Montgomery County School System

							                            Montgomery County High School
                        Title I ESEA Parental Involvement Policy
                                Revised December 15, 2011


Montgomery County High School regards continued parental involvement as a crucial
factor for the academic success of students. High school students require an increased
amount of support from family, school, and the community in order to complete the
requirements for graduation. This support is also crucial as students make the transition to
post secondary education and become productive citizens of tomorrow. Montgomery
County High School staff and personnel strive to encourage, and fully engage, parents in
their child’s continued academic and social growth. Parental involvement opportunities
are offered at the school in an effort to inform parents and increase their knowledge of the
requirements for graduation, as well as information concerning opportunities for students
following graduation.

 The Montgomery County School System recognizes the importance of, as well as the
legal requirements for, implementing programs, activities, and procedures for the
involvement of parents of participating public and private school children in the Title I
program. It shall be the intent of all parent involvement activities at Montgomery County
High School to encourage and support the efforts of home, school, and community in
improving the educational opportunities of Title I eligible children by helping these
children succeed in the regular program of the school system, attain grade level
proficiency; and improve achievement in basic and advanced skills.


     A. The Montgomery County High School will take the following actions to involve
        parents in the joint development of its district wide parent involvement plan
        under section 1112 of the ESEA:

        Representatives from the School System Central Office and the Montgomery
        County High School will meet regularly with a cross section of parents,
        including, but not limited to, representatives of NCLB Title I parents, PTO’s,
        school councils, migrant and ESOL groups. Parent surveys may also be used.

     B. The Montgomery County High School will take the following actions to involve
        parents in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116 of
        the ESEA:

        School councils and other parent groups are encouraged to be familiar with their
        school improvement plans. School committees will involve parent and
        community groups in the development of the plans where appropriate.

     C. The Montgomery County High School will provide the following necessary
        coordination, technical assistance, and other support to assist Title I, Part A




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   schools in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities
   to improve student academic achievement and school performance:

   The system wide Parent Involvement Coordinator will organize a District Parent
   Advisory Council to provide advice on all matters related to parent involvement
   programs. Funds will be allocated to support parent involvement activities
   beyond the minimum legal requirements.

   D. The Montgomery County High School will take the following actions to
   conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content
   and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of
   its Title I, Part A schools. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to
   greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities (with
   particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are
   disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any
   racial or ethnic minority background).The school will use the findings of the
   evaluation about its parental involvement policy and activities to design
   strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary
   (and with the involvement of parents) its parental involvement policies.

   The school will conduct an inventory of ways that are currently involving
   parents in school activities. In addition, schools will develop an evaluation tool
   to self evaluate the effectiveness of their school-family-community partnership
   programs. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater
   participation by parents in parent involvement activities(with particular attention
   to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are homeless, are disabled, have
   limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, and are of any racial or ethnic
   minority background).

   Montgomery County High School will use the findings of the evaluation to
   design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise its
   parental involvement policy if necessary.

E. The Montgomery County High School will build the schools’ and parents’
   capacity for strong parental involvement in order to ensure effective
   involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school , parents,
   and the community to improve student academic achievement, through the
   following activities specifically described below:

      a. The school will provide assistance to parents of children served by the
         school, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by
         undertaking the actions described in this paragraph-
              i. the State’s academic content standards
             ii. the State’s student academic achievement standards
            iii. the State and local academic assessments including alternative
                 assessments



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             iv. the requirements of Part A
              v. how to monitor their child’s progress, and
             vi. how to work with educators


       b. Montgomery County High School will encourage parents to attend
       conferences that emphasize parental involvement, as well as conduct local
       meetings to explain the State academic standards and other current topics as
       listed in the above paragraph.


  F.   The Montgomery County High School will provide materials and
       training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s
       academic achievement by:

          Offering training or other information to parents on the following:
                 a) ways to help families establish home environments that support
                     children as students
                 b) information and ideas for families about how to help students
                     at home with homework and other curriculum-related
                     activities, decisions, and planning
                 c) how to design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-
                     school communications about school programs and children’s
                     progress

F. The Montgomery County High School will educate its teachers, pupil services,
   personnel, principals, and other staff, in how to reach out to, communicate with,
   and work with parents as equal partners, in the value and utility of contributions
   of parents, and in how to implement and coordinate parent programs and build
   ties between parents and school by:

          Providing professional learning to its teachers, pupil services personnel,
          principals, and other staff on how to reach out to, communicate with, and
          work with parents. These activities may include attending conferences,
          workshops, as well as locally developed programs. Sufficient funds will
          be allocated to ensure that this need will be met.

G. The Montgomery County High School will, to the extent feasible and
   appropriate, provide information through the use of a parent resource center to
   encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of
   their children by:

         The system provides training to parents through a system-wide Parent
         University and/or school-based workshops. A Parent Resource Center
         will be established in the school counselor’s office to provide resources
         for parent checkout. Parents have access to the school and county



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         websites in the media center, computer lab, and local public libraries.
         Community Calendar briefs are aired on the local radio station to keep
         parents informed. In addition, the Home/School Connection newsletter
         will be sent home monthly.



H. The Montgomery County High School will take the following actions
    to ensure that information related to the school and parent programs, meetings,
   and other activities, is sent to parents of participating children in an
   understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request,
   and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents can understand:

       Parents will be notified about annual meetings and other activities by
       understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon
       request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents can understand:
       notices sent home with students, flyers distributed throughout the
       community, local newspaper, and spots on the radio. School signs will
       furnish all information (date, time, place of meeting) necessary for parents
       to fully participate in such meetings. School and System wide Web pages
       will fully publicize pertinent information as well.




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