Families

Parents are Partners at Cole Elementary

Parental involvement is critical to the educational success of children.  Parents are very influential in helping their children achieve high academic standards.  When schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning, children are successful, and schools improve.  You, as parents, are partners in your child’s education and are encouraged to be actively involved.  Listed below are the ways in which parental involvement is offered at Cole Elementary.

Communication with Parents

• The Cole Staff will welcome each student to Cole Elementary.  Families will be notified of their student’s teacher and classroom before the first day of school.
• Parents are contacted in their native language, regarding the positive and negative actions of their children.
• A Family/School Compact is provided to parents, teachers, and students.
• Parents are informed of the school curriculum and expected proficiency levels by receiving copies of the State Academic Standards, progress reports, report cards, FAST Scores, and TN Ready reports.
• The marquee in front of school, Remind APP, Smore’s newsletters, a school-wide call-out system, the school’s website, and Facebook are utilized in English, Spanish, and other languages to relay important information.

Meeting with Parents

• A Title I Annual Meeting and Open House are held to welcome parents and students and to provide information about our school and the Title I Program, including requirements of the program and parent rights.
• Reasonable and necessary expenses to involve parents may be paid for with Title I funds.
• Parent workshops, such as Coffee Talk/Cafecitos, Parent Trainings, and Family Academic Nights, are scheduled throughout the year to equip parents to teach their children at home.  The times of these vary for parents’ convenience.
• Parent Conferences are scheduled at varied times of the day in November between teachers and parents with interpreters available as needed.

Active Parent Participation

• Parent Involvement programs will be advertised through callouts, social media, newsletters, flyers, and the outside marquee.
• Parents are invited to attend as volunteers in activities such as Festivals, Thanksgiving lunch, Field Day, Book Fair, and PTO events.
• Parents are involved in writing and implementing the Parent School Compact and the School Improvement Plan.
• Our fifth graders moving to Middle School will be given a tour of the Middle School to meet with the counselors to start the transition.
• Every Spring, Pre-K and Head Start students will tour Cole Elementary to see what it is like to be a Kindergartener.
• We provide workshops that help equip family members in Family Engagement, College and Career, Health and Wellness, Social Services and Adult Development.

Cole Elementary 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) (participating children), 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.

Cole Elementary 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:
   • Literacy Coach, Numeracy Coach, Math and Literacy Curriculum, Professional Development and Professional Learning Communities.
2. Provide parents with opportunities to be involved in their child’s school and to observe classroom activities, as follows: Family Resource Center, Field Day, Thanksgiving Lunch, Celebration of Cultures, Family Festivals, PTO, and Family Reading and Math Nights. 
3. Hold a parent-teacher conference in November to explain the school’s curriculum, the forms of academic assessment used to measure children’s progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet. The staff are also available to meet before or after school, during their planning periods, or other appointed times as well as call or email the members of the staff. 
4. Provide parents with reports upon request on their children’s progress through report cards, progress reports, FAST Bridge family reports and Infinite Campus.
5. 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 for 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. 
6. 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.

Parents will:

1. Help their children with homework every night, if provided.
2. Bring their children to school daily, on time.
3. Read with their children.
4. Respond to school communication.
5. Celebrate the academic success of their children.

Students will:

1. Come to school ready to learn.
2. Work towards improvement every day.
3. Respect other students and school staff.
4. Do their homework and class work to the best of their abilities.
5. Ask for help.