SDUSD Parent Involvement Policy

Guidelines for Implementation of the

San Diego Unified School District Parent Involvement Policy

In order to assure collaborative partnerships among schools, parents, and the community, the board, working through the administration, is committed to:

1. Involving parents/guardians in the joint development of San Diego Unified's plans to create quality schools in every neighborhood with a focus on the 12 quality school indicators.

The district's appropriate departments will:

1. Involve parents in the development or revision of the Local Education Agency (LEA) Plan and the Local Control Accountability Plan. Parents will participate in the LCAP and LEA plan committees. Outreach to obtain parent input for this document will be to DAC, DELAC, CAC, GATE DAC, the San Diego Unified Council of PTAs the individual cluster committees, and other stakeholders as appropriate. Timeline: February, March, and April.
2. Involve parents in the Annual Evaluation of the district's LEA plan and the LCAP, through the District Advisory Council (DAC) for Compensatory Education.
3. Inform parents individually and through the various parent committees about each school's progress in meeting all accountability measures (such as Adequate Yearly Progress, Academic Performance Index, and CAHSEE passage rates). This and other data such as school's benchmark data other information from local Board of Education (BOE) reports, and reports presented at the DAC will be posted on the DAC webpage.
4. Provide school sites with training, and training materials for School Site Council (SSC) and English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC) members.
5. Gather input from the community and parents through the various parent groups such as DAC, DELAC, CAC, GATE DAC, the San Diego Unified Council of PTAs, the individual cluster committees, and other stakeholders as appropriate.
6. At a school site Title I Parent meeting will occur by the end of October at all sites receiving Title I money as required by federal law. All members of the School Site Council shall be included in the planning of the annual mandatory Title I parent meeting.
7. Inform parents and the community when the School Accountability Report Cards are available and the school site Title I Parent meetings are held.

Guidelines for Implementation of the

SDUSD Parent Involvement Policy (continued)

1. Providing the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary in planning and implementing effective parent involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance across the spectrum of student achievement levels.

The district's appropriate departments will:

1. Provide centralized and school-site trainings on strategies to link family engagement to improving student outcomes.
2. Provide interpretation services and translation of materials, as appropriate, at parent/community meetings for parents who have limited English Proficiency through the Translation Office.
3. Make available website downloadable, "do it yourself" staff development to link family engagement to student learning to boost student achievement (includes agendas, PowerPoint's, and handouts).
4. Make available website downloadable "do it yourself" parent workshops on a variety of topics (includes agendas, PowerPoint's, handouts, etc.) to provide families tools linked to student learning.
5. Provide links to websites offering current research, promising practices, resources, and information on ways to boost student achievement by implementing strategic parent and community involvement.
6. Provide centralized training to School Site Councils and English Learner Advisory Committees to learn how to conduct effective meetings; to interpret data in order to implement effective family engagement linked to student learning.
7. Provide technical assistance to revitalize home school compacts moving from a routine requirement to a powerful tool to communicate with families about student progress and to bridge classroom and home activities to support learning.
8. Assist schools with the implementation of the Family Friendly Schools strategies to help staff provide and sustain culturally responsive and inclusive schoolwide practices such as family friendly classrooms, parent centers, events, and front offices.
9. Provide staff training and/or materials for developing effective parent involvement activities to improve student academic achievement.
10. SSC, ELAC, and other pertinent trainings will be made available online. The use of online, web-based multimedia training will reduce the existence of barriers to parent involvement such as transportation, childcare, and other considerations.

Guidelines for Implementation of the

SDUSD Parent Involvement Policy (continued)

1. All school sites will have a parent center. At a minimum, the parent center will make available to parents’ access to the sandi.net website with easy access to meeting and training calendars, and school site specific information shall include student textbooks, classroom assignments and syllabi, and volunteer information. The Parent Center will be designed so as to address the needs of the parent population which includes but is not limited to English Learners, Low Income families, and those with disabilities.

1. Building the capacity of schools, staff, and parents/guardians for strong, effective, and ongoing parent involvement in the education of their children to improve and sustain achievement levels.

