UPPER DARBY SCHOOL DISTRICT BEYERLY HILLS MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENT INVOLVEMENT POLICY

PART I.          GENERAL EXPECTATIONS

Eachschool in its School-wide Parental Involvement Policymust establishtheschool's expectations for parental involvement. [Section lll8(a)(2), ESEA)

The Beverly Hills Middle School agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

• The school district will put into operation programs, activities and procedures for the involvement ofparents in all of its schools with Title I, Part A programs, consistent with

· Section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Those programs, activities and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children.

• Consistent with Section 1118, the school district will work with its schools to ensure that the required school level parental involvement policies meet the requirements of Section l l18(b) of the ESEA, and each include, as a component, a school parent compact consistentwith Section 1118(d)of theESEA.
• The school districtwill incorporate this district wide parental involvement policy into its Upper Darby School District plandevelopedunder Section 1112 of the ESEA.
• In carrying out the Title I, Part A parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school district and its schools will provide full opportunities for the participation of parentswith limited English proficiency and parents withdisabilities, including providing information and schoolreports required under section 1111 of the ESEA in an understandableand uniform format and,including alternative formats upon request, and, to theextent practicable, in a language parents understand.
• If the School District of Upper Darby's plan for Title I, Part A, developed under section 1112 of the ESEA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school district will submit any parent commentswith theplan when the school district submits the plan to the State Department of Education.
• The school district will 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, and will ensure that not less than 95 percent of the one percent reserved goes directly to the schools.

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

Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and

meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring:

1. that parents play an integral role in assisting their child's learning
2. that parents are encouraged to beactively involved in their child's education at school
3. that parents are partners in their child's education and are included, as appropriate, indecision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their children
4. the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in Section 1118

of the ESEA

• The school district will inform parents and parental organizations of the purpose and existence of the Parental Information and Resource Center in the State.

PART II.         DESCRIPTION OF HOW THE SCHOOL WILL IMPLEMENT

REQUIRED DISTRICT WIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

[NOTE: The School- wide Parental Involvement Policy must include a description of how the school will implement or accomplish each of the following components. [Section 1118(a)(2), ESEA. Regardless of the format the school chooses to use, a description of each of the following components below must be included in order to satisfy statutory requirements.]

1. The Beverly Hills Middle School will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of its school-wide parental involvement plan under Section 1112 of the ESEA:

Parents will be invited to meetings via e-mail, Wednesday message, parent links, and will be able to share input through the use of a collaborative survey to help create and develop the parental involvement plan.

2. The Beverly Hills Middle School will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under Section 1116 of the ESEA:

At H & S /Title One/School Improvement planning meetings, parents will be involved in the process of reviewing and creating plans for student improvement.

3. The Beverly Hills Middle School will provide the following necessary coordination, technical assistance, and other support to assist Title I, Part A schools in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance:

Provide professional development for new and existing principals and other administrators on how to develop promising partnerships with parents/caregivers.

4. The Beverly Hills Middle School will take the following actions to conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of its Title I, Part A programs. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities (with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background). The school will use the findings of the evaluation about its parental involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary (and with the involvement of parents) its parental involvement policies.

Parents will receive a web-based survey to ask for their assistance in the evaluation of Title One programs at Beverly Hills Middle School.

5. The Beverly Hills Middle School will build the school's and parents' capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, through the following activities specifically described below:

1. 1. The Beverly Hills Middle School will, with the assistance of the School District, provide assistance to parents, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by undertaking the actions described in this paragraph:
      • 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, and
      • how to work with educators.

Beverly Hills staff will provide workshops, conferences, “make and take” classes and lectures, including any equipment or other materials that may be necessary, to ensure success. Parent Forums will be scheduled throughout the year as a communication and teaching tool to foster a partnership between home and school. BHMS staff will create parent email lists for increased communication.

1. 2. The Beverly Hills Middle School will, with the assistance of the School District, provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children's academic achievement, using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement, by:

Parent forums will be advertised to assist parents in helping their children's academic achievement and parent participation. Videos will be created to help parents navigate

some of the districts technological platforms.

The Beverly Hills Middle School will, with the assistance of the School District, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals and other staff, in how to reach out to, communicate with, 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 schools, by:

Holding workshops providing information and creating opportunities for parent interaction so that staff are aware that parents need to be partners in the process.

1. 3. The Beverly Hills Middle School will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities, such as parent forums, that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children, by:

Parent forums, home visitations, admin meet and greet at a local library, BHMS family BBQ, parent conferences, and back to school night.

1. 4. The Beverly Hills Middle School will take the following actions to ensure that 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:

E-mail, mass mailings, eSchool, parent links, web pages and Wednesday messages are types of communication tools that will be utilized to encourage parent participation.

PART III.     SCHOOL WIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

NOTE: The School's 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 and school system to support their children's academic achievement, such as the following discretionary activities listed under Section 1118(e) of the ESEA:

• involving parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of that training

• · paying reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities, including transportation to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions
• training parents to enhance the involvement of other parents
• 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 parents who are unable to attend those conferences at school, in order to maximize parental involvement and participation in their children's education
• adopting and implementing model approaches to improving parental involvement
• establishing a district wide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title I, Part A programs
• developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith-based organizations, in parental involvement activities
• providing other reasonable supplement for parental involvement activities under Section 1118 as parents may request