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.

Lynbrook 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.

Lynbrook Elementary jointly developed this policy and compact with members of the school community and adopted it for the 2023-24 school year. Several 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 a feedback form. 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 Conference

• November 7, 2023

Progress Report Distribution

• November 15, 2023
• February 5, 2024
• April 15, 2024
• June 15, 2024

School Events

• Open House - August 18, 2023
• Back to School Night - September 21, 2023
• Literacy Night - Winter 2023
• Math Night - Spring 2024
• Heritage and Culture Night - Spring 2024
• Parent Coffees throughout the year

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 family and community partnership committee and outdoor classroom enrichment committee
• Engage caregiver input when developing the School Improvement and Innovation 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 SIIP to FCPS central offices.
• Invite family members to help in organizing and executing a variety of school events to build collective ownership, such as  celebration of culture.
• Provide opportunities for caregivers to volunteer within the school in various ways, such as preparation of learning materials, family markets, gardening in the outdoor classroom
• Encourage families to take part in the annual evaluation 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 Twitter/Website, News You Choose, Videos, eNotify, and TalkingPoints.
• Encourage all caregivers to attend an annual meeting on September 21st during Back to School Night, 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 parent coffees and curriculum nights.
• Provide opportunities throughout the year for families to better understand the school’s goals for students and find ways to improve student learning by participating in Family Curriculum Night(s) and classroom visits.
• Maintain resources for caregivers to review student assignments and ongoing communication about student work, such as TalkingPoints, interim reports, progress reports, conferences, 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 online learning resources, community resources, family markets, etc.  
• Offer regular opportunities for families to learn directly from school staff about the school’s academic, behavioral, and social programming through parent coffees and curriculum night
• 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 parent coffees and curriculum nights
• Provide ongoing access to resources in the school, such as technology, family markets, etc.
• Provide mentors for students though Lynbrook’s mentoring program, managed by our school counselors  
• Provide opportunities to donate and access supplies donated by others, such as Kids R First, Northern Virginia Assistance League, and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church.
• Leverage partnerships with local businesses and organizations to enhance school programs and events, such as Word of Life, Capital Area Food Bank, St. Christopher's Episcopal Church.
• Support parents in accessing county and community resources, such as Community Service Board, ECHO, and Springfield Lion’s Club.
• Offer outreach and training for targeted families, such as HIPPY and Early Literacy Programming.

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 administrator coffees, meet and greets, accessibility to school administrators and availability of parent liaison and family center coordinator.
• 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 parent/teacher conferences, filling out forms, translating meetings with counselors and specialists, and building parent capacity to use online communication tools (email, Parent Vue, TalkingPoints, etc.)
• Expand access for family participation in informational meetings and learning sessions through offering multiple opportunities and formats (synchronous and asynchronous) and providing translation.

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 
• Provide ongoing professional development and support to all teachers to ensure effective instructional practices are used in all classrooms.
• Embed academic conversation and Portrait of a Graduate skills into all content areas.

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

• Provide clear expectations for student behavior and academic learning.
• Offer a variety of resources to help students with their learning.
• Use Responsive Classroom, Kimochis, and Zones of Regulation to provide a supportive and and inclusive learning environment 

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 program(s).
• Host parent coffees with school administrators and seek feedback from families throughout the year

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 SIIP 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. 
• Attend and participate in parent coffees.and promote consistent attendance in school.
• Partner with school staff to make shared decisions to support student success.

The student will:

Share the responsibility to improve my academic learning to achieve the state’s challenging standards through the following’s 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.
• Be a collaborative, positive member of our school community
• Be an active participant in my own learning, and advocate for my hopes and dreams this school year.