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“Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been, and look at what can be.”
– Marsha Petrie Sue
Welcome to a fresh start! May you find yourself energized by the possibility of all that lies ahead for your district, your students and families, and your community in this new school year. Although it may not look as you once envisioned, now is the best time to seize new opportunities daily.
Parent Conferences and the Title I Compact
Section 1116(d)(2) of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires school-family compacts to address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis.
At the elementary school level, ESSA 1116(d)(2)(A) requires discussion of the Title I school-family compact at parent conferences in relation to the individual child’s achievement annually at a minimum. The grade span of elementary schools in Kentucky vary between districts. KRS 157.320 defines elementary school as “a school consisting of the primary school program through grade 8 as defined in KRS 158.030, or any appropriate combination of grades within this range, as determined by the plan of organization for schools authorized by the district board.”
While ESSA requires the compact be discussed during parent conferences only at the elementary level, schools may opt to discuss the compact during parent conferences at other grade levels.
The compact is part of the shared responsibilities for high student academic achievement between families and schools. According to ESSA 1116(d)(1-2), “the compact shall 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 challenging state academic standards, and the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting their children’s learning; volunteering in their child’s classroom; and participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children and positive use of extracurricular time; and address the importance of communication between teachers and parent on an ongoing basis.”
The compact is a tool used to outline the importance of each participant’s role in relation to an individual student’s academic success. Discussing this tool at parent conferences helps to address and support the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis.
ESSA does not specify a deadline by which the compact must be discussed at parent conferences, however, the first conference of the year is a great time to re-visit the compact that parents signed at the beginning of the year. Using the compact in this way opens up the conversation to ensure that families are not only receiving support from school, but also that parents and students are upholding the agreement to carry out their responsibilities at home.
Discussing the compact in relation to each child’s individual achievement during the first few months of school can establish expectations for the year. Each party can use the compact to hold themselves accountable for taking ownership of their responsibilities in ensuring the student is successful in the classroom throughout the school year. For example, many compacts include items such as making time for homework and providing a designated study/workspace for the child at home. If a child is struggling to submit their homework, the parent and teacher could discuss these points at the conference.
Ensure that the documentation showing these conversations have occurred is maintained, such as an invitation that lists conference topics, an agenda, sign-in sheets, etc. Documentation indicating that conferences occurred with no reference to compact discussion is not sufficient. During the 2021-2022 consolidated monitoring season, several schools submitted conference checklists that outlined all items to be discussed with parents to ensure the required information was included.
KDE’s Effective School-Family Compact Checklist outlines requirements and best practices related to the compact.
Coordinator's Year at a Glance – Suggested Tasks for September
- Collect school schedules of annual Title I meetings for parents to ensure schools are on track to hold their required annual meeting. These meetings should be conducted by the end of October.
- Distribute the district’s written parent and family engagement policy to all participating parents and family members served by Title I [to include private school(s)].
- Ensure that each Title I school distributes its written parent and family engagement policy and compact to all participating parents and family members. The policy should be made available to the community.
- Prepare to pull the student enrollment summary report from Infinite Campus for attendance numbers by the last day of the second school month or a date between that day and Oct. 31 for the purpose of the comparability report.
- Prepare staff listing and full-time equivalency by location and funding source to use for the purpose of the comparability report.
- Determine that all applicable parent notifications have been disseminated by direct and indirect means.
- A number of notifications may be provided through indirect means, such as printing in a handbook or posting to the district/school website. The notification of the right to request teacher qualifications and testing transparency may be shared via indirect means.
- Other notifications should be communicated directly with parents, such as an individual letter. The notification regarding a student’s designation as an English learner as well as the notification that a student has been taught for four or more consecutive weeks by a teacher not meeting state certification standards should be shared through direct means.
- Additional information on parent notifications is available in the Title I, Part A Handbook.
- Consult with participating facilities for neglected and delinquent youth to develop an evaluation of services.
- Ensure Targeted Assistance Schools have set up files documenting the ranking of individual students receiving services based on greatest academic need, notified parents and implemented services.
- Review and update Title I personnel lists for each building in preparation for completing the Comparability Report, due Nov. 1.
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