Parent Involvement: Jefferson Elementary School, Pella, Iowa (Spring 2006)

Overview and demographics

Jefferson Elementary School has a total enrollment of 500 students, with two sections each of kindergarten through third grade and six sections each of fourth and fifth grades. Nearly equal numbers of girls and boys attend the school. About 14 percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, about 6.6 percent are served in special education. Five percent of the students are minority students, 95 percent are Caucasian, and six students are English language learners. Jefferson Elementary's responsiveness-to-intervention model uses the following structure: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Tier 4, and special education.

Ensuring that parents feel welcome and comfortable in the school setting

Jefferson Elementary provides opportunities for parents to visit the school and to meet the teachers during an open house, orientation sessions. Jefferson Elementary also offers the following volunteer opportunities for parents: the "literacy army" - parents who serve as interventionists; fluency/accuracy screening volunteers - parent volunteers who help conduct fluency/accuracy screenings four times per year; classroom volunteers - parent volunteers who assist students in the classroom in a variety of ways.

The school encourages teachers to contact parents for positive issues, not just negative ones. E-mail is used as a communication mechanism, and parents are constantly in and out of the building. When arranging for Student Assistance Team (SAT) meetings, the classroom teacher, rather than the principal or SAT coordinator, contacts the parents. The school feels this is less threatening because parents are more familiar with the classroom teacher.

Ensuring that parents are involved in all phases of the RTI process and recieve active support for participation at school and at home

Jefferson Elementary has an Intervention Plan form for teachers to use and send home to the parents. This form includes: name of student; area of concern; grade level satisfactory progress range; data collection procedures (what data will be collected, who will collect the data, when and how often data will be collected, and materials used to collect the data); and the plan for using the data for decision making (how often the data will be used, by whom the data will be examined and indicators of a needed instructional change). At the end of the Intervention Plan form is a table for recording instructional procedures, materials/arrangements, number of sessions per week and length of time per session, persons responsible, and follow-up notes.

Schools in the Pella Community School District (Jefferson Elementary is in this district) use a Reading Plus Partnership Pledge. This agreement is a pledge among students, parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, and principals to help students reach their highest educational objectives. All parties pledge to work together to accomplish the terms of this contract and strive for academic success.

The Reading Plus Partnership Pledge

As a student I promise to...

attend school every day.
work hard to do my best in class and on school work.
respect and cooperate with other students and adults.
do the homework assigned to me each night.
know and obey all school and class rules.
ask my teachers, parents, and others for help when I have a problem I cannot solve myself.

As a parent I promise to...

have high expectations for my child and talk about those expectations.
help my child attend school and be on time.
find a quiet place for school work and make sure work is done nightly.
help my child learn to resolve conflicts in positive ways.
read all communication sent home by teachers and school staff and to work with staff to support and challenge my child.
help my child get adequate rest and nutrition so he or she can come to school ready to learn.

As a teacher I promise to...

show that I care about all students.
expect students to be ready and willing to learn.
have high expectations for myself, students, and other staff, and clearly communicate those expectations.
communicate and work with families to support students' learning.
provide a safe and caring environment for learning.
expect respect and support from students, families, other staff, and administration.
ask for assistance from staff and administration in removing barriers which prevent me from doing my best for students.

As a principal I promise to...

create a welcoming environment for students and parents.
communicate the school's mission and goals to students and parents.
maintain a positive and safe learning environment.
reinforce the partnership between parents, students, and staff members.
promote and foster high standards of academic achievement and behavior.

Parental notification

The classroom teacher initially notifies parents that school staff will be discussing their child at an SAT (Student Assistance Team) meeting. The Team includes the general education teacher, at-risk coordinator, remedial reading teacher, principal, and parents. The teacher notifies the parents in person or contacts them by phone, written note, or email. The teacher submits a form to the SAT coordinator that lists the concerns about the child and provides current existing data. (This form can be shared with the parent but is not always given to them.) During the meeting, the coordinator takes notes about the discussion, which includes necessary accommodations and matching instructional needs to interventions, and at the end of the meeting writes the plan. (Again, this is not always shared with parents but can be shared.) All decisions for placement in remedial interventions are made with parental input and consent.

Frequent and consistent parent-staff communication

Jefferson Elementary asks teachers to communicate with parents whenever they have concerns about a child so that contact takes place not only at parent teacher conferences but also from the moment a teacher is concerned and begins trying Level 1 classroom interventions. This communication lasts throughout the process and, with some parents, might even involve into daily contact. At the SAT meeting, the team usually sets a follow-up time to meet and discuss the specific data gathered during the intervention.

Jefferson Elementary staff members also encourage parents to contact the school if they have concerns. Both parents and teachers can initiate an SAT meeting. Parents are invited to be a part of the SAT meetings, during which many of the interventions are planned.

Progress data sent frequently to parents

Progress data is routinely sent to the parents at report card times. In addition, school staff share intervention data with the parents at the SAT meeting or, if requested and/or needed, progress data is shared with the parents during the intervention. (Some parents request more information than others.)

Active support for parent participation at school and at home

Jefferson Elementary encourages parents to be active participants in their child's education. At Jefferson, the parental involvement is good, but with some students school staff would like to have the parents more involved.

Mutual agreement (parents and staff) on the child's plan, implementation, and timeline

When the SAT process moves into the evaluation stage, formal paperwork is completed, and parents do receive a copy of these papers and sign consent forms.

Written materials to inform parents of the right to ask for special education evaluation at any time

The Area Education Agency (AEA) has a parent information booklet that is shared with parents when Jefferson Elementary initiates conversation about special education and evaluation. This information is accessible to any parent but the school does not give it to all parents.

Practices by school staff to ensure that parents vew the implementation of due process procedures and protections as timely, adequate, and fair

School staff at Jefferson Elementary try to be honest and open with the parents about what is happening and explain why. Parents and staff sometimes think that the process takes too long and would like to have it move more quickly even though that is not always possible. School staff have found if they collect the appropriate data early it is sometimes easier to move more quickly later.