Title 1 Family Engagement Plan 2023-24

Lowell Elementary School embraces Seattle Public Schools’ commitment to family involvement as a key to students’ social, emotional, and academic success and growth. This can only be done through partnerships with parents and the community. Parents and caregivers play an important role as children’s first teachers.

Lowell is committed to gathering on-going two-way feedback to revise this plan to best meet the needs of families and caregivers. This plan is available on the website and will be distributed to families at our Title 1 Open House/Curriculum Night in October and will also be available at Elementary Conferences in November.

The following strategies will be used during the school year to develop partnerships between families and the school:

Two-way Communication and Family/Caregiver Feedback:

• Families will learn about our Title I program at Open House/Curriculum Night on Thursday, September 28th. This presentation will share:
  • Families right to request the qualifications of their student’s teacher and if that teacher is highly qualified
  • An overview of our academic learning programs and curriculum used for reading, writing, math, and science.
  • Introduction of our Title I staff – Reading and math interventionists
  • An overview of our student support process (MTSS) to ensure students receive the academic learning support they need.
• School staff will provide ongoing written communication translated into major languages that communicate the news of the school (principal updates) and classroom teachers will send a monthly classroom newsletter at minimum (many will do weekly or bi-monthly).
• The website is maintained with most recent communication and updates to ensure families can find important and relevant information in a central location.
• Conferences will be held for all students in November and as needed for the remainder of the year. All parents/caregivers will learn of their student’s strengths, areas for growth, and progress towards grade level expectations. Conferences can be requested by families, teachers, or specialists at any time throughout the year. In-person or phone Interpreters are provided to ensure families understand the information being communicated. Family feedback surveys will be distributed at these meetings.
• Families, staff, and students will complete a schoolwide compact in November that outlines the responsibilities each member of the student’s education team agree to.
• Academic progress will be sent to families include scores for Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP), Early Literacy scores (DIBELS), and Smarter Balanced Assessment scores. Assessment data is also posted to The Source.
• Parent/Caregiver feedback will be gathered multiple times throughout the year:
  • Caregiver feedback regarding their beginning of the year experiences at Lowell will be gathered at Curriculum Night.
  • The school will hold coffee chats each trimester for families to connect and provide feedback. These will alternate between in-person and virtual.
  • A family survey will be provided at conferences to provide general feedback for the school.

Community Events:

• Lowell Elementary School will hold community events throughout the year to build community, connect families to school staff and each other, and support learning at the school. These include Meet the Teacher Popsicles on the Playground, Curriculum/Open House, Ice Cream Social and Dance, and Multicultural Night.
• School staff will hold events at community and housing sites to connect with parents who experience barriers in attending events at the school. Transportation options will be offered to families for these events if needed. School staff will also attend off-site community events where students are present to build relationships and community.

Participation on schoolwide committees and input on comprehensive school improvement plans:

• Lowell school actively recruits family and community members to participate on school-based committees including Building Leadership Team, Positive Behavior and Intervention Supports Team (PBIS), and Family Involvement Committee. Currently each of these committees have parent members and additional participation is welcome.
• Parent/Community participants on BLT give feedback to the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan. General parent feedback is gathered through parent surveys.
• The Lowell PTA is established, and all family members are invited to attend meetings every other month.

Support from School Staff and Community Partnerships:

• The Family Support Worker works with McKinney-Vento Office and community partners to ensure families experiencing homelessness have regular and reliable transportation to school. This staff member also ensures that family basic needs are met by providing clothing, gift cards, and utilizing the Amazon Right Now Needs Fund, and connecting with other community partnerships.
• The School Social workers connects with families in need and ensures they are connected to community resources that can support their well-being and ensure basic needs are met.
• Lowell has a School-Based Health Clinic that provides medical and mental health care to Lowell students during the school day. Through December 2022, the clinic also provides adult health care.
• Lowell is building a food pantry that can support family and community food needs both with food pick-up and food delivery.

Parent presence in school:

• All parents are welcome in the school to support the community and their students’ learning.
• We have a staff volunteer coordinator who supports families in completing the Volunteer Approval Process. Staff will work with approved families to identify meaningful and impactful volunteer work.
• All families and caregivers can visit the school with an appointment to support their child in the learning environment or to meet with the teachers.

PTA

PALS ( P artners at L owell S chool) PTA welcomes you to the Lowell Elementary School community! We support the students, families, and staff at Lowell with community-building events and raise money to supplement school needs and ensure that all students are able to go on field trips, attend before- and after-school activities, and have the essentials for weekends as well as weekdays. Our school is wonderfully diverse, and our goal is to make sure every aspect of that diversity is supported and celebrated.

We also do a great deal of volunteering both as a board (by holding events, getting before- and after-school programs in place, channeling and prioritizing PTA funds, running a food pantry for students who might need extra over the weekends) and as a larger community (volunteering in classrooms, chaperoning field trips, etc.).