II 111th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3769 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.

1.

Short title

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

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. .