[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3769 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3769

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to promote 
         family and community engagement in school improvement.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 13, 2010

 Mr. Feingold introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to promote 
         family and community engagement in school improvement.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Families and Communities Involved in 
Improving Our Schools Act''.

SEC. 2. FAMILY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GRANTS.

    Section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 6303(g)) is amended by inserting at the end the 
following:
            ``(10) Family engagement and community engagement.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Each local educational agency 
                that receives assistance under this subsection shall 
                carry out family engagement and community engagement 
                activities, which shall include, at a minimum--
                            ``(i) providing notice to families and 
                        community members in a format and language that 
                        is accessible to all families and community 
                        members--
                                    ``(I) that a school will be a 
                                recipient of funds under this 
                                subsection, which shall be subject to 
                                the requirement that a school 
                                intervention model be implemented at 
                                the school; and
                                    ``(II) on how families and 
                                community members can participate in 
                                the selection, development, and 
                                implementation of a school intervention 
                                model under this subsection;
                            ``(ii) partnering with families and 
                        community members to select the school 
                        intervention model funded under this 
                        subsection;
                            ``(iii) providing families and community 
                        members with notice of the selected school 
                        intervention model and partnering with families 
                        and community members to develop opportunities 
                        for families and community members to support 
                        the school intervention model selected;
                            ``(iv) including families and community 
                        members in the transition period to the new 
                        school intervention model;
                            ``(v) involving families and community 
                        members in implementation of the new school 
                        intervention model;
                            ``(vi) developing an engagement plan for 
                        ensuring families and communities are involved 
                        in the ongoing school improvement efforts, 
                        including ensuring that families and 
                        communities are involved in the development of 
                        the engagement plan;
                            ``(vii) evaluating the effectiveness of 
                        family engagement and community engagement in 
                        improving student achievement once a school 
                        intervention model has been utilized;
                            ``(viii) disseminating the data collected 
                        from the evaluation under clause (vii) to 
                        families and community members in an 
                        understandable format; and
                            ``(ix) developing a plan for revising 
                        family engagement and community engagement 
                        strategies that are shown not to be effective.
                    ``(B) Guidance on research based family 
                engagement.--In order to properly engage families in 
                school improvement efforts, the Secretary shall issue 
                regulations not later than 180 days after the date of 
                enactment of the Families and Communities Involved in 
                Improving Our Schools Act, that detail research-based 
                family engagement and community engagement strategies 
                that local educational agencies and schools may utilize 
                with assistance provided under this subsection.
                    ``(C) Definition.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Community engagement.--The term 
                        `community engagement' means strategies that 
                        foster meaningful and active collaboration 
                        among families, community members, and school 
                        officials for the purpose of improving student 
                        achievement and addressing the comprehensive 
                        needs of students before, during, and after 
                        school as well as in the students' home lives.
                            ``(ii) Family engagement.--The term `family 
                        engagement' means a shared responsibility of 
                        families and schools for student success, in 
                        which schools and community-based organizations 
                        are committed to reaching out to engage 
                        families in meaningful ways that encourage the 
                        families to actively support their children's 
                        learning and development, as well as the 
                        learning and development of other children. The 
                        shared responsibility is continuous from birth 
                        through young adulthood and reinforces learning 
                        that takes place in the home, school, and 
                        community.''.
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