The district's appropriate departments will:

1. Provide leadership classes to help parents assume leadership roles at schools and to work as equal partners in the development and implementation of the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA)
2. Provide various trainings to help parents interpret student data in order to plan and construct their school's Single Plan for Student Achievement and/or LCAP
3. Provide classes and trainings that will bolster parent involvement. Classes will be offered at various hours to meet the needs of parents and to reach as many as possible. Classes shall be recorded and posted to sand.net.
4. Train school staffs how to design and conduct workshops, including literacy, math, and parenting classes so schools can offer their own site-specific workshop for parents.
5. Provide training for District Advisory Council (DAC) members on all Title I and Compensatory Education matters at the monthly meetings.
6. Provide opportunities for administrators to receive information and training on how to implement effective parent involvement programs at schools.
7. Work with community agencies and nonprofit groups to provide community educational forums, events, and other activities to engage families.
8. Provide school sites materials to train new SSC and ELAC members how to be effective members of a team and understand the legal requirements and responsibilities of each committee.

Guidelines for Implementation of the

SDUSD Parent Involvement Policy (continued)

1. Coordinating and integrating parent involvement strategies under various programs.

The district's appropriate departments will:

1. Encourage district and community programs to collaborate in order to provide the most effective services to families and avoid duplication of services.
2. Make available and/or distribute information about the California Department of Education's Clearinghouse for Multilingual documents so all SDUSD schools can locate, access, and share parental notification documents that have been translated into languages other than English.
3. Work collaboratively with the Office of Language Acquisition to coordinate parent involvement services.
4. Work collaboratively with the Early Childhood Development Departments to coordinate parent involvement services.
5. Work collaboratively with Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) to coordinate parent involvement services.
6. Work collaboratively with the Special Education Department to coordinate parent involvement services.
1. Conducting, with parent/guardian involvement, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parent involvement policy in improving the academic quality of the schools, including:

• Identifying and overcoming barriers to greater participation by parents/guardians in parent involvement activities, with particular attention to parents/guardians who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, and are of any racial or ethnic minority background.
• Using evaluation findings to design strategies for more effective parent involvement.
• If necessary, revising the district and school parent involvement policies.

Guidelines for Implementation of the

SDUSD Parent Involvement Policy (continued)

The district's appropriate departments will:

1. Collaborate with parents in planning the annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parent involvement policy in improving the academic quality of all schools. Provide translation services, as appropriate, at parent/community meetings.
2. Participate in the annual evaluation of the district Parent Involvement Policy; coordinate the collection and reporting of all district advisory group evaluations by the District Advisory Council (DAC) for Compensatory Education Programs.

Participate in the revision of the district Parent Involvement Policy, as needed, according to evaluation results.

3. Conduct a review by the District Advisory Council (DAC) for Compensatory Education programs in the district's Consolidated Application with input for budget consideration.
4. Ensure meaningful two-way communication; regarding the annual evaluation is provided in a timely and regular basis at both the school site and district level, as outlined in District Procedures 9060 and 9062.

1. Involving parents/guardians in the activities/strategies of schools.

The district's appropriate departments will ensure:

1. The appropriate allocation for program improvement activities is distributed to school sites and included in the school's SPSA.
2. Meaningful two-way communication is provided to parents in a timely and regular basis at both the site level and district level, as outlined in district procedures 9060 and 9062.
3. Parents are notified and provided with a variety of opportunities to be involved in their student's education as indicated in each school's Single Plan for Student Achievement and the site Parent Involvement Policy. All Title I schools will receive an allocation for parent involvement activities.
4. Schools conduct an annual survey to identify topics of interest to parents to plan family engagement activities that support and are aligned to the goals in the SPSA.
5. Meetings are conducted at times appropriate for parents to ensure and promote their participation.
6. Parents are informed when schools are identified as Program Improvement and advised about the choices/services students are eligible for under the Program Improvement choice option and/or Supplemental Educational Services (SES).
7. That parent groups will be noticed by the Board Office of Education as agenda items relevant to their group are placed on an agenda-draft or final.