Purpose of this Policy and Compact

Efforts will be made to clearly articulate the school’s intentions to engage with and involve parents/caregivers in the educational process.

Crestwood Elementary is a Title I school within Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) and utilizes the Title I grant to improve student achievement and help all students meet the objectives of the FCPS Program of Studies and the Virginia Standards of Learning. A partnership with families is essential to meeting this goal.

Under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, schools that receive Title I funds are expected to collaborate with families to develop and maintain a parent and family engagement policy that describes the school’s approach to involve families in students’ learning and includes a compact expressing the partnerships among staff, caregivers, and students to reach high academic goals for every student.

Crestwood Elementary jointly developed this policy and compact with members of the school community and adopted it for the 2021-2022 school year. A number of the provisions specifically address state or federal expectations for the policy and compact.

This policy and compact is distributed to all caregivers in a language that families can understand. Caregivers have opportunities to provide comments and feedback on the policy and compact through PTA Meeting. Comments are submitted with the school’s policy and compact to FCPS central offices and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). This policy and compact are made available to the broader school community through the school website.

Important Dates       

Parent-Teacher Conferences                                                

• November 1st and 2nd
• additional dates, as needed

Building Capacity for Engagement

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers are actively involved in the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the school’s Title I program, including the following:

• Provide family members a voice in decision-making on committees, such as PTA meetings, conferences, and Principal’s Coffees.
• Engage caregiver input when developing the School Innovation & Improvement Plan (SIIP), Comprehensive Needs Assessment, the Title I Parent and Family Engagement Policy and Compact and plans for use of Title I family engagement funding.
• Seek feedback from families on programs within the SIIP, offer multiple methods for caregivers to submit comments about programs they may not find satisfactory, and submit any such comments with the Title I Schoolwide Plan to FCPS central offices.
• Invite family members to help in organizing and executing a variety of school events to build collective ownership, such as Fall Clean Up, Bike Rodeo, Walk to School Day, all Family Engagement Workshops (Literacy, Math, STEAM).
• Provide opportunities for caregivers to volunteer within the school in various ways, such as mentoring, tutoring, shelving books, support classroom activities.
• Encourage families to take part in annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the division-level Title I parent and family engagement policy in order to identify:
  • barriers to greater family participation,
  • ways to help family members be better able to assist in student learning, and strategies to support successful school and family interactions.

Effective Communication with Parents

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers receive meaningful communication in a timely manner, including the following:

• Use multiple methods of communication to families such as newsletters, flyers, backpack letters, News You Choose, Twitter, PTA Facebook, Talking Points, phone calls, student agendas, emails.
• Encourage all caregivers to attend an annual meeting PTA meeting, to share information about Title I services, explain Title I grant requirements, and inform families of their right to be involved in the school.
• Share school and student performance data with families in ways that seek their ideas about how to improve performance toward Virginia’s challenging academic standards, such as PTA meetings, SOL planning night, Civic Association meetings.
• Provide opportunities throughout the year for families to better understand the school’s goals for students and find ways to improve student learning by planning academic content workshops in reading, math and science.
• Maintain resources for caregivers to review student assignments and ongoing communication about student work, in the Thursday folder and Schoology.
• Provide ongoing feedback on student progress through quarterly progress reports that show specific areas of proficiency and areas for continued growth.
• Hold parent-teacher conferences for all students at least annually in the fall and more often, as needed.

