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Involve Parents

Schools of choice benefit from parents' interest in the school, a result of researching and choosing the school, and reaching out to involve them to enhance the program. Some schools even create contracts to increase parent and community member involvement throughout the school year.

Program Practices

Conduct Regular Communication Sessions to Monitor Student Progress
Arkansas Virtual School (ARVS) instructors use multiple tools to communicate with parents, including the ARVS Snapshot, an online lesson plan accessible by parents, and bi-monthly family conferences conducted via telephone and the Internet.

Create a Parent Advisory Council (PAC) that can be Utilized to Give Feedback on issues related to Parent Involvement and School Choice
Portland Public Schools gathered a diverse group of parents and educators to form a Parent Advisory Council (PAC).

Create Parent and Student Contracts
In the Houston Independent School District, parents are required to sign an Entrance Agreement Contract, which states the expectations that the district holds for the students and parents to attend particular schools.

Create Transition Advisory Councils (TACs) to Act as Liaisons Between the Community and District for Developing and Supporting New Schools
At Chicago Public Schools, Transition Advisory Councils (TACs) are groups of 12–15 parents and community members who serve as liaisons between Chicago Public Schools and communities.

Foster and Track Parent Involvement Using a Statewide Model
In 1996, Audrey Lewis-Potter, a parent involvement specialist from North Florida’s Gadsden County Schools, began developing a parent involvement model to define levels of parent involvement and allow teachers and administrators to track types of involvement in their schools.

Foster Parent Involvement in Choice Programs Through Parent Workshops
Monadnock Region Public Schools of Choice offer workshops to assist parents to learn how to help their children with the learning process.

Hold a Regional School Expo to Provide Information to the Community About School Choice
For several years, Minneapolis Public Schools has held a district-wide school choice fair in a centrally located hotel. Over the last couple of years, feedback indicated that less affluent and minority families were not attending. As a result, the district designed a different event to better serve these families.

Require a Charter School Contract
Desert Sands Unified School District requires a charter contract from parents whose children attend a charter school.

Require a Volunteer Commitment from Parents
One way that Hamilton County Schools has increased magnet school sustainability and improved parent participation is by requiring parents whose children attend a magnet school outside their neighborhood to volunteer a minimum of 18 hours a year at the school.

Require Parents who are Fiscally Able to Pay for Full-day Kindergarten in Non-Title I Schools
In order to address the achievement gap between high- and low-income students, the Portland Public Schools decided to expend 10 percent of their Title I funding to support full-day kindergartens in all of their Title I schools.

Use Parents to Recruit Other Parents into Interdistrict Magnets
Many of the interdistrict magnet schools at New Haven Public Schools have hired parent liaisons that present magnet information at open houses and talk to parents about their options.

Sample Materials

Parent Involvement Coordinator
Each magnet school in Hamilton County Schools hires a parent involvement coordinator to recruit parents, plan events, and track volunteer hours.

Entrance Agreement Contract
Magnet schools in Houston Independent School District require parents to sign an entrance agreement to help manage expectations for student attendance and behavior.

Growth Plan for Students
At Houston Independent School District, if students attending magnet programs do not adhere to the expectations in the Magnet Entrance Agreement, the school magnet coordinator creates a growth plan to help parents and students improve their behavior and/or their academic achievement.

Parent Survey from CSLA
The Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts at Hamilton County Schools requires parents to complete this survey to indicate their preferences for volunteer involvement and their availability.

Record of Magnet School Parent Service Hours
Magnet schools in Hamilton County Schools keep track of parent volunteer activities and hours using this form.

Magnet School Assistance Program Parent Workshops/Activities
Using its Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Hamilton County Schools hosts these workshops for parents.

Monthly Coordinator Meetings
Magnet school parent coordinators from Hamilton County Schools meet monthly and generate ideas for increasing parent involvement and improving their processes.

Parent Workshops 2004-05
Aside from the parent workshops conducted with the Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant funding, Hamilton County Schools also conducts these annual workshops.

Charter School Contract
The Washington Charter Elementary School, authorized by Desert Sands Unified School District, requires a signed "shared support agreement" from parents and students.

Washington Charter School
This charter school proposal from Desert Sands Unified School District includes a portion requiring a number of parent volunteers to participate in the charter board which helps govern the school.

Parent Volunteer Guidelines
To improve parent participation, Hamilton County Schools requires all parents whose children attend a non-neighborhood magnet school to volunteer a minimum of 18 hours a year at the school. This set of guidelines documents how parents should fulfill their yearly commitment.

Parent Recruitment Request Letter
As a marketing strategy, New Haven Public Schools sends copies of this letter and a flyer to parents whose children are currently enrolled in an interdistrict magnet school. Parents then disseminate the information among family and friends.

Handbook for Transition Advisory Councils: Tips for TACs
This guidebook for Transition Advisory Council (TAC) members at Chicago Public Schools outlines the role of a TAC member.

Fee-for-Service Frequently Asked Questions Flyer
This flyer answers a range of frequently asked questions for Portland Public Schools parents on the district’s fee-for-service kindergarten program.

Tuition Contract for Fee-for-Service Kindergarten
Portland Public Schools requires a signed contract from parents who qualify for fee-for-service kindergarten.

Fee-for-Service Reminder Letter with Payment Options
Portland Public Schools sends out this kindergarten fee-for-service reminder letter before the school year starts to remind parents of the payment option they selected and to notify them that payment plans will soon be initiated.

Parent Advisory Council Meeting Agenda
This document from Portland Public Schools outlines the agenda for a Parent Advisory Council meeting.

Parental and Family Involvement in Support of Academic Achievement Policy
Portland Public Schools' Parent Advisory Council created this Parental and Family Involvement in Support of Academic Achievement draft that was then taken to the superintendent for approval.

Learning Styles Parent Workshops
Parents whose children go to Monadnock Region Public Schools of Choice are offered the opportunity to learn about learning styles through workshops that are based on 4MAT’s typology of learners.

Learning Styles Parent Workshop Ad
This press release advertises Monadnock Region Public Schools of Choice Learning Styles Parent Workshop.

Northside School Expo
Minneapolis Public Schools encourages the participation of hard-to-reach families in choosing their children’s schools through activities such as the Northside School Expo. The expo is advertised on the district's website.

Arkansas Virtual School Lead Teacher Role Description
After a 2005-2006 comprehensive program evaluation, which included the review and analysis of all Arkansas Virtual School processes and policies, the evaluators reported the complete job description of the ARVS lead teachers, revealing the multiple efforts of lead teachers to communicate regularly with parents.

Different Levels of Parent Involvement (DLOPI) Tracking System
This page from the DLOPI tracking system provides an example of how teachers and schools track and evaluate parent participation using the DLOPI program.

Media

Three Things to Consider

• Requiring a volunteer commitment from parents can help sustain choice programs
• Hiring a liaison or parent coordinator can help facilitate parent involvement
• Ask parents how they would like to be involved and utilize their skills