Parent and Family Engagement Policy and Compact

Forestdale Elementary School - 2022-2023

Purpose of this Policy and Compact

Efforts will be made to clearly articulate the school’s intentions to engage with and involve parents/caregivers in the educational process.

Forestdale Elementary is a Title I school within Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) and utilizes the Title I grant to improve student achievement and help all students meet the objectives of the FCPS Program of Studies and the Virginia Standards of Learning. A partnership with families is essential to meeting this goal.

Under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, schools that receive Title I funds are expected to collaborate with families to develop and maintain a parent and family engagement policy that describes the school’s approach to involve families in students’ learning and includes a compact expressing the partnerships among staff, caregivers, and students to reach high academic goals for every student.

Forestdale Elementary jointly developed this policy and compact with members of the school community and adopted it for the 2022-2023 school year. A number of the provisions specifically address state or federal expectations for the policy and compact.

This policy and compact is distributed to all caregivers in a language that families can understand. Caregivers have opportunities to provide comments and feedback on the policy and compact via the Title I Meeting at the school or by contacting school administration.  Comments are submitted with the school’s policy and compact to FCPS central offices and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). This policy and compact are made available to the broader school community through the school website.

Important Dates

Parent-Teacher Conferences                                                 

  • October/ November by scheduling appointment with student’s teacher
  • additional dates, as needed

Progress Report Distribution

  • November
  • February
  • April
  • June

School Events

  • Forestdale Family Day (combined Open House & Back-to-School Night), August 19, 2022
  • Veterans Day Assembly, November 10, 2022
  • Read Across America Week, March 2023
  • Literacy, Math & Science Nights, Winter/Spring 2022-2023
  • Cultural Night, Spring 2023
  • Forestdale Talent Show, June 2023

 

Building Capacity for Involvement

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers are actively involved in the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the school’s Title I program, including the following:

  • Provide family members a voice in decision-making on committees, such as the school board's Title I Parent Advisory Committee and Forestdale Family Engagement Committee.
  • Engage caregiver input when developing the School Improvement and Innovation Plan (SIIP), Comprehensive Needs Assessment, the Title I Parent and Family Engagement Policy and Compact and plans for use of Title I family engagement funding.
  • Seek feedback from families on programs within the SIIP, offer multiple methods for caregivers to submit comments about programs they may not find satisfactory, and submit any such comments with SIIP to FCPS central offices.
  • Invite family members to help in organizing and executing a variety of school events to build collective ownership, such as through
  • Provide opportunities for caregivers to volunteer within the school in various ways, such as participation on the Family Engagement Committee, materials preparation, field trip chaperones, & volunteering at in-person and virtual events.
  • Encourage families to take part in the annual evaluation of the division-level Title I parent and family engagement policy in order to identify:
    • barriers to greater family participation,
    • ways to help family members be better able to assist in student learning

Effective Communication with Parents

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers receive meaningful communication in a timely manner, including the following:

  • Use multiple methods of communication to families such as eNotify (translated emails and texts), News You Choose e-mails, Falcon Press email newsletters, Twitter, Talking Points (translated text messaging app), United Language (on-demand translation phone service), and Forestdale’s website.
  •  Encourage all caregivers to attend an annual meeting during the first PTA meeting in September to share information about Title I services, explain Title I grant requirements, and inform families of their right to be involved in the school.
  •  Share school and student performance data with families in ways that seek their ideas about how to improve performance toward Virginia’s challenging academic standards, such as at parent conferences, presentations at PTA meetings, and virtual Parent Coffees.
  • Provide opportunities throughout the year for families to better understand the school’s goals for students and find ways to improve student learning by relaying information about performance on assignments and specific information in the form of a narrative.
  • Maintain resources for caregivers to review student assignments and ongoing communication about student work, such as SIS ParentVue, Schoology, e-mails, use of the Talking Points app, and phone calls.
  • Provide ongoing feedback on student progress through quarterly progress reports that show specific areas of proficiency and areas for continued growth
  •  Hold parent-teacher conferences for all students at least annually in the fall and more often, as needed.

