1. Title I Parental Involvement
Missy Moore, Title I Coordinator
St. Tammany Parish School System

2. What does research tell us about the Influence of Parent Involvement?
When schools work together with families to support learning, children tend to succeed not only in school, but throughout life.
When families and schools cooperate, the results include:
Higher grades and test scores
Better attendance
More homework completed
Higher graduation rates/greater enrollment in post-secondary education
ADD IT UP: Using Research to Improve Education for Low-Income & Minority Students. Poverty & Race Research Action Council (2001)

3. The most accurate predictor of a student’s achievement in school is not income or social status, but the extent that a student’s family is able to:
Create a home environment that encourages learning
Express high (but not unrealistic) expectations for their children’s achievement and future careers
Become involved in their children’s education at school and in the community.
Notes from Research: Parent Involvement and Student Achievement.
San Diego County Office of Education 1997

4. School Parent Involvement Policy
Each Title I funded school must develop and distribute its own written parental involvement policy that includes:
Annual meeting
Offer a flexible number of meetings
Involve parents in planning, review and improvement of Title I programs
Provide timely information regarding the programs
Provide opportunity to submit dissenting views to LEA

5. School Parent Compacts
Each Title I funded school must have a compact:
developed jointly with parents of the school
describes school and parents’ responsibilities.
The compact must also address the importance of ongoing communication between teachers and parents. At a minimum:
Parent-teacher conferences (at least annually) in elementary school,
Frequent reports to parents on their child’ progress
Reasonable access to staff and school

6. St. Tammany Parish Title I Schools
NATIONAL NETWORK OF
Partnership Schools
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
and
St. Tammany Parish Title I Schools

7. School Model The NNPS School Model includes four essential elements:
Action Team for Partnerships
Framework of Six Types of Involvement
One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships
Program Evaluation
Researchers and facilitators at the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University work with the members of NNPS to study the nature and results of involvement. NNPS aims to increase knowledge of new concepts and strategies; use research results to develop tools and materials that will improve policy and practice; provide professional development conferences and workshops; share best practices of parental involvement and community connections; and recognize excellent partnership programs at the school, district, organization, and state levels.

8. What is an Action Team for Partnerships?
A team of 5-6 people (teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and others) that work to organize and sustain a program for parental involvement
A team that helps to create a welcoming school environment for families
A team that works to engage families and the community in ways that support student achievement and success
All schools in the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) use an Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) to organize and sustain a program of school, family, and community partnerships. With an ATP, teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and others can work together to connect family and community involvement with school improvement goals. The ATP in each school aims to:
Create a welcoming school environment for families
Engage families and the community in ways that support student achievement and success

9. Six Types of Involvement: Keys to Successful Partnerships
Parenting
Communicating
Volunteering
Learning at Home
Decision Making
Collaborating with the Community
Parenting Assist families with parenting skills and setting home conditions to support children as students. Also, assist schools to better understand families.
Communicating Conduct effective communications from school-to-home and from home-to-school about school programs and student progress.
Volunteering Organize volunteers and audiences to support the school and students. Provide volunteer opportunities in various locations and at various times.
Learning at Home Involve families with their children on homework and other curriculum-related activities and decisions.
Decision Making Include families as participants in school decisions, and develop parent leaders and representatives.
Collaborating with the Community Coordinate resources and services from the community for families, students, and the school, and provide services to the community.

10. One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships
Detailed information on activities
Implementation of all of the Six Types of Involvement
Dates, grade levels involved, preparations needed, persons in charge and assisting, and evaluation tools for planned are required
Schools are asked for detailed information on the activities that the Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) will implement for all of the Six Types of Involvement to reach specific school improvement goals. There are two versions of the One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships that a school's ATP may use or adapt –
Form G and Form T.
Both formats of the One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships require ATP members to list the dates, grade levels involved, preparations needed, persons in charge and assisting, and evaluation tools to gauge results of the planned activities. Every year, the ATP should obtain reactions to and ideas for the One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships from the School Improvement Team, PTA/PTO, faculty, parents, and others. Templates for the One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships are in the NNPS Handbook and in .pdf form on the CD in the Third Edition which schools will receive once their membership has been processed.

