Introduction

The Dyersburg City Schools Family and Community Involvement Plan is based on a framework through which families, educators, and communities can work together to improve teaching and learning. The parent involvement provisions in Title One, Part A relative to the Dyersburg City Schools System consolidated application reflect shared accountability between schools and families. Our parental involvement plan involves flexibility, addresses local needs, and builds parents’ capacity to improve their own children’s academic achievements. The district employs personnel and allocates resources to implement and support the family and community involvement plan in accordance with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

Parents are offered insight into their children’s education, the professional qualities of teachers, and the quality of the schools they attend. Findings show when parents are involved in education, children do better in school and schools improve. Our school system encourages the meaningful involvement from family and community stakeholders in the development of Dyersburg City Schools’ Family and Community Involvement Policy and Plan.

Purpose

The participation of parents (individually or by group) in regular, two-way and meaningful communication involves a focus on student academic learning and other school activities. Barriers or factors, which might inhibit meaningful interaction of family and community stakeholders, are identified and efforts are made to minimize the effect of these areas. As an example, efforts are made to involve parents in the education of their children by utilizing a written language the parent can understand.

General Information

Goal 1: Improve the quality of family and community interaction.

To ensure parents are involved in each school, we invite all parents to parent orientation, which is an open meeting that is conducted at the beginning of school, at a convenient time. The purpose of the meeting is to inform them of all programs available at the school, and the right of parents to be involved. Each school involves parents in an ongoing and timely way to plan, review, and improve programs as related to the Dyersburg City Schools’ Family and Community Involvement Policy and Plan. Regular meetings with flexible scheduling are held throughout the year, such as parent teacher conferences, PTO/PTA meetings, after school programs, parent involvement night, room mothers, and parent mentoring groups. Our Family Resource Center and Family and Community Involvement Coordinator assist in the coordination of family and community involvement by serving in a lead and/or support role for families, schools, and community resources. (Examples of the Family Resource Center’s support role include parenting classes that focus on improving parenting skills. Two such programs are Active Parenting Now and Parent to Parent.)

The importance of communication between school and home on an ongoing basis whether in conferences, reports to parents, or through other mechanisms is emphasized as a part of family and community involvement. As a part of our emphasis on the importance of communication, our school system provides parents with timely information about programs including a description and explanation of the curriculum, access to all learning materials relative to their child’s education, their children’s official records, the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and the proficiencies students are expected to meet. Reasonable access to staff and opportunities to volunteer and participate in student activities are also means through which communication is facilitated. Whenever practicable to ensure the fullest possible parental participation, interpreters and/or written translations of printed information in a language or uniform format they understand are provided to parents with Limited English Proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children.

Goal 2: Increase family and community understanding of the school setting as it relates to student achievement.

The schools jointly develop with parents a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, school staff, and students share responsibility for improved student academic achievement. This is accomplished in part by addressing homework, discipline, and attendance as factors that affect the level of student achievement. This compact describes the school’s responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables students to meet the State Academic Achievement Standards. The compact addresses the ways in which each parent and child will be responsible for supporting the child’s learning.

Goal 3: Provide technical assistance and support to facilitate family and community involvement.

The school district will provide technical assistance and support for effective family and community involvement based on federal and state standards. Under Title I, ninety-five percent (95%) of the parent involvement funds are set-aside to support school level family and community involvement activities. The remaining five percent (5%) reinforces effective family and community involvement throughout the school system.

Goal 4: Develop a monitoring and evaluative structure that ensures effective implementation of family and community involvement.

The school district shall appoint a Family and Community Advisory (FCA) Council that will annually assess, through consultation with parents, parent advisory committees, schools, and through appropriate quantitative or qualitative assessments such as family, community, and stakeholder surveys, the effectiveness of the Family and Community Engagement Program. Survey data and student achievement data are reviewed in both aggregate and disaggregate formats. The FCA Council will determine what action needs to be taken, if any, to increase parental and community participation. We continue to be in a process of monitoring and adjusting effective Family and Community involvement activities to not only meet, but also attempt to exceed local, state, and federal standards.

Goal 5: Build capacity for family and community involvement through training of school personnel, parents, and community.

Our school system and our system’s governing body ensure the allocation of personnel, programs, and fiscal resources to support family and community involvement in our schools, in our district, and within our community. Programs that are offered through the Dyersburg-Dyer County Professional Development Center (PDC) focus on such factors as: (a) communication, (b) diversity, (c) parenting skills, (d) rules, regulations, standards of family and community involvement implementation, (e) specific target audiences as related to specific identified needs, and (f) programmatic implementation as it relates to student achievement and/or family and community involvement. The PDC provides training not only for system staff, parents, and community members, but also to our Northwest Tennessee geographic area. The Family Resource Center also expands our training capabilities beyond system staff to include parents and community as applicable to identified needs. The Family and Community Involvement Coordinator assists in facilitation of providing training and allocation of resources.

Expected Results

The provisions of our Family and Community Involvement Plan and Policy reflect our attempt to achieve best practice strategies to engage families in helping to educate their children, because students do better when parents are actively involved in the educational process, both at home and at school. Expected results of our plan and policy seek to achieve more than the goals stated in our plan. Ultimately through family and community involvement there will be other indicators of success which are: (1) higher grades, (2) improved test scores, (3) improved school attendance, (4) increased participation in higher-level academic programs, and (5) long term success for students that enables them to become productive members of society.

*In implementing parent involvement programs, activities, and procedures, the LEA and the schools may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age. Title VI, Title IX and Title II.