JOHNSON CITY SCHOOLS FAMILY ENGAGEMENT PLAN

South Side School’s Family Engagement Plan

Background

South Side Elementary is a K-5 school located in the “Tree Streets” neighborhood of Johnson City. There are 360 students who attend South Side on a year-round calendar, which alternates 9 weeks of school with 2-3 week breaks. During one week of both fall and spring breaks, an intersession for enrichment and remediation is offered to all students.

South Side’s Family Involvement Plan was developed by its Site Based Council, a group of 12 which includes teachers, classified staff, the school principal, and parents who meet monthly.  The Family Involvement Plan is considered a living document and will be annually reviewed and updated as needed.

Purpose

The Johnson City Schools Family Engagement Plan was developed to:

·        Support Goal Four of the Board of Education’s Long Term Plan

·        Support the learning goals found in the Consolidated Federal Projects Plan

·        Create a common vision of family engagement and the resources needed to sustain that vision

·        Increase and improve the level of family involvement in our students’ education.

Plan

Component 1:  Johnson City Schools is committed to involving families in policy development.

Indicators:

  1. Parents will have an opportunity to discuss and provide input through PTA Council and the monthly PTA president luncheons. (At South Side, the first PTA meeting of the year is an Open House.  This meeting is very well-attended, and is a great opportunity to discuss the Title I program.)
     
  2. Parents will be represented on each school’s site-based council (At South Side, the PTA President and two other parents, including the parent of a special-needs student, serve on the site-based council. In addition, these parents annually review the school-parent compact before it is distributed to parents.  )
     
  3. Parents and educators will have the opportunity to provide input through surveys and through postings on the system’s web page (South Side’s web page allows parents direct access to Parent Resources as well as e-mail links to all South Side teachers and principal.)
     
  4. Cultural, economic, language, and demographic issues will be given attention through the selection of focus groups and advisory councils and committees including the system wide Family and Community Advisory Council and the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee.
     
  5. The system will provide parents of English Language Learners the opportunity to provide input an annual community meeting

Component 2:  The Family Engagement Plan includes technical assistance and planning support for effective family engagement.

Indicators:

1.      Workshops for parents are scheduled through the “Resource Central” (previously known as the Teacher Center); in addition, special education sponsors an annual parent workshop

2.      Title I and the PTA Council co-host an annual program “Looking into our Schools” to provide information regarding federal programs and expenditures and to collect feedback from parents

3.      School newsletters are sent home on a regular basis and contain information regarding school report cards, test results, new programming options, and suggestions for parents to become involved in their child’s education

(South Side’s monthly newsletter, “South Side Scoop,” won a state PTA award       for most comprehensive newsletter.)

4.      The district report card is linked to the district web site (South Side’s Family Engagement Plan is linked to our school website: http://www.jcschools.org/southside/  and will be updated periodically as needs change.)

5.      Courses of study may be accessed by a link from the district web site to the state department web site

6.      A computer with access to the internet and email will be made available to parents in the “Family Depot” section of “Resource Central”

7.      Preschool and kindergarten bags are provided at the time of student registration and contain education materials for parents to use at home

Component 3: The Family Engagement Plan supports clearly articulated goals for extent and type of family engagement.

Indicators:

  1. A variety of planned, goal oriented programs will be organized and implemented to engage all parents in their children’s education in one or more of the following categories:
     
    1. parenting (strategies to promote effective parenting practices at home)
       
    2. communicating (strategies to promote positive school-home communication )
       
    3. volunteering (opportunities for parents to volunteer or be an audience at school) At South Side an annual volunteer training workshop is held.
       
    4. learning at home (learning activities to involve parents with students at home) Teachers at South Side send home interactive homework that allows parents to take part in their children’s learning.
       
    5. decision making (opportunities to engage in decision making, governance, and advocacy roles at both the school and system level)
       
    6. collaborating with the community (activities/events that foster school-community partnerships) South Side has SunTrust Bank as a Partner in Education. The bank manager serves on South Side’s site-based council.

(NOTE:  the link to student achievement and the importance of providing activities in each of the above categories is derived from Joyce Epstein’s research at Johns Hopkins University.)

  1. Sign-in sheets and other forms of documentation will be kept on file and reviewed annually to assess parent participation in system and school activities in each of the six areas (South Side maintains a notebook of parent sign-in sheets for all activities held at the school.)

Component 4:  The Family Engagement Plan provides for an evaluation process to promote continuous improvement of the engagement of all families.

Indicators:

1.      Annual surveys will be conducted at the system level as well as at each of the school sites

2.      Survey results will be analyzed to measure the effectiveness of the plan and to secure input regarding modifications in future practices (South Side sends home a “School Report Card” each spring and asks parents to rate the school and offer suggestions for improvement in effective learning and communication practices.)

3.      Measurable goals for increasing the level and quality of family involvement are required as part of every school improvement plan (South Side uses the results from the “School Report Card” for changes and updates in the Family Engagement Plan. These results are also used in the School Improvement Plan development each year.)

