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Tualatin Elementary School enrolls 522 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, with three to four classrooms per grade. Nearly 50 percent (260) of the students recieve free or reduced lunch. Sixty-five students are served in special education (15 are identified as having a learning disability), and 160 are English language learners. Tualatin Elementary's responsiveness-to-intervention model uses the following structure: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and special education.
Parents receive multiple newsletters - some monthly and others weekly. Some newsletters feature school-wide news; others focus on classroom or departmental issues such as English Language Learners and Title I.
The school provides a variety of parent nights: Back-to-School; Kindergarten Round-Up; Cinco de Mayo; One-Minute Reading Training; Summer Reading, ELL, etc. In addition, parents are invited to volunteer in classrooms.
Most parent communication (written) is translated to Spanish; parent nights and conferences are presented in Spanish and English; and one of the four secretaries speaks Spanish.
Parents receive DIBELS scores and Title I notification by mail. The Title I interventions are discussed at parent night (with parent training), and the school counselor invites parents to the school for data review or for a parent interview at the various individual problem-solving stages. Parents also receive support through home visits, newsletters, and phone calls.
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.
Tualatin Elementary has clearly specified times when parents are notified: when a child is not doing well in the general curriculum and the EBIS (Effective Behavior and Instructional Support) Team reviews screening data and places the student in a group intervention; when the EBIS Team places a student in a second group intervention; when the EBIS Team designs an individual intervention for the student; and when Special Education referral is initiated. Parents are continually informed about the plan and its implementation.
Parents rely on teachers' professional expertise to determine the appropriate curriculum, the length and frequency of the interventions. Tualatin uses district decision rules to determine the duration of the interventions.
School staff make home visits, and classroom teachers make home visits, place phone calls to student homes, and have parent conferences to explain the interventions and to review progress. Parents are on the site council to help create the school-wide strategic plan, are involved in the PTA, and have input on the Title I compact and the program plan.
Progress data is sent to parents at the end of each trimester. For those students in the EBIS process, progress is sent to parents more frequently.
Written information addressing this issue is in the Tualatin District Rights and Responsibilities Handbook and, in addition, child find advertisements in local newspapers inform parents and community members about agencies to contact if they suspect a child has a disability.
The principal, the literacy specialists and/or special education teachers explain the due process rights to the parents. In addition, the school mails a parents rights handbook to parents prior to meetings.
Funding for NRCLD is provided by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special
Education Programs. Award No. H324U010004. Opinions expressed herein are those of the National
Research Center on Learning Disabilities and do not necessarily represent the position of the U.S.
Department of Education.
© 2007 National Research Center on Learning Disabilities
Last Updated: November 19, 2007
Contact: nrcld@ku.edu