Title I Annual Parent Meeting In a School-wide Setting
Parent involvement is a required component of school-wide
planning. One of the more specific requirements for parent
involvement is the Annual Meeting for parents.
Each year, Title I programs are required to host a meeting
for parents to explain what the Title I program is
and how parents can become involved in the Title I
program. (This is different from the Annual Review
Meeting which is also a requirement). At this meeting,
the following issues must be addressed:
- Explain their school’s participation in Title I
- Explain the Title I requirements
- Explain what participation in Title I programming means,
including:
- A description and explanation of the school’s
curriculum;
- Information on the forms of academic assessment used
to measure student progress; and
- Information on the proficiency levels students are
expected to meet.
- Explain the district parental involvement policy, school
parental involvement policy, and school-parent compact.
- Explain what the school-wide program is and how the
school-wide plan will be assessed for effectiveness.
- Explain the right of parents to become involved in the
school’s programs and ways to do so.
- Explain that parents have the right to request
opportunities for regular meetings for parents to formulate
suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions
about the education of their children. The school must
respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably
possible.
In order to keep parents informed, schools must invite all
parents of children participating in Title I Part A programs and
encourage them to attend. In a school-wide program, this means
ALL parents should be invited. Schools must also offer a
flexible number of additional parental involvement meetings,
such as in the morning or evening so that as many parents as
possible are able to attend.
You must be able to document this meeting with minutes,
agendas, sign-in sheets, etc. You may want to do more than the
law requires for this meeting, especially if you often have
problems with attendance.
You may want to do more than the law requires for this
meeting, especially if you often have problems with getting
parents involved. Parental involvement can make a huge
difference in student achievement, so it should always be a
major focus of school improvement efforts. Some
schools increased parent attendance by making the focus of the
meeting more fun for students and parents (by showing off a
school project) and making the above requirements only a small
part of the meeting. In this example, parents and the school
staff also use this time to work on their school-wide compacts,
which is also a school-wide parental involvement requirement.
Parent involvement can make a huge difference in student
achievement, so it should always be a major focus of school
improvement efforts.
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