4.      The system wide Family and Community Advisory Council will use the Family Friendly Schools-District Family Policy Assessment and Development (rubric) to evaluate the system wide Family Engagement Plan (If South Side’s Family Engagement Plan is not satisfactory to our parents, comments may be made to Johnson City Schools which will submit them to the State Department of Education.)

Component 5:  The Family Engagement Plan requires family engagement at all school sites.

Indicators:

  1. All schools will develop a Family Engagement Plan that provides opportunities for family engagement in the six categories supported by Epstein’s research (see component 3) and submit an annual update of the plan to the district office.
     
  2. All schools will conduct an annual parent survey regarding the family practices provided at each school site and submit the survey results to the district office.
     
  3. Each school will set a goal for family engagement for each major strategy (South Side offers a family night activity each month during the school year.)
     
  4. All schools will submit their plans to the central office for review and evaluation

Component 6:  The Family Engagement Plan includes procedures for parents to accessand understand course of study or curricular materials as well as Federal,  State, and local standards.

Indicators:

  1. The district web site will contain a link to the Tennessee State Department of Education where the state curriculum for each grade level and subject area can be accessed (South Side’s website contains a direct link to all state curriculum guides for grades K-5 as well as a link called School Success Web Content which lists resources for parents)
     
  2. Each school site will house a hard copy of all state curriculum available for parent and community review
     
  3. The textbook adoption process will provide an opportunity for potential textbooks to be reviewed by parents and the community
     
  4. The current resource known as the “Teacher Center” will be renamed the “Resource Central” and will have specific activities and materials set aside for the involvement of families (South Side’s library contains an area of Resources for Parents which includes books, magazines, and videos of interest to parents.)
     
  5. The Johnson City Schools’ Consolidated Plan (including learning goals and action steps) is posted on the school system web site

Component 7:  The Family Engagement Plan encourages the support of district involvement in positive parenting skills.

Indicators:

  1. Parenting workshops will be offered through the “Resource Central” and an annual special education conference
     
  2. Parenting programs such as “STEP” and “PASSport to Success” will be provided on an annual basis
     
  3. “Resource Central” will provide a variety of parenting materials for review and checkout (South Side’s library contains an area of Resources for Parents which includes books, magazines, and videos of interest to parent that they may check out to use at home.)
     
  4. Adult literacy and adult education courses will be made available through the technology center at Science Hill High School
     
  5. After school tutoring and homework programs will be provided to improve student homework and achievement (South Side offers both a Homework Club and an After-School Tutoring Program for targeted children in grades 1-5.)
     
  6. Parents will receive phone calls to confirm student absences and to encourage better student attendance; a letter will be sent home once a student has accrued five unexcused absences; each school will receive money to develop attendance incentives (South Side’s Family School Coordinator contacts the home of each child who is absent each day. She also delivers books and assignments to children whose parents do not have transportation.)
     
  7. Schools will develop reward programs to acknowledge good character and good student behavior (i.e., Character Counts!) (South Side rewards good character by recognizing children exemplifying one of the six pillars of character each Friday at school-wide assembly.)

Component 8:  The Family Engagement Plan incorporates family involvement in   decision making and governance.

Indicators:

  1. School district staff members are friendly towards, respectful of, and helpful to all families
     
  2. All schools are required to have family representation on the site-based team (At South Side, the PTA President and two other parents, including the parent of a special-needs student, serve on the site-based council.)
     
  3. The district has several ways of listening to parents and engaging them in two-way communication (for example, giving time at Board meetings, holding open forums, and providing ways to give input on the district web site)
     
  4. Parents representatives will serve on the system wide Family and Community Advisory Council and Special Education Parent Advisory Committee

Component 9: The Family Engagement Plan supports professional development to build  the capacity for family engagement.

Indicators:

  1. Professional development in the area of family engagement will be provided to all staff members. (South Side’s faculty and staff participated in staff development with Robert Constantino, nationally recognized family engagement expert, at the beginning of the school year.)
     
  2. Families will have opportunities to be included in family engagement training.

Component 10:  The Family Engagement Plan specifies budget and funding for familyengagement.

Indicators:

  1. The district has adequate staff and resources to implement the family involvement standards (At South Side, funds are allotted each year for the Family School Coordinator to use in conducting monthly family night activities.)
     
  2. District and site-based budgets will reflect a commitment to the effective development, implementation, and evaluation of family engagement programs including but not limited to the following:
     
    • System wide Spanish interpreter
    • “Resource Central” workshops and materials
    • System and school level newsletters and other publications
    • Staff development
    • PreK and K parent bags

    3.  “Resource Central” will serve as a clearinghouse to gather best practices, ideas,
    materials, new approaches, research, and other program information in order to help schools improve their family involvement programs.

 
   

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1011 Southwest Avenue / Johnson City, Tennessee 37604 / 423.434.5290


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