The faculty and staff at Tillery Charter Academy (TCA) believes and is aware of the value of education and family involvement.  This is a collaboration between all constituents, to include school, home, and the community. TCA will aim to support parents and provide opportunities to be involved in the programs offered at our school.  The board of TCA will encourage the parents to become involved in the design and implementation of Title I program and activities in order to help students learn the curriculum, while meeting state and local achievement standards.

Parent and Family Engagement

For the purposes of this policy, the term “parent and family engagement” means the participation of parents, guardians, and other family members in regular, two-way and meaningful communication involving student learning and other school activities, including ensuring the following;

• Parents and family members will play a vital role in supporting their child’s learning.
• TCA will encourage parents and family members to be actively involved in their child’s education at school.
• TCA recognizes that parents are partners in their children’s education.  Parents, guardians, and family members will be included (as appropriate) in decision making and on the Parent Recruitment and Advisory Committee.  Doing this will allow them to assist in the education of their children.
• TCA will host programs to support parent and family engagement in the Title I programs.  Programs and events will include: Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), Fall Festival and Spring Carnival, curriculum nights, and open houses.

Purpose and Operation

The Title I program is a federally supported program that offers assistance to educationally and economically disadvantaged children to help ensure they receive an equitable, high-quality, well-rounded education and meet the school’s challenging academic standards.  The Title I program delivers instructional activities and supportive services to eligible students over and above those provided by the regular school systems.

Annual Fall and Spring Meetings will be held at Tillery Charter Academy.  Parents will be notified of these meetings via the school web-site, social media, newsletters, and parent-teacher communication.

An annual Fall Meeting will be held in conjunction with an evening PTO Meeting.  This meeting will be held to:

• Inform parents and families about the school’s facilities and its Title I School-wide designation
• Provide parents with information about Title I funding.
• Provide and inform parents about the previous year’s NWEA MAP test results and EOG and BOG testing, when available.
• Provide and inform parents with information in regards to assessment data, school performance profiles, and other measures used to measure student progress.

The Annual Spring Meeting will also be held in conjunction with another evening PTO Meeting or a family event.  Other events may include the Spring Carnival or Musical. The meeting will be held to:

• Evaluate and make improvements on plans already in place and their effectiveness
• Solicit ideas and input from families to make changes and/or improvements
• Share results about measured data that was collected.

Parent and Family Engagement Efforts

The TCA board believes that the involvement of parents and family members in the design and implementation of the Title I program will increase the effectiveness of the program and contribute significantly to the success of the children.  The Title I staff and all school personnel shall strive to conduct outreach to parents and family members and involve them in activities throughout the school year.

School leadership shall ensure that the parent and family engagement policy and plan is developed with, agreed upon with annually and distributed to parents and family members.

In addition, school officials and Title I school personnel shall do the following:

1.  Involve parents and family members in the joint development of the Title I program and school support and improvement plan and the process of school review and improvement by including parents on the school advisory committee. Members of the School Support Team will also be included and involved in this process.  These committees will review the Title I program.
2. Provide coordination, technical assistance and other support necessary to assist and build the capacity in planning and implementing effective parent and family engagement activities that are designed to improve student academic achievement and school performance.
3. Coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies in the Title I program to the extent feasible and appropriate with parental engagement strategies established in other federal, state, and local laws and programs.
4. Conduct, with meaningful involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the school parent and family engagement policy and program in improving the academic quality of the school and assisting students to meet the school’s academic standards.  This evaluation shall identify the following:
   1. Barriers to greater participation by parents in activities authorized by this section
   2. The needs of parents and family members to assist with the learning of their children; including engaging with school personnel and teachers
   3. Strategies to support successful school and family interactions.

The school will use these findings to design evidence-based strategies for more effective parental involvement, and revise if necessary, the parent and family engagement policy.