11. Schools proceed step by step using the NNPS Partnership Planner to establish and strengthen partnership programs.
Schools will receive the Partnership Planner after membership is processed.

12. What do I need to do?
Set meeting dates for Action Team for Partnerships (ATP)
Select members for ATP
Develop a One-Year Action Plan for
Continue implementing your Action Plan

13. Documentation
Send copies of the following to Lynn Johnson at the Covington Education Center (make sure that you have copies of each on file at your school also):
Your school’s parental involvement policy
One-Year Action Team Plan for
List of ATP members
List of ATP meeting dates

14. SCHOOL-FAMILY-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL
SCHOOL-FAMILY-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
EPSTEIN’S SIX TYPES OF INVOLVEMENT
Type 1
PARENTING: Assist families in understanding child and adolescent
development, and in setting home conditions that support children
as students at each age and grade level. Assist schools in
understanding families.
COMMUNICATING: Communicate with families about school
programs and student progress through effective school-to-home
and home-to-school communications.
Type 2
Type 3
VOLUNTEERING: Improve recruitment, training, work, and
schedules to involve families as volunteers and audiences at school
or in other locations to support students and school programs.
Type 4
LEARNING AT HOME: Involve families with their children in
learning activities at home, including homework, other curriculum-
related activities, and individual course and program decisions.
DECISION MAKING: Include families as participants in school
decisions, governance, and advocacy through PTA/PTO, school
councils, committees, action teams, and other parent organizations.
Type 5
COLLABORATING WITH COMMUNITY: Coordinate resources
and services for students, families, and the school with businesses,
agencies, and other groups, and provide services to the community.
Type 6

15. Reaching Results for Students
Studies show that each type of involvement promotes different kinds of results.
Type 1 – Parenting
Students improve when families are provided information on child development and school expectations at each grade level (e.g., to support student health, behavior, attendance).
Type 2 – Communicating
Students Increase awareness of their own progress in subjects and skills when teachers, students, and parents communicate about classwork.
Type 3 – Volunteering
Students gain academic skills that are tutored or taught by volunteers.
Type 4 – Learning At Home
Students complete more homework in specific subjects when teachers guide parents in how to interact on assignments.
Type 5 – Decision Making
Students benefit from policies and projects conducted and supported by parent organizations and partnership teams.
Type 6 – Collaborating with
the Community
Students gain skills and talents in curricular, extra-curricular, and afterschool projects with community partners.
EACH TYPE of involvement also can strengthen SPECIFIC RESULTS

16. Sample: How School Improvement Goals are Linked to a One-Year Action Plan for Partnerships
Improve student achievement in reading – PAGE 1
Family Reading Night
Weekly interactive homework in reading and writing
Parent/community volunteer book buddies and book talks
Improve student achievement in mathematics – PAGE 2
Family Math Night
After-school tutoring program in math
PTA fundraiser for computer software
Increase student attendance rates – PAGE 3
Family volunteers to phone parents of absentees
Attendance and lateness policies in newsletter and Web site
Family dinner with principal for improved attendance
Strengthen the climate of partnerships – PAGE 4
Reformat the newsletter and Web site to be family-friendly
Teachers’ walks in students’ neighborhoods or home visits
Welcome back picnic before school starts in the fall

19. COMPLETE A FINAL COPY OF THE ONE-YEAR ACTION PLAN FOR PARTNERSHIPS
YOUR ATP’s NEXT STEPS ?
COMPLETE A FINAL COPY OF THE
ONE-YEAR ACTION PLAN FOR PARTNERSHIPS
1. SHARE THE DRAFT and gather input from teachers, parents,
the School Council, and others at school.
MAKE FINAL REVISIONS on a paper or electronic copy.
3. PUBLICIZE THE FINAL PLAN in the school
newsletter, on the Web site, at the next Open House
Night, and in other ways.
4. GIVE COPIES TO ALL ATP MEMBERS and to the
district facilitator who will assist your team.

20. Questions? Comments? Concerns?