such as Even Start, Head Start, Parents As Teachers, HIPPY, Reading First, and other transition from preschool to kindergarten programs.
• Conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the Parental Involvement Policy; if necessary revise the policy.
• Prepare and distribute profiles of student achievement results for each school to parents, teachers, and the public (Assessment Office).
• Provide training for teachers, principals, and other educators to work more effectively with parents.
• Train parents to train other parents.
• Establish a district Parental Advisory Committee to provide advice on parental involvement program.
• Educate parents about rights and responsibilities under NCLB if their school or district is identified as needing improvement, corrective action, or restructuring.
• Monitor the parental involvement program in schools.

Title I Schools will:

• Develop a written parental involvement policy and plan, jointly agreed by the Title I parents and make it available to the community.
• Submit a copy of the parental policy and plan to the Title I Parental Involvement Office.
• Conduct an annual meeting for Title I parents to inform about the policy, their rights under Title I, and how they can be involved in the planning, revision and improvement of the Title I program in the school.
• Offer a flexible number of meetings at convenient times to encourage participation.
• Provide ongoing communications between parents and teachers.
• Hold meeting to enlist the support and involvement of parents in improving their school.
• Deliver information to parents about school programs, school report cards, state standards and assessment; provide regular opportunities to formulate suggestions and share experiences.
• Develop plans to build parental capacity for involvement, to involve parents in policy development and to carry out the required school/parent compact.
• Help parents understand state academic standards, state and local assessment, how to monitor student’s progress, and how to work with educators to improve student performance.
• Create opportunities for literacy training and for using technology to help parents assist their children.
• Deliver, to the extent feasible, information about programs, meeting and activities to parents in a format and language parents understand.