Title I, Section 1118, Parental Involvement Pledges & Learning Compacts NCLB/ESEA

Title I Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Now, perhaps more than at any time since the American Revolution, America can see the power that is wielded when people organize and work together for change. It is a power whose time has come for America’s schools.
Recent education reform efforts have overwhelmingly focused on schools and educators, neglecting one of the most significant resources in the entire process: parents. Tragically, parent involvement is often an afterthought in the school reform debate in this nation, or worse. During the Bush administration, significant gains made in parental involvement have been eviscerated, as parents are now encouraged to make their primary “involvement” simply the rejection or abandonment of so-called failing schools. Meanwhile a fundamental truth is being neglected: Parents represent a key to making schools better in the first place.

How much better? Consider this: Parental involvement in America could almost double the resources available to our schools. What’s more, we know parental involvement works.

The Challenge:
Project Appleseed seeks to increase the nation’s family involvement capacity - a multi-billion dollar resource. If 100 million parents, grandparents, and caring adults volunteered 10 hours in America’s public schools each year, they would contribute one billion man hours - critical to increasing student achievement for the nation’s 50 million K-12 students.

The Potential:
Financially, if teachers dedicated similar time one-on-one with their students, the minimum dollar benefit to children and schools would be $34 billion. That almost matches the $37 billion spent by the federal government on all public schools - including ESEA Title I, IDEA, Improving Teacher Quality, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, English Language Learners and Impact Aid.

Legislative Background:
This grassroots concept for enhancing schools has important legislative history. In 1994, Project Appleseed helped to make parental involvement a part of education policy. That year, Congress passed the Improving America’s Schools Act (IASA), which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Title I of the ESEA includes an emphasis on parental involvement. Also that year, Congress passed the Goals 2000: Education America Act, establishing parental participation as the eighth goal of the national education goals. Additionally, the Department of Education established the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education to encourage businesses, community and religious organizations, families, and schools to support parent and employee involvement in education.

During this process, Project Appleseed advised the first Clinton Administration, on the original parental involvement provisions of Section 1118 of the reauthorization of Title I. We helped the administration pioneer the development and use of pledges or learning compacts and the parental involvement rights and responsibilities under the Act. (Pictured, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Project Appleseed President Kevin Walker in Chicago, IL,)

Key to Success:
Pledges and compacts are the key to parental involvement success. Pledges and compacts mean the difference between a goal and real change. Organized parental involvement is the comprehensive and sustained intervention all schools need to succeed. It is time to take the parental involvement goals in our federal legislation and give them the support they need to transform our schools.

Overview of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Title I
"Principles: The overall goals of the ARRA are to stimulate the economy in the short term and invest in education and other essential public services to ensure the long-term economic health of our nation. The success of the education part of the ARRA will depend on the shared commitment and responsibility of students, parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, education boards, college presidents, state school chiefs, governors, local officials, and federal officials."

Under Title I schools are required to provide assistance to parents to help them understand the National Education Goals and the standards and assessments which will be used to determine children's progress. Schools are also required to help parents understand the Title I law and how to help their children. Each school district - except the smallest ones - are required to spend at least 2% of its Title I funds on programs for parents. Parents must be involved in decisions about how that money is to be spent. In fact, parents must jointly develop and approve the district and school's parent involvement policies which should spell out how this money is spent.

TITLE I SECTION 1118
(d) SHARED RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HIGH STUDENT PERFORMANCE -
As a component of the school-level parental involvement policy developed under subsection (b), each school served under this part shall jointly develop with parents for all children served under this part a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, the entire school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the State's high standards, such compact shall -

(1) describe the school's responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the children served under this part to meet the State's student performance standards, and the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting their children's learning, such as monitoring attendance, homework completion, television watching, volunteering in their child's classroom, and participating as appropriate in decisions relating to the education of their children, and positive use of extra-curricular time; and

(2) address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis through, at a minimum -

(A) parent teacher conferences in elementary schools at least annually, during which the compact shall be discussed as the compact relates to the individual child's achievement;

(B) frequent reports to parents on their children's progress; and

(C) reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child's class, and observation of classroom activities.

(e) BUILDING CAPACITY FOR INVOLVEMENT-

To ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school involved, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, each school and local educational agency assisted under this part -

(1) shall provide assistance to parents of children served by the school or local educational agency, as appropriate, in understanding such topics as the State's academic content standards and State student academic achievement standards, State and local academic assessments, the requirements of this part, and how to monitor a child's progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their children;

(2) shall provide materials and training to help parents to work with their children to improve their children's achievement, such as literacy training and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement;

(3) shall educate teachers, pupil services personnel, principals, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and the school;

(4) shall, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, the Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters, the Parents as Teachers Program, and public preschool and other programs, and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children;

(5) shall ensure that information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to the parents of participating children in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand;

(6) may involve parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of such training;

(7) may provide necessary literacy training from funds received under this part if the local educational agency has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for such training;

(8) may pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with local parental involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;

(9) may train parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;

(10) may arrange school meetings at a variety of times, or conduct in-home conferences between teachers or other educators, who work directly with participating children, with parents who are unable to attend such conferences at school, in order to maximize parental involvement and participation;

(11) may adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement;

(12) may establish a districtwide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in programs supported under this section;

(13) may develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses in parent involvement activities; and

(14) shall provide such other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under this section as parents may request.

Overview of Title I American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)

"Principles: The overall goals of Title I of the ARRA are to stimulate the economy in the short term and invest in education and other essential public services to ensure the long-term economic health of our nation. The success of the education part of the ARRA will depend on the shared commitment and responsibility of students, parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, education boards, college presidents, state school chiefs, governors, local officials, and federal officials.

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