Shared Responsibilities for High Academic Achievement

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers receive materials, training, and benefits from school partnerships with social and academic services, community-based organizations, and businesses, including the following:

  • Hold workshops connecting caregivers to tools and resources, such as parent information sessions on social-emotional health, literacy and math, Advanced Academics Program (AAP) continuum of services.  
  • Offer regular opportunities for families to learn directly from school staff about the school’s academic, behavioral, and social programming through parent coffees and workshops.
  • Encourage participation in family learning events where caregivers learn strategies to support their child’s learning at home and have a chance to practice those strategies with their child, such as Forestdale Family Day and STEAM Night.
  • Provide ongoing access to resources in the school, such as parent liaison, school counselors, school psychologist, school social worker, and Advanced Academic Resource Teacher.
  • Provide mentors for students though our school counselors, staff mentoring program, and clinical team.  
  • Provide opportunities to donate and access supplies donated by others, such as such as the weekly take-home food program, backpacks, school supplies, coats, clothing, and holiday gifts assistance program.
  • Leverage partnerships with local businesses and organizations to enhance school programs and events, such as Grand Involve, FCPS Parent Resource Center, Neighborhood Community Services.
  • Support parents in accessing county and community resources, such as Community Services Board, Echo, Koinonia, and local food distribution drives.   
  • Offer outreach and training for targeted families, such as parenting classes and technology resources and support.

Welcoming All Families

Efforts will be made to ensure that all parents/caregivers are welcomed and provided opportunities to actively engage within the school, including the following:

  • Create a welcoming atmosphere at the school with friendly and welcoming staff members who greet parents, administrator coffees and town halls, accessibility to school administrators, and availability of parent liaison and clinical team (school counselors, school social worker, school psychologist).
  • Provide interpretation services for parent-teacher conferences, workshops, and meetings.
  • Translate or provide interpretation of all school documents and communication to make them accessible in the caregiver’s preferred correspondence language and for those with vision or hearing impairments.
  • Support two-way communication between families and staff through assistance of a parent liaison for school events, PTA meetings, parent conferences, phone calls home, and other events and communication.
  • Expand access for family participation in informational meetings and learning sessions by offering multiple opportunities and formats (synchronous and asynchronous) and providing translation.

Compact Provisions

School staff, parents/caregivers, and students must work together to ensure a student success.

The staff will:

Provide a high-quality curriculum and instruction that enables students to meet challenging academic standard through the following actions:

  • Teach all students according to the state’s challenging standards, using approved curriculum resources.
  • Provide ongoing professional development and support to all teachers to ensure effective instructional practices are used in all classrooms.
  • Meet at least twice a week as a collaborative learning team (CLT) with instructional coaches and resource specialists to plan instruction and assessment opportunities, examine data, and refine and adjust teaching strategies.

Provide a supportive and effective learning environment for students through the following actions:

  • Provide clear expectations for student behavior and academic learning.
  • Offer a variety of resources to help students with their learning.
  • Provide social skill instruction, support for executive functioning skills, and group counseling as appropriate.

Provide assistance to caregivers in understanding the school’s program through the following actions:

  • Hold an annual meeting to present information on the school’s Title I programs, state and division curriculum and assessments, and the school’s state and federal accountability status.
  • Provide multiple opportunities for caregivers to ask questions and give input into the Title I programs.
  • Provide opportunities for caregivers to provide ideas and suggestions through school events, parent requested meetings, Family Engagement Committee, and parent coffees.

Build caregivers’ involvement in the school’s Title I program through the following actions:

  • Include caregivers as members of the School Improvement and Innovation Planning (SIIP) Committee and as collaborators in developing the SIIP and plans for the use of Title I family engagement funds.
  • Invite parents to volunteer in classrooms, on the PTA Board, and at school wide events.

The parents/caregivers will:

Demonstrate understanding that participation in my child’s education will help his or her achievement through the following actions:

  • Participate in decisions related to school programs and my child’s education and share my questions or comments about the programs in my child’s school.
  • Volunteer in my child’s classroom or in school activities, as my schedule allows.
  • Encourage and support my child’s learning at home and at school. 
  • Contact my child's teacher with questions or concerns.
  • Read or encourage independent reading daily.

The student will:

Share the responsibility to improve my academic learning to achieve the state’s challenging standards through the followings actions:

  • Get enough sleep every night.
  • Come to school on time unless I am sick.
  • Try my hardest and work with my classmates to complete learning tasks.
  • Give my parents all notes and papers from my teacher.
  • Ask for help when needed and help others when needed.
  • Display positive citizenship skills.
  • Follow Forestdale’s 3 guiding principles:  Take care of yourself.  Take care of each other.  Take care of this place.