| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to the Family and School Partnership for |
| 3 | Student Achievement Act; amending s. 1002.23, F.S.; |
| 4 | requiring Department of Education guidelines for a parent |
| 5 | guide to successful student achievement to include |
| 6 | information about parents' rights relating to their |
| 7 | child's permanent record; requiring that a checklist of |
| 8 | parental actions that can strengthen parental involvement |
| 9 | in their child's education be reviewed during parent- |
| 10 | teacher conferences; providing an effective date. |
| 11 |
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| 12 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 13 |
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| 14 | Section 1. Subsections (2) and (8) of section 1002.23, |
| 15 | Florida Statutes, are amended to read: |
| 16 | 1002.23 Family and School Partnership for Student |
| 17 | Achievement Act.-- |
| 18 | (2) To facilitate meaningful parent and family |
| 19 | involvement, the Department of Education shall develop |
| 20 | guidelines for a parent guide to successful student achievement |
| 21 | which describes what parents need to know about their child's |
| 22 | educational progress and how they can help their child to |
| 23 | succeed in school. The guidelines shall include, but need not be |
| 24 | limited to: |
| 25 | (a) Parental information regarding: |
| 26 | 1. Requirements for their child to be promoted to the next |
| 27 | grade, as provided for in s. 1008.25; |
| 28 | 2. Progress of their child toward achieving state and |
| 29 | district expectations for academic proficiency; |
| 30 | 3. Assessment results, including report cards and progress |
| 31 | reports; and |
| 32 | 4. Qualifications of their child's teachers; and |
| 33 | 5. Information included in their child's permanent record |
| 34 | and the legal right of access to their child's permanent record, |
| 35 | