In support of strengthening student academic achievement, the Whitfield County School District (WCS) has developed this parent and family engagement policy that establishes the district’s expectations and objectives for meaningful family engagement and guides the strategies and resources that strengthen school and parent partnerships in the district’s Title I schools. This plan will describe WCS’s commitment to engage families in the education of their children and to build the capacity in its Title I schools to implement family engagement strategies and activities designed to achieve the district and student academic achievement goals. 

When schools, families, and communities work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer and enjoy school more. Title I, Part A provides for substantive family engagement at every level of the program, such as in the development and implementation of the district and school plan, and in carrying out the district and school improvement provisions. Section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) contains the primary Title I, Part A requirements for schools and school systems to involve parents and family members in their children’s education. Consistent with Section 1116, WCS will work with its Title I schools to ensure that the required school-level parent and family engagement policies meet the requirements of Section 1116(b) and each include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with Section 1116(d) of the ESSA.