POTTSTOWN MIDDLE SCHOOL-PARENT COMPACT

Title 1 Participation 2017-2018

Grades 5 & 6

The Pottstown Middle School, and the parents of the students participating in activities, services, and programs funded by Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), agree that this compact outlines how the parents, the entire school staff, and the students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership that will help children achieve the State’s high standards.

This school-parent compact is in effect during school year 2017-2018.

School Responsibilities

The Pottstown Middle School will:

1. Provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the participating children to meet the State’s student academic achievement standards as follows:

= Assess students using DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency, DAZE, and Classroom Diagnostic Tool (CDT) assessments, a minimum of three times a year.

= Use test data to inform instruction.

= Use a researched based Core reading series for Language Arts instruction, McGraw-Hill Reading Wonders series.

= Differentiate instruction based on students needs, learning styles and abilities.

= Title I/Intervention Team pull-out (small groups), providing intervention services for students who qualify.

= Utilize 95% Group materials for decoding or comprehension skills, based on student need.

= Utilize the REWARDS (Word Attack & Rate Development Strategies) program, based on student need.

= Utilize the Soar-to-Success reading program, based on student need.

= Enhance instruction with a variety of appropriate grade level novels both fiction and non-fiction.

= Offer participation in the annual Reading Olympics event.

= Provide workshops led by classroom teachers or Title I intervention specialists.

= Provide before school and/or after school tutoring (pending approval).

2.   Hold parent-teacher conferences during which this compact will be discussed as it relates to the individual child’s achievement.  Specifically, those conferences will be held:

= November 20-21, 2017

= February 1, 2018

3.   Provide parents with frequent reports on their children’s progress.  Specifically, the school will provide reports as follows:

= Communications through homework notebooks

= Quarterly Report Cards

= Phone calls/notes to parents, as needed

= Individual conferences with parents, as needed

= School and teacher websites  

4.   Provide parents reasonable access to staff.  Specifically, staff will be available for consultation with parents as follows:

= Conferences: November 2017 and February 2018

= Mondays through Fridays from 7:15 – 7:45 AM and 2:25 – 2:40 PM, with 24-hour notice so that teachers have the opportunity to gather notes, grades, sample work, etc. in order to better communicate to parents about their child.

= Other specific times before or after the school day mutually agreed upon by teacher and parent.

5.   Provide parents opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and to observe classroom activities, as follows:

= Friends of Pottstown Middle School Organization

= Field Trips, clearances required

= Open House / Back to School

= American Education Week

Parent Responsibilities

We, as parents, will support our children’s learning in the following ways:

= Monitor attendance by ensuring my child attends school unless he/she is sick.

= Make sure my child completes homework and is prepared for class.

= Communicate with the school by promptly reading all correspondences from the school or the school district and responding, as appropriate.

= Attend Open House and parent conferences.

= Make sure my child is at school on time.

= Provide my child with a quiet place to study.

= Ensure my child gets enough sleep at night.

= Monitor the amount of TV and type of programs my child watches.

= Monitor the amount of time my child is engaged on electronic devices.

= Make sure my child has breakfast before school or gets to school in time for breakfast.

= Dress my child in a clean, appropriate school uniform.

= Promote positive use of my child’s extracurricular time.

Student Responsibilities

I, as a student, will share the responsibility to improve my academic achievement and achieve the State’s high standards.  Specifically, I will:

= Always put forth my best effort.

= Do my review work and homework.

= Show my school papers or notes to my parents.

= Give my parents my homework book to sign. (if needed)

= Bring all necessary books and materials to class.

= Arrive at school on time, unless I am sick.

= Be responsible for my own behavior and accept consequences for my actions.

= Go to bed at a reasonable time so that I am rested and ready to learn.

= Eat breakfast so I have energy to work and learn at school.

= Show respect for adults and classmates I encounter at school.

= Wear my school uniform as described in the student handbook.

Additional Required School Responsibilities:

The Pottstown Middle School will:

= Involve parents in the planning, review, and improvement of the school’s parent involvement policy, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way, usually at a Friends of Pottstown parent meeting.

= Involve parents in the joint development of any school-wide program plan, in an organized, ongoing, and timely fashion.

= Hold an annual meeting to inform parents of the school’s participation in Title I, Part A programs, and to explain the Title I, Part A requirements, and the right of parents to be involved in Title I, Part A programs.  The school will convene the meeting at a convenient time to parents, and will offer a flexible number of additional parental involvement meetings, such as in the morning or evening, so that as many parents as possible are able to attend.  The school will invite to this meeting all parents of children participating in Title I, Part A programs (participating students), and will encourage them to attend. 

= Provide information to parents of participating students in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon the request of parents with disabilities, and, to the extent practicable, in a language that parents can understand.

= Give information to parents of participating children about Title I, programs that includes a description and explanation of the school’s curriculum, the forms of academic assessment used to measure children’s progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet.

= Provide opportunities for regular meetings for parents to formulate suggestions, and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions about the education of their children.  The school will respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible.

= Send each parent an individual student report about the performance of their child on the State assessment in at least math, language arts and reading.

= Provide each parent timely notice when their child has been assigned or has been taught for four (4) or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified within the meaning of the term in section 200.56 of the Title I Final Regulations (67 Fed. Reg. 71710, December 2, 2002).

_______________________              _______________________              ____________________

           Mrs. Lisa Kolb                                          Parent                                             Student

     Intervention Specialist                  

 5^th/6^th Gr. Title 1 Coordinator                  _______________________              ____________________

                                                                            Parent                                              Date

_______8/23/2017________                 _______________________

                Date                                                     Date