2024-2025

Purpose of the 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.

Garfield 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.
Garfield Elementary jointly developed this policy and compact with members of the school
community and adopted it for the 2024-2025 school year. Several of 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 parent coffees, Email, and by requesting a meeting with the principal and/or
administrative team. 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  

Building Capacity for Involvement

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:

Effective Communication with Parents

Efforts will be made to ensure parents/caregivers receive meaningful communication in a timely manner, including the following:

• Provide family members a voice in decision-making on committees, such as the PTA,
  supporting other families (i.e., meeting with them, building relationships with them,
  answering questions regarding the school and community), and co-leading parent
  coffees.
• 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 want to celebrate or 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 the PTA, supporting other families (i.e., meeting
  with them, building relationships with them, answering questions regarding the school
  and community), and co-leading parent coffees.
• Provide opportunities for caregivers to volunteer within the school in various ways,
  such as in the school library, Family Resource Center, at the Family Science Night, in
  the classrooms, and on field trips.
• Encourage families to take part in the annual evaluation of the division-level Title I
  parent and family engagement policy to identify:
  • barriers to greater family participation
  • ways to help family members be better able to assist in student learning
  • strategies to support successful school and family interaction.

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 organizations, businesses, including the following:

• Hold workshops connecting caregivers to tools and resources, such as highlighting Advanced Academic
  services, Progressive Discipline (1-2-3 Magic; have parents share successes), Technology Safety sessions,
  and sessions based on parent requests and surveys. Distribute materials for FCPS sponsored speakers (i.e.,
  Special Education services, etc.). We connect parents to the FCPS Parent Resource Center with ongoing
  classes.
• Offer regular opportunities for families to learn directly from school staff about the school’s academic,
  behavioral, and social programming through monthly coffees, and PTA meetings. These include Advanced
  Academics, Project Based Learning, Portrait of a Graduate, Responsive Classroom, math and literacy
  programs, and technology and social media safety updates.
• 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 curriculum nights,
  family nights, family field trips to the library, and Title I Field trips.
• Provide ongoing access to resources in the school such as food, weekend food bags, food for students
  over school breaks, formula, clothing, and shoes. Technology is available for parents to use in the Family
  Resource Center. A lending library of resources and games for families are available for parent check-out
  from the Family Resource Center.
• Provide mentors and volunteers for students through Madeira Interns, Book Buddies and GrandInvolve.
• Provide opportunities to donate and access supplies donated by others, such as Assistance League of
  Northern Virginia, Rotary Club, Springfield Women’s Club, Christ Church, Springfield United Methodist
  Church, Summit Church, and Messiah Methodist Church.
• Support parents in accessing county and community resources, such as the Fairfax County department of
  Health, Family Services and Housing, summer enrichment camps, Rec Pac, Friends of Wolf Trap, and
  summer athletics/clinics.
• Offer outreach and training for targeted families, such as adult ESOL classes at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
  and at St. Bernadette’s Church.

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 welcome signs displayed in seven
  languages in the main entrance.
• Provide interpretation services for Early Family conferences, conferences, workshops,
  family events, 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 Early Family Conferences, ongoing parent-teacher conferences,
  curriculum nights, PTA meetings, PTA sponsored events, monthly coffees, and Success
  Morning.
• Expand access for family participation in informational meetings and learning sessions
  through videos of guest speakers, and copies of all meeting resources available in the
  Family Resource Center in physical and electronic formats.
• Parents can access clothing, shoes, formula, and toiletries from the Garfield Family
  Resource Center at scheduled times

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 resources.
• Provide ongoing professional development and support to all teachers to ensure effective instructional practices are used in all classrooms.
• Emphasize the social curriculum and the academic curriculum.
• Appreciate the diversity of our students and families.
• Recognize students reaching their goals and showcase students’ work at Success Morning.

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

• Provide clear expectations for student behavior and academic learning. Support students to follow the Garfield Schoolwide Rules and FCPS Students Rights & Responsibilities.
• Offer a variety of resources to help students with their learning.
• Involve students in choices about learning (Academic Choice).
• Support students to become an independent learner, respectful, and productive citizen.
• Allow multiple ways for students to demonstrate what they have learned (i.e., Project Based Learning).

Provide assistance to caregivers in understanding the school’s program through the following actions:

• Hold ongoing meetings (parent coffees, PTA meetings) 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
  programs.
• Hold monthly coffees to learn more about specific school programs.
• 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 Title I Schoolwide Plan and plans for the use of Title I family engagement funds.
• Hold curriculum nights where caregivers and their children practice academic strategies
  that they can use to support literacy, mathematics, and critical thinking at home.
• Build caregivers’ involvement in the school’s Title I program through the following actions:                                                
• Include caregivers as members of the ESSER/School Improvement and Innovation Planning (SIIP) Committee and as collaborators in developing the Title I Schoolwide Plan and plans for the use of Title I family engagement funds.
• Hold curriculum nights where caregivers and their children practice academic strategies that they can use to support literacy, mathematics, and critical thinking at home.

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.
• Review interims, notes, and papers sent home from the school and child’s teacher.
• Participate in school events, when possible, or review materials from these events online or at the Family Resource Center.

The Student will:

Share the responsibility to improve my academic learning to achieve the state’s challenging standards through the following 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.
• Follow the Garfield Schoolwide Rules.