Purpose of this Policy and Compact

Efforts will be made to clearly articulate the school’s intentions to engage with and involve parents/caregivers in the educational process.  

Beech Tree Elementary is a Title I school within Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) and utilizes the Title I grant to improve student achievement and help all students meet the objectives of the FCPS Program of Studies and the Virginia Standards of Learning. A partnership with families is essential to meeting this goal.

Under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, schools that receive Title I funds are expected to collaborate with families to develop and maintain a parent and family engagement policy that describes the school’s approach to involve families in students’ learning and includes a compact expressing the partnerships among staff, caregivers, and students to reach high academic goals for every student.  

Beech Tree Elementary jointly developed this policy and compact with members of the school community and adopted it for the 2023-2024 school year. Several of the provisions specifically address state or federal expectations for the policy and compact.

This policy and compact is distributed to all caregivers in a language that families can understand. Caregivers have opportunities to provide comments and feedback on the policy and compact through communication between PTA leadership and school administration. Comments are submitted with the school’s policy and compact to FCPS central offices and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). This policy and compact are made available to the broader school community through the school website.  

Important Dates        

Parent-Teacher Conferences      

• K-5 will hold conferences between November 3rd & November 7th

• K-5 will continue weekly communications and conferences, as needed

Progress Report Distribution

• November 14, 2023

• February 6, 2024

• April 9, 2024

• June 12, 2024

School Events

• Back to School, August 31, 2023

• Fall Family Field Trip, September 30, 2023

• Beech Tree Curriculum Night, November 9, 2023

• Spring Family Field Trip, May 2024

 

Building Capacity for Involvement

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers are actively involved in the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the school’s Title I program, including the following:  

•  Provide family members a voice in decision-making through PTA meetings.
•  Engage caregiver input when developing the School Improvement and Innovation Plan (SIIP), Title I Schoolwide Plan, the Title I Parent and Family Engagement Policy and Compact and plans for use of Title I family engagement funding, which is used for family field trips all members of our community are able to benefit from.
•  Seek feedback from parents on programs within the Title I Schoolwide Plan, offer multiple methods for caregivers to submit comments about programs they may not find satisfactory, and submit any such comments with the Title I Schoolwide Plan to FCPS central offices.
•  Invite family members to help in organizing and executing a variety of school events to build collective ownership, such as giving input to the STEAM lab, Eco Club, parent workshops, curriculum nights, and family field trips.
•  Provide opportunities for caregivers to volunteer within the school in various ways, such as stuffing Wednesday folders, copying, mentoring, attending field trips, and working with small groups.
•  Encourage families to take part in annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the division-level Title I parent and family engagement policy to identify:
  •  Barriers to greater family participation,  
  •  Ways to help family members be better able to assist in student learning, and
  •  Strategies to support successful school and family interactions.

Effective Communication with Parents

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers receive meaningful communication in a timely manner, including the following:  

•  Use multiple methods of communication to families such as Principal Message through News You Choose, eNotify, Talking Points, website, marquis, and Twitter.
•  Encourage all caregivers to attend monthly PTA meetings to learn and receive information about Title I services, explain Title I grant requirements, and inform families of their right to be involved in the school.
•  Share school and student performance data with families in ways that seek their ideas about how to improve performance toward Virginia’s challenging academic standards, such as on curriculum nights and during parent-teacher conferences.
•  Provide opportunities throughout the year for families to better understand the school’s goals for students and find ways to improve student learning by such as on curriculum nights and during parentteacher conferences.
•  Maintain resources for caregivers to review student assignments and ongoing communication about student work, such as Schoology, Google Classroom, team monthly newsletter, and Wednesday folders.
•  Provide ongoing feedback on student progress through quarterly progress reports that show specific areas of proficiency and areas for continued growth.
•  Hold parent-teacher conferences for all students at least annually in the fall and more often, as needed.                                       

