[Lillybabe]

I am thinking about the new school year. In doing so I was curious how many other Title I programs send home permission forms for their students to join the program. I live in IL and I haven't been able to find any straight forward guidelines for the Title I program. I am going into my third year as a Title I Reading teacher. Both years I have taught I have sent home a packet with a parent consent form, Title I compact, and a student information sheet (with parent contact info, etc.). Those of you who teach Title I do you send home a permission slip? Can students participate in the program without parental consent? Is it enough to simply inform parents? Additionally, if a child is in the program multiple years do you send home a consent each year? Part of the reason I ask is I had two students whose parents denied services last year. I didn't press the issue. Both students had low scores at the end of the year though so still seem to need the support.

Also, what sort of parental involvement does your school offer? We have a school wide book fair and conferences twice a year. These are not strictly for Title I parents. I always invite the parents of my students to see me at conferences. This is when I tell them how their student is performing. Do you send home progress reports every quarter? I'm just deciding what to do. The person who held my position before me send home progress reports but they all said the same thing. Essentially they were "Your student is working on X. They are doing well in the program. I have enjoyed working with them this quarter." I didn't feel these were valuable so I did not send them home. What I did send home was a short chart on their testing results at conference times and progress reports from the online programs we used. Is this enough? Should I be sending home more? Any feedback would be great.

[rwinters]

In my building there were years where we did have written permission or set home a formal letter home to parents. It was not usually not a big deal if it didn't come back. The last couple of year, the building RTI team or the Student Study team made a real push it make sure we got some sort of formal documentation back from the parents-in case the student was moved forward with RTI. As a special education teacher, I had to have it for my records because of where they were in the RTI process. It made things way easier in the long run. We also sent home progress reports for all Title 1 students and Special Education students. I would talk with classroom teachers or the principle and see what has been done.

[LaVerne]

Yes, we had to since our school was a targeted assisted school. It was my understanding that a school wide school doesn't have to send home permission slips because they service any child. In a targeted assisted school, students are targeted by certain criterion for services. Then parents must agree to have services given to their child.

Over the years I actually had about 4 parents who denied services. Now our school has a poverty level low enough to do all the paper work involved to become a school wide school.

[MathRocks1028]

We sent home paperwork stating they were getting title I services and they are supposed to return the paper signed, but is it mandatory? We would still meet with the child.

As for keeping in contact with the family, I think it's a good idea if the student is continuously with you vs. going in and out of tiers, but I work closely with the classroom teacher and let them know what's going on. I do offer being available during conferences and have gone to a few (a skant few) when the parents (or even the classroom teacher) have requested a meeting. If I'm not wanted for the conference, I do send information for the teacher to share with the family along with helpful ways the family can help their child. I also keep a copy in the student's file in case I need to go back to it at another time.

This year, I plan to be more involved with the families as our structure is changing.
Hope this helps!