| (ix) identifying partners to provide translators and
culturally relevant resources reflective of the home language;
(C) increase family participation in decision making
using strategies such as:
(i) developing and supporting a family advisory council;
(ii) developing, adopting, and implementing identified
goals within the annual campus/school improvement plan targeting family
engagement;
(iii) developing and supporting leadership skills for
family members and providing opportunities for families to advocate
for their children/families;
(iv) collaborating with families to develop strategies
to solve problems and serve as problem solvers;
(v) engaging families in shaping program activities
and cultivating the expectation that information must flow in both
directions to reflect two-way communication;
(vi) developing, in collaboration with families, clearly
defined goals, outcomes, timelines, and strategies for assessing progress;
(vii) providing each family with an opportunity to
review and provide input on program practices, policies, communications,
and events in order to ensure the program is responsive to the needs
of families; and
(viii) using appropriate tools such as surveys or focus
groups to gather family feedback on the family engagement plan;
(D) equip families with tools to enhance and extend
learning using strategies such as:
(i) providing families with updates at least three
times a year that specify student progress in health and wellness,
language and communication, emergent literacy reading, emergent literacy
writing, and mathematics;
(ii) designing or implementing existing home educational
resources to support learning at home while strengthening the family/school
partnership;
(iii) providing families with information and/or training
on creating a home learning environment connected to formal learning
opportunities;
(iv) equipping families with resources and skills to
support their children through the transition to school and offering
opportunities for families and children to visit the school in advance
of the prekindergarten school year;
(v) providing complementary home learning activities
for families to engage in at home with children through information
presented in newsletters, online technology, social media, parent/family-teacher
conferences, or other school- or center-related events;
(vi) providing families with information, best practices,
and training related to age-appropriate developmental expectations;
(vii) emphasizing benefits of positive family practices
such as attachment and nurturing that complement the stages of children's
development;
(viii) collaborating with families to appropriately
respond to children's behavior in a non-punitive, positive, and supportive
way;
(ix) encouraging families to reflect on family experiences
and practices in helping children; and
(x) assisting families to implement best practices
that will help achieve the goals and objectives identified to meet
the needs of the child and family;
(E) develop staff skills in evidence-based practices
that support families in meeting their children's learning benchmarks
using strategies such as:
(i) providing essential professional development for
educators in understanding communication and engagement with families,
including training on communicating with families in crisis;
(ii) promoting and developing family engagement as
a core strategy to improve teaching and learning among all educators
and staff; and
(iii) developing staff skills to support and use culturally
diverse, culturally relevant, and culturally responsive family engagement
strategies; and
(F) evaluate family engagement efforts and use evaluations
for continuous improvement using strategies such as:
(i) conducting goal-oriented home visits to identify
strengths, interests, and needs;
(ii) developing data collection systems to monitor
family engagement and focusing on engagement of families from specific
populations to narrow the achievement gap;
(iii) using data to ensure alignment between family
engagement activities and district/school teaching and learning goals
and to promote continuous family engagement;
(iv) ensuring an evaluation plan is an initial component
that guides action;
(v) using a cyclical process to ensure evaluation results
are used for continuous improvement and adjustment; and
(vi) ensuring teachers play a role in the family engagement
evaluation process.
(f) In a format prescribed by the Texas Education Agency
(TEA), a school district or an open-enrollment charter school shall:
(1) report the curriculum used in the high-quality
prekindergarten program classes as required by subsection (b) of this
section;
(2) report a description and the beginning- and end-of-year
results of each commissioner-approved prekindergarten instrument used
in the high-quality prekindergarten program classes as required by
subsection (c) of this section;
(3) report:
(A) a description of each commissioner-approved multidimensional
kindergarten readiness instrument used in the district or charter
school to measure the effectiveness of the district's or charter school's
high-quality prekindergarten program classes as required by subsection
(c) of this section; and
(B) the results for at least 95% of the district's
or charter school's kindergarten students on the commissioner-approved
multidimensional kindergarten readiness instrument by the end of the
TEA-determined assessment collection window;
(4) report additional teacher qualifications described
in subsection (d) of this section;
(5) report the family engagement plan URL/website link
described in subsection (e) of this section; and
(6) report the prekindergarten program evaluation type.
(g) A school district or an open-enrollment charter
school shall:
(1) select and implement appropriate methods for evaluating
the district's or charter school's high-quality prekindergarten program
by measuring student progress; and
(2) make data from the results of program evaluations
available to parents.
(h) A school district or an open-enrollment charter
school must attempt to maintain an average ratio in any prekindergarten
program class of not less than one certified teacher or teacher's
aide for every 11 students.
(i) A school district or an open-enrollment charter
school shall maintain locally and provide at the TEA's request the
necessary documentation to ensure fidelity of high-quality prekindergarten
program implementation.
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