Shared Responsibilities for High Academic Achievement

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers receive materials, training, and benefits from school partnerships with social and academic services, community-based organizations, and businesses, including the following:

• Hold workshops connecting caregivers to tools and resources, such as Family Literacy Night, Family Science Night, Family Math and Literacy Night,
• Offer regular opportunities for families to learn directly from school staff about the school’s academic, behavioral, and social programming through parent/teacher conferences, newsletter articles, family engagement events.
• Encourage participation in family learning events where caregivers learn strategies to support their child’s learning at home and have a chance to practice those strategies with their child, such as Clinical Health Team Parent Presentations and Workshop on understanding of Multi-Tier Systems of Support.
• Provide peer mentors and classroom buddies through the Family Center and Parent Liaison.  
• Provide opportunities to donate and access supplies donated by others, such as Crestwood Family Center.
• Leverage partnerships with local businesses and organizations to enhance school programs and events, such as Springfield Civic Association, RESET, Be the Good Project, Washington Football Team Charitable Foundation, Grandlnvolve.
• Support parents in accessing county and community resources, such as Family Resource Center, Franconia Family Center, school social worker, school counselors.
• Engage regular two-way communication to educate families on the importance of consistent attendance, such as articles in News You Choose, parent presentations, individual meetings, Breakfast Club for students, videos on supporting consistent attendance.
• Offer outreach and training for targeted families, such as Adult ESOL, Rosetta Stone, Literacy Classes. 

Welcoming All Families

Efforts will be made to ensure that all parents/caregivers are welcomed and provided opportunities to actively engage within the school, including the following:

• Create a welcoming atmosphere at the school with highly trained office staff, Family Center, PTA.
• Provide interpretation services for parent-teacher conferences, workshops, and meetings.
• Translate or provide interpretation of all school documents and communication to make them accessible in the caregiver’s preferred correspondence language and for those with vision or hearing impairments.
• Support two-way communication between families and staff through assistance of a parent liaison for conferences and translated videos to support technology use in school and at home.
• Expand access for family participation in informational meetings and learning sessions through increased communication.  

Compact Provisions

School staff, parents/caregivers, and students must work together to ensure a student success.

The staff will:

Provide a high-quality curriculum and instruction that enables students to meet challenging academic standard through the following actions:

• • Teach all students according to the state’s challenging standards, using approved curriculum resources.
  • Provide ongoing professional development and support to all teachers to ensure effective instructional practices are used in all classrooms.
  • Access for students to the Advanced Academic Program and resources.
  • Training provided to all staff regarding critical and creative thinking strategies.

Provide a supportive and effective learning environment for students through the following actions:

• • Provide clear expectations for student behavior and academic learning in school and at home.
  • Offer a variety of resources to help students with their learning to include supporting technology use at school and at home.
  • Tiered instruction to all students, using multi-tiered systems of support for intervention and enrichment.
  • Ongoing professional development in reading and math best practices.

Provide assistance to caregivers in understanding the school’s program through the following actions:

• • Hold an annual meeting to present information on the school’s Title I programs, state and division curriculum and assessments, and the school’s state and federal accountability status.
  • Provide multiple opportunities for caregivers to ask questions and give input into the Title I programs.
  • Provide resources such as newsletters, videos, presentations to inform caregivers about the importance of consistent attendance.

Build caregivers’ involvement in the school’s Title I program through the following actions:

• • Include caregivers as members of the School Improvement and Innovation Planning (SIIP) Committee and as collaborators in developing the Title I Schoolwide Plan and plans for the use of Title I family engagement funds.

 

The parents/caregivers will:

Demonstrate understanding that participation in my child’s education will help his or her achievement through the following actions:

• • Participate in decisions related to school programs and my child’s education and share my questions or comments about the programs in my child’s school.
  • Volunteer in my child’s classroom or in school activities, as my schedule allows.
  • Encourage and support my child’s learning at home and at school. 
  • Encourage and support my child attending school on a consistent basis.

 

The student will:

Share the responsibility to improve my academic learning to achieve the state’s challenging standards through the following actions:

• • Get enough sleep every night.
  • Come to school on time unless I am sick.
  • Try my hardest and work with my classmates to complete learning tasks.
  • Give my parents all notes and papers from my teacher.
  • Attend school on a consistent basis.

You can also view a PDF of our Crestwood Family Compact here in English and here in Spanish.