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Parent and Family Engagement Plan

WHAT IS FAMILY ENGAGEMENT?

Family Engagement means the participation of parents and family members in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities. Successful family engagement includes the following:  

  • Parents or guardians play an integral role in assisting with their child's learning.
  • Parents or guardians are encouraged to be actively involved in their child's education.
  • Parents or guardians are full partners in their child's education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child.
  • Other activities such as those described in Section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

DISTRICT FAMILY ENGAGEMENT PLAN: ADOPTED JUNE 16, 2022

Fiscal Year 2023 District Family Engagement Plan.pdf (PDF)

ABOUT THE PARENT & FAMILY ENGAGEMENT PLAN

In support of strengthening the academic achievement of students, Bulloch County Schools has developed a parent and family engagement plan that establishes the district's expectations and objectives for meaningful family engagement and guides the strategies and resources that strengthen school and parent partnerships in the district's Title I schools.

This plan describes Bulloch County Schools' commitment to engage families and build capacity in our Title I schools in order to improve academic achievement. When schools, families, and communities work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer and enjoy school more.

Title I, Part A provides for substantive family engagement at every level of the program, such as in the development and implementation of the district and school plan, and in carrying out the district and school improvement provisions.

Section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act contains the primary Title I, Part A requirements for schools and school systems to involve parents and family members in their children's education. Consistent with Section 1116, Bulloch County Schools will work with its Title I schools to ensure that the required school-level parent and family engagement policies meet the requirements of Section 1116(b) and each include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with Section 1116(d) of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

JOINTLY DEVELOPED PLAN

The school district annually conducts a Title I parent survey and Title I Annual Meetings to solicit input into the district's family engagement plan. All parents  and guardians are invited to participate and provide suggestions and ideas to improve the district parent and family engagement plan. The district sends an email to all families informing them about these opportunities and posts an announcement on the schools' district's websites.

Upon final revision, the District Parent and Family Engagement Plan is incorporated into the Consolidated Legal Education Agency Improvement Plan (CLIP), which is submitted to the state. Additionally, each Title I school may use its Parent Advisory Council to review the District Parent and Family Engagement Plan before the end of the school year.

Parents are welcome to submit comments and feedback regarding the policy at any time on the school district website or by submitting written comments to their child's school. All feedback received by July is included in the upcoming year's plan.

The District Parent and Family Engagement Plan is posted on district and school websites, distributed during annual Title I school meetings, and made available in the schools' parent resource centers.

STRENGTHENING OUR SCHOOLS

Bulloch County Schools provides assistance and support to all Title I schools to ensure family engagement requirements are satisfied and that family engagement strategies and activities are implemented. Title I schools receive notifications and resources from the district to help them improve and strengthen family engagement.

In addition to frequent communication and school visits, the district may hold monthly meetings and trainings with its Title I schools' principals and School Parent and Family Engagement Specialists to review family engagement plans and activities.

Each Title I school will hold a Parent Input meeting during the months of January or February, and a survey will be available during this time that seeks suggestions as to how these family engagement funds will be used for the upcoming school year at both the district and school levels.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEANINGFUL PARENT CONSULTATION

Input and suggestions from parents and family members are an essential component of the district and school improvement plans that are developed each year. All parents of students eligible to receive Title I services are invited to attend the two meeting opportunities described in this section to share their ideas and suggestions to help the district, schools, and students to reach our student academic achievement goals.

TITLE I FAMILY INPUT

Each Title I school will hold a Parent Input meeting during the months of January or February, and a survey will be available during this time, that seeks suggestions as to how these family engagement funds will be used in the upcoming year at both the district and school-level. Feedback from these meetings and the survey results will be reviewed by the district to determine areas of need for the upcoming school year and consider changes to the family engagement budget.

Each Title I school will send invitations home as well as email and text parents to notify them about the date and time of the forum. Information regarding the Title I Family Input Meeting will also be made available on the school websites and social media.

Parent input on the use of Title I funds to support family engagement programs may also be provided through the annual district survey. The survey will contain questions related to the family engagement budget as well as a section for parents to provide their comments.

Unable to attend these meetings? Please visit our Federal Programs webpage to review the meeting documents.

