124D.895 PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT PROGRAMS.
The department, in consultation with the state curriculum advisory committee, must develop guidelines and model plans for parental involvement programs that will:
(1) engage the interests and talents of parents or guardians in recognizing and meeting the emotional, intellectual, native and English language development, and physical needs of their school-age children;
(2) promote healthy self-concepts among parents or guardians and other family members;
(3) offer parents or guardians a chance to share and learn about educational skills, techniques, and ideas;
(4) provide creative learning experiences for parents or guardians and their school-age children, including involvement from parents or guardians of color;
(5) encourage parents to actively participate in their district's curriculum advisory committee under section 120B.11 in order to assist the school board in improving children's education programs;
(6) encourage parents to help in promoting school desegregation/integration under sections 124D.861 and 124D.862; and
(7) partner with parents in establishing a positive school climate by developing and implementing prevention and intervention programs on prohibited conduct under section 121A.031.
Model plans for a parental involvement program must include at least the following:
(1) program goals;
(2) means for achieving program goals;
(3) methods for informing parents or guardians, in a timely way, about the program;
(4) strategies for ensuring the full participation of parents or guardians, including those parents or guardians who lack literacy skills or whose native language is not English, including the involvement of parents or guardians of color;
(5) procedures for coordinating the program with kindergarten through grade 12 curriculum, with parental involvement programs currently available in the community, with comprehensive achievement and civic readiness under section 120B.11, and with other education facilities located in the community;
(6) strategies for training teachers and other school staff to work effectively with parents and guardians;
(7) procedures for parents or guardians and educators to evaluate and report progress toward program goals; and
(8) a mechanism for convening a local community advisory committee composed primarily of parents or guardians to advise a district on implementing a parental involvement program.
Activities contained in the model plans must include:
(1) educational opportunities for families that enhance children's learning and native and English language development;
(2) educational programs for parents or guardians on families' educational responsibilities and resources;
(3) the hiring, training, and use of parental involvement liaison workers to coordinate family involvement activities and to foster linguistic and culturally competent communication among families, educators, and students, consistent with the definition of culturally competent under section 120B.30, subdivision 8;
(4) curriculum materials and assistance in implementing home and community-based learning activities that reinforce and extend classroom instruction and student motivation;
(5) technical assistance, including training to design and carry out family involvement programs;
(6) parent resource centers;
(7) parent training programs and reasonable and necessary expenditures associated with parents' attendance at training sessions;
(8) reports to parents on children's progress;
(9) use of parents as classroom volunteers, or as volunteers in before and after school programs for school-age children, tutors, and aides;
(10) soliciting parents' suggestions in planning, developing, and implementing school programs;
(11) educational programs and opportunities for parents or guardians that are multicultural, multilingual, gender fair, and disability sensitive;
(12) involvement in a district's curriculum advisory committee or a site team under section 120B.11; and
(13) opportunities for parent involvement in developing, implementing, or evaluating school and district desegregation/integration plans under sections 124D.861 and 124D.862.