Family Involvement Policy

Vision Statement

A close collaborative partnership allows for better understanding of all students. Working together, teachers and families are better able to support our school's goal of developing strong social and emotional skills as well as cultural acceptance in students. Through shared observations and working in partnership to set goals, teachers and families will be able to best address student needs.

Specific Steps

Information Night

Teachers will host a collaborative information night prior to school start. This is where important information will be passed on and collected from families via dialogue and group activities. This time together is important to begin building strong partnerships.

Indicators of Evidence: Invitations and information regarding Information Night will be sent 4 months prior to school start. Reminders will be sent 2 months, 1 month, 2 weeks and 4 days prior to the event. A standardized document of key topics and questions for both families and teachers to touch on will be used and turned in to school staff.

Family Meetings

Family and teacher meetings will happen regularly in the preferred form of the family. Families will choose a preferred meeting method (phone, email, in person, zoom, etc.) and length of time between meetings.

Indicators of Evidence: Meetings will take place at least quarterly. Notes from meetings will be stored in the school cloud to be accessed by staff and other teachers.

Student Observations

Teachers will note down observations of peer to peer interactions, student growth and where extra support is needed. A system will be used by teachers to take notes. This could either be an electronic system through a third party platform, such as a school app or a paper system with milestone categories for teachers to make notes in. Note taking methods are decided by teachers and families to best support their methods and needs. This note taking process not only assists in identifying needs, but also ensures school transparency for families.

Indicators of Evidence: Observations of all students are kept and used to inform teachers, staff and families of student needs.

Note Sharing

Weekly notes will be shared with families on student progress from both teachers and families. Notes will be shared in an electronic form, via a third party system such as a school app or email to assure families are up to date on how their student is performing in class. Notes from both parties will assist in determining the support needed for students.

Indicators of Evidence: Notes from each week will be stored together in a linear format via the school cloud. These notes will be reviewed at meetings to reflect on student progress.

Involvement

Families will be invited to join classroom time as well as activities outside of school hours. This time spent together will strengthen our community and help families gain support. Surveys will be sent to families and discussions will be had to determine their availability to join school or class events. These answers will determine the volunteer opportunities families are invited to.

Indicators of Evidence: A goal will be set and tracked of having each family be involved with a school event or activity one time each year. Involvement itself will not be measured and any capacity will be counted.

Terms of Engagement

Our school will support the active engagement of families in all aspects of the school and classroom environment in the following ways.

Forms will be standardized to assist in family / teacher conferences to ensure pertinent information is shared.
Events will be planned based on family availability.
Resources will be developed to assure student development is shared between teachers and families, and vice versa.
Transparency will be expected in regards to teacher expectations, student growth and support that is needed.

Responsible Persons

School Staff:

Planning school events
Listening to family and educator feedback regarding student needs
Communicating with families regarding events and student information
Utilizing relationship building skills to partner with families
Developing moments of dialogue to listen to family needs

Teachers:

Understand each students unique developmental needs through observation and discussion
Communicate findings with families
Build relationships based on mutual trust and respect with families and students
Listen and actively engage with families in discussions around student needs, successes and development
Provide students with opportunities to learn and practice skills

Family Members:

Communicate preferred forms and times of communication
Collaborate with teachers regarding methods of support for student
Share important information about students and family that may affect students ability to engage, communicate, enjoy, be an active class member, etc. This can include life events such as moving, divorce, death, student needs that have gone unmet such as lack of sleep, not enough food, limited family time, or any other event that impacts a child’s wellbeing.

Students:

Communicate needs in a developmentally appropriate manner to adults in their life. This can be verbally or non verbally, through behaviors or any form of expression.

Resources

Teacher Time

Teachers will be spending additional time sharing observations and meeting with families to collaborate.

Cost: Less time for other tasks

Staff Time
Staff support will be needed to help organize family Information Night Events.

Cost: Less time for other tasks

Family Time
Families will be spending additional time meeting with teachers in order to share feedback and observations.
Cost: Unknown

School App - ClassTag
This app will be used by teachers to record and share observations.

Cost: Free

Classroom Space
Classrooms will be utilized outside of class hours to host Information Nights as well as family meetings.

Cost: Free

Collaboration

Families

Student families will be very involved in the development and approving of this policy. Families will be invited to collaborate on edits, alterations and restructuring of the policy. They are a key part of the policy itself as they are needed partners in their child’s growth and development. We will not only have discussions about this policy verbally to hear from families but also release surveys, asking families to share their thoughts with the option of doing so anonymously. Anonymity may allow more families to feel comfortable in sharing their opinions until further trust and relationships can be established.

Teachers

Teachers are also at the forefront of this policy. The goal is for teachers to gain more tools to best support their students. This is done through partnerships with families to allow for a greater understanding of our students as a whole person. Teachers will be involved in editing, altering and restructuring this policy alongside parents to identify needs of students. Teachers will also have the opportunity to complete surveys regarding the policy as well as comment anonymously on the policy if desired.

Students

Supporting our students is the goal of this policy. Their positive growth and development is the end goal for this policy as well as their schooling as a whole. We will discuss the importance of family involvement in their schooling in developmentally appropriate ways as well as explain what our goals are in coming together through this policy.

Community Members

Community members will not be involved in the creation or planning of this policy.

Evaluation

Student Observation

Student development will be observed and noted by teachers. Student development will be measured via district guidelines as well as guidelines set up via family and teacher collaboration.

Family Surveys
Surveys will be sent in home languages of each family and via preferred communication methods. Surveys will address how families feel about their partnership, family meetings, student growth and teachers' form of communication. Comfortability in each of these categories will be rated 1 (not comfortable or confident at all) to 10 (completely comfortable and confident). Surveys will ask for feedback and suggestions to enhance the communication process.

Dissemination

Teachers

This policy will be discussed with teachers via meetings and training. Teachers will participate in training regarding best practices for student observations and family discussions. Teachers will be made aware that this policy is open to change and that any ideas around this policy should be shared.

Families

This policy will initially be discussed with families through their preferred form of communication. Discussion will be continued during family meetings and information nights to address the idea that this policy is always open to reform based on family suggestions.