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Home-School Connection

Title I is committed to developing strong partnerships with families to increase student achievement and help develop positive attitudes about self and school.

Families are informed about the Title I program in their school and have the opportunity to provide input into the planning and design of the program. Building on the APS Family and Community Engagement (FACE) School Board Policy and Policy Implementation Procedures, Title I schools annually review and revise Family Engagement Guidelines jointly with their students’ parents/guardians.

Strategies to Support Academic Development at Home

Read at Home

  • Read to your child and listen to your child read everyday.
  • Keep a collection of favorite books handy.
  • Give books as gifts.

Let Your Child Know School is Important

  • Keep absences to a minimum.
  • Provide time and space to do homework.
  • Ask about homework.
  • Attend PTA and School Events.
  • Volunteer to help at school.
  • Visit the teacher.

Talk With Your Child

  • Talk with your child about school.
  • Talk with your child about books.

Monitor Homework

  • Provide a quiet place for homework. NO TV.
  • Establish a routine that allows for breaks. Work 20 minutes, then take a 5 minute break.
  • Break down the homework into smaller tasks.
  • Review the finished homework together.

Recognize Your Child’s Special Talent

  • Praise your child daily.
  • Encourage creativity: draw pictures, sing, dance and have fun!
  • Work on hobbies together.

Limit TV viewing

  • No more than one hour a day during the week or 2 hours on weekends.
  • Watch TV with your child and talk about the programs.
  • TV alternatives:
    • Read
    • Join a team
    • Play a game
    • Call a friend
    • Go for a walk
    • Write a letter
    • Go for a bike ride
    • Play a musical instrument
    • Cook together.

Go to the Library

  • Help your child select books that he/she can read independently.
  • Select books that you can read together.
  • Help your child find books and authors they love

Reading Strategies

Ways to promote your child’s literacy development every day:

  • Let your child see you read and write.
  • Read to and with your child everyday.
  • Use the library.
  • Try a storytime at your library, local book store, or online.
  • Tell stories or act them out
  • Give books as gift
  • Keep a family library of books in your home. Add new books to it whenever you can.
  • Make books available for reading on the go: in the car, on the bus, in the travel bag, wherever you are!

Ways to talk about books that promote critical and creative thinking and literacy development:

  • Look at the cover and discuss what the book might be about.
  • Talk with your child about the kinds of books they enjoy reading the most and why.
  • Compare and contrast the setting and characters between two books.
  • Discuss how the illustrations supported the ideas in the book.
  • Stop and chat about interesting and important facts or ideas when you are reading with them.
  • Ask your child if a book reminded them of something they have done or seen or read.
  • Consider if the story could really happen. Explore with them why or why not.
  • Invite your child to share something they learned after reading.
  • Have your child share their favorite part of the book.
  • Discuss why the author wrote the book.
  • Ask if this book would make a good movie, who would be the best actors to play the characters, and why.
  • Explore other ways the story might have ended.
  • Ask your child who else they think might enjoy this book.
  • Inquire about what your child would like to read next!

Summer Reading

Summer is a great time to have some fun while raising academic skills/readiness by reading, reading, and reading! Here are some special summer programs to keep you and your student going!

Book Nook

Looking for reading material? Checl out these suggestions:

Award Winning Books for Children

Title I Staff Favorites

APS classroom teachers, reading specialists, and Title I staff are great resources! We encourage students and parents to ask for recommendations. Check out these pdf lists of some of our favorite books.

Recommendations from the Library

The librarians at your school and your local library are also great resources. We encourage students and parents to ask them for recommendations.

Recommendations from Literacy Organizations

Authors Featured at Title I Events

Some of the authors that have recently worked with APS students at Title I Family Literacy Events include:

Other recent literacy- and numeracy-oriented guests have included:

Free Online Books

Some organizations now offer full text of select books to read online.

Learning Resources for Parents and Students

Learning Resources for Families

  • ABC Teach is a user-friendly educational site that provides quality printable materials for immediate use by teachers, education majors, and parents.
  • PBS for Parents provides resources, tips, and activities for parents on many topics such as: literacy, numeracy, and social emotional learning.
  • Book Aunt is a blog in which children’s author Kate Coombs reviews children’s books.
  • Boys Read is a resource that focuses on motivating boys to become lifelong readers by helping them find reading materials that interest them.
  • Colorín Colorado is an English-Spanish bilingual website from ReadingRockets that provides information, activities, and advice on helping children learn to read and succeed at school.
  • Edutopia is a website of resources for teachers, schools, districts, and parents. This resource from the George Lucas Educational Foundation focuses on interactivity.
  • Fun Brain is a site for parents, teachers and children to play games in different content areas.
  • Nancy Keane’s Children’s Literature Webpage offers ready-to-use book talks, lists of recommended reading, book reviews by children, and other information about children’s literature.
  • Reading Rockets provides information, tips, and advice to help teachers and parents improve a child’s reading skills.
  • Safe Kids offers advice on ways to make your family’s online experience fun and productive.
  • Scholastic’s Book Wizard offers several ways to search for children’s books, including by title, author, keyword, reading level, or similar book.
  • We Read Too is a mobile directory of hundreds of picture, chapter, middle grade and young adult books written by authors of color featuring main characters of color.

Learning Resources for Students

  • Arcademic Skill Builders: “Arcade + Academic = Fun Learning”. Practice your math fact fluency online.
  • Enchanted Learning: Activities for children of all grade levels.
  • Chateau Meddybemps
  • CoolMath: free online math lessons, games, and fun math activities.
  • Fun Brain: For parents, teachers and children. Play games in various content areas.
  • International Children’s Digital Library: Read children’s books online. Search by language, age, genre, characters, and more.
  • PBS Kids: Activities featuring some favorite characters such as Arthur, Clifford, Teletubbies, and Barney. Activities for Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow.
  • Scholastic Kids: Games, books, and activities for children of all ages. Features Harry Potter, Captain Underpants, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and the Magic School Bus.
  • Starfall: have fun reading with phonics
  • Storyline Online: Videos of celebrities reading children’s books aloud via streaming video. Includes accompanying activities. Presented by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.

Family Resources

APS Resources

  • APS’ Parent Resource Center (PRC) is a special education information center for families, staff and community members. The PRC offers support and assistance, individual consultations with families, a lending library, a parent newsletter, parent learning opportunities, and serves as an information and referral source for families and staff members.
  • APS’ Family and Community Engagement (FACE) program provides districtwide leadership in creating meaningful partnerships between APS and families to support student academic success.
  • The Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP) – in partnership with Arlington Public Schools – offers morning, afternoon, and evening English classes for adults throughout the year.
  • Need access to the internet? Ask about options at your child’s school and at your local library.
  • Free or Reduced-Price Meals: We encourage families who may qualify for free or reduced-price meals to apply for meal benefits.

Arlington Community Resources

  • Arlington County Public Library provides information about the library, programs available through the library, book lists, world newspapers, and access to the library’s collection of materials, and more.
  • Arlington Government provides food, financial and medical assistance for Arlington residents in need.  For assistance getting groceries or meals, please call 703-228-1300.
  • Northern Virginia Family Services provides tools, guidance, and support for families to build a healthy, successful life through programs and services ranging from basic needs to helping children, adults, and families realize their full potential.

Virginia Department of Education Resources

U.S. Department of Education Resources (Office of Elementary & Secondary Education)

Get Involved

Are you looking for a way to contribute to the Title I mission and inspire lifelong learners in Title I schools?

Volunteer Opportunities

Find out how to become involved in APS’ Volunteer & Partnership Program.

Fund a Project

Many teachers conduct fundraising drives for specific projects through the organization Donors Choose. The links below will help you search the Donors Choose website for projects currently proposed by teachers at one of our Title I schools:

Community Partners

Title I partners with community organizations that share its mission. Read about some of our current partnerships or propose a partnership.

Additional Information about getting involved in Arlington Public Schools

 


 

Parental Right to Information

The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) guarantees parents/guardians in Title I schools the right to certain information.

SCHOOL QUALITY PROFILES
District and School Quality Profiles for all APS schools and the district as a whole are maintained of the Virginia Department of Education website at https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/divisions/arlington-county-public-schools.

PARENTAL RIGHT TO INFORMATION ABOUT TEACHERS
The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) guarantees parents in Title I schools the right to request certain information about their child’s teachers. The information that you have a right to request about your child’s teacher is:

a. Whether the teacher has met state qualifications and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subjects for which the teacher is responsible.
b. Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualifications for licensing have been waived.
c. The baccalaureate degree major of certification or degree held by the teacher, and the field of discipline of the certification or degree.
d. Whether the student is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

If you would like to receive additional information about this topic, please contact the principal of your child’s school.

PARENTAL RIGHT TO REQUEST INFORMATION ON ASSESSMENT OPT-OUT
The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) Section 1112(e)(2) guarantees parents of students in Title I schools the right to request information about state or division policies regarding student participation in any assessments mandated by ESSA, including any policy, procedure, or parental right to opt students out of such assessments. All students enrolled in Virginia public schools are expected to take the applicable state tests. Virginia regulations do not provide for what is sometimes referred to as an “opt-out policy” for students regarding the Virginia assessments. If parents refuse to have their student participate in one or more of the required Virginia assessments, they should be aware that their student’s state assessment score report will reflect a score of “0” for any test that is refused. If you would like to receive additional information about this topic, please contact the principal of your child’s school.