RESERVATION OF FUNDS

Bulloch County Schools reserves one percent of its annual total of Title I funds to carry out the parent and family engagement requirements listed in this policy and as described in Section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Furthermore, the school district will distribute 90 percent of the amount reserved to Title I schools to support their local-level family engagement programs and activities. The district will provide clear guidance and communication to assist each Title I school in developing an adequate family engagement budget that addresses their needs assessment and parent recommendations.

BUILDING CAPACITY

Bulloch County Schools will build school and parent capacity for strong family engagement in order to foster effective engagement of parents and family members in supporting partnerships among the Title I schools. Parents, and the community share a goal of improving student academic achievement and building capacity through districtwide activities and programs.

ASSISTANCE TO PARENTS & GUARDIANS

Bulloch County Schools will work through its Title I schools to provide assistance to parents in understanding state and district academic information connected to student learning and progress. The district will also provide parents with information regarding the following:

  • Title I program
  • Programs for parents to gain knowledge about the challenging state academic standards
  • Local academic assessments, as well as the required assessments for Georgia students, including alternative forms of assessment, will also be provided.

The dates and locations for these programs will be posted on the district website and shared through each Title I school's website.

In addition, Bulloch County Schools will coordinate pages on the district and school websites that will contain resources and materials, including parent guides, study guides, practice assessments, to help parents work with their children at home. Copies of these materials will be made available at all Title I schools for those families who may have limited internet access, including copies in Spanish. To assist parents with understanding the online student information system and other digital educational resources (including education about the harms of copyright piracy), the family engagement specialists may host workshops for parents. The dates and times for these workshops will be determined and announced by each individual school and made available to parents.

Bulloch County Schools will coordinate and integrate the district's family engagement programs with the district's preschool program, and other federal and state funded preschool programs by inviting faculty and staff from those programs to attend planning meetings focused on family engagement activities. In the fall, the elementary schools will host Pre-Kindergarten Orientation so parents may tour the schools and receive information to help prepare them and their children for kindergarten. Bulloch County Schools will also coordinate with these programs to ensure that parents are informed about available resources.

ASSISTANCE TO SCHOOL FACULTY & STAFF

Bulloch County Schools will conduct two trainings per semester during the school year for all administrators, faculty and staff to learn and discuss strategies to increase family engagement, improve school-family communication, and build ties with parents and the community. To ensure that information related to district, school, parent programs, and activities is available to all parents, each Title I school is required to send home and post online information for parents and family members in an understandable language and uniform format. At the beginning of the year, school staff will be trained on parent notifications and resources to be sent home in parents' native language, where applicable, and providing interpreters at parent events. Information posted on the district website will be translated to the extent practicable. The district will also utilize school phone call systems, district and school websites, local news media, and other school message systems to post information for parents.

PARENT & FAMILY ENGAGEMENT EVALUATION

Each year, Bulloch County Schools will conduct an evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parent and family engagement plan and the family engagement activities to improve the academic quality of the Title I schools through an annual parent survey and the Parent Input Meetings.

In January, each Title I school will email a survey link to the survey to parents so they may provide valuable feedback regarding the parent and family engagement activities and programs. These surveys will also be posted on the district and school websites for parents to complete. In addition to the annual survey, each Title I school will host a Title I Parent Input Meeting to facilitate group discussions for parents of children eligible to receive Title I services so we may design strategies for more effective family engagement.

Bulloch County Schools will use the findings from the Input meeting and the survey results to design strategies to improve effective family engagement, to remove possible barriers to parent participation, and to revise its parent and family engagement plans.

ACCESSIBILITY

In carrying out the parent and family engagement requirements established by Section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the district family engagement coordinator will communicate and collaborate to ensure full opportunities for participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children including providing information and school reports in a language parents can understand. Residential facilities in the school attendance area are included in any parent involvement correspondence and activities as well.

ANNUAL ADOPTION

The districtwide parent and family engagement plan is developed jointly and agreed upon with parents and family members of children participating in Title I, Part A programs as evidenced by the collaboration of parents, school, and district personnel. This plan was last adopted by Bulloch County Schools ion June 16, 2022, and will be in effect for the 2022 to 2023 academic school year. The school district will distribute this plan in multiple ways to all parents of participating Title I, Part A children before or during the first week of the first semester.