Shared Responsibilities for High Academic Achievement

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers receive materials, training, and benefits from school partnerships with social and academic services, community-based organizations, and businesses, including the following:  

•  Hold workshops connecting caregivers to tools and resources, such as Advanced Academics, FLE, Partners-In Print, and Parent Workshops.    
•  Offer regular opportunities for families to learn directly from school staff about the school’s academic, behavioral, and social programming through Curriculum Nights and Parent-teacher conferences.
•  Encourage participation in family learning events where caregivers learn strategies to support their child’s learning at home and have a chance to practice those strategies with their child, such as Partners in Print, Curriculum Nights, and Family Field Trips.
•  Provide ongoing access to resources in the school, such as through the parent liaison.
•  Provide mentors for students by parent and staff mentors, through the school counselor’s leadership.  
•  Provide opportunities to donate and access supplies donated by others, such as the clothing closet run by the PTA, Parent Liaison, and Social Worker, Food-For-Others, McLean Bible Church, and parent community.
•  Leverage partnerships with local businesses and organizations to enhance school programs and events, such as McLean Bible Church, and Food for Others.
•  Support parents in accessing county and community resources through the parent liaison, school counselor and social worker.  
•  Offer outreach and training for targeted families, such as Curriculum Nights and parent workshops.  

Welcoming All Families  

Efforts will be made to ensure that all parents/caregivers are welcomed and provided opportunities to actively engage within the school, including the following:  

•  Create a welcoming atmosphere at the school through school-wide collaborative planning.
•  Provide interpretation services for parent-teacher conferences, workshops, and meetings.
•  Translate or provide interpretation of school documents and communication to make them accessible in the caregiver’s preferred correspondence language and for those with vision or hearing impairments.
•  Support two-way communication between families and staff through assistance of a parent liaison for parent-teacher conferences and Curriculum Nights.
•  Expand access for family participation in informational meetings and learning sessions through newsletters, website and Twitter.                        

Compact Provisions

School staff, parents/caregivers, and students must work together to ensure a student success.  

The staff will:

Provide a high-quality curriculum and instruction that enables students to meet challenging academic standard through the following actions:

•  Teach all students according to the state’s challenging standards, using approved curriculum resources.
•  Provide ongoing professional development and support to all teachers to ensure effective instructional practices are used in all classrooms.
•  Reflect on instructional practices.

Provide a supportive and effective learning environment for students through the following actions:

•  Provide clear expectations for student behavior and academic learning.
•  Offer a variety of resources to help students with their learning.
•  We commit to the emotional and social health of our students through our partnership with families and the community.

Provide assistance to caregivers in understanding the school’s program through the following actions:

•  Hold an annual meeting to present information on the school’s Title I programs, state and division curriculum and assessments, and the school’s state and federal accountability status.
•  Provide multiple opportunities for caregivers to ask questions and give input into the Title I programs.
•  Parent Workshops.

Build caregivers’ involvement in the school’s Title I program through the following actions:

•  Include caregivers input in the development of the School Improvement and Innovation Planning (SIIP) Committee and as collaborators in developing the Title I Schoolwide Plan and plans for the use of Title I family engagement funds.  

The parents/caregivers will:

Demonstrate understanding that participation in my child’s education will help his or her achievement through the following actions:

•  Participate in decisions related to school programs and my child’s education and share my questions or comments about the programs in my child’s school.
•  Support the school, as my schedule allows, such as keeping in communication with the teachers, volunteering in my child’s classroom or in school activities.
•  Encourage and support my child’s learning at home and at school.    

The student will:

Share the responsibility to improve my academic learning to achieve the state’s challenging standards through the following actions:

•  Get enough sleep every night.
•  Come to school on time unless I am sick.  
•  Try my hardest and work with my classmates to complete learning tasks.
•  Give my parents all notes and papers from my teacher.  

 

Print out the Parent & Family Engagement Policy Compact  for this year.