Parent Involvement and Extended Learning Activities in School Improvement Plans

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This REL Midwest study, Parent Involvement and Extended Learning Activities in School Improvement Plans in the Midwest Region, reports the findings of a content analysis of 1,400 school improvement plans in five Midwest Region states. Under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, Title I schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years are required to develop school improvement plans describing proposed activities for boosting student achievement.

Sections 1116 and 1118 of NCLB outline requirements and recommendations for involving parents and providing extended learning activities (before-school, afterschool, or summer program), two sets of activities that some research suggests improve student outcomes. The study examines the extent to which school improvement plans:

• Met the requirements of NCLB section 1116 on notifying parents of the school’s improvement status, collaborating and communicating with parents, and including strategies that promote effective parent involvement.

• Included parent involvement activities specified in section 1118.

• Included parent involvement activities not specified in sections 1116 and 1118.

• Included plans for providing information to parents with limited English proficiency.

• Included before-school, after school, and summer programs.

The results indicate a wide variety of practices across states. More than 90 percent of plans included at least one “potentially effective” parent involvement activity, and 70 percent included at least one extended learning activity. However, few (between 3 percent in Wisconsin to 29 percent in Illinois) of the extended learning activities were described in the school improvement plans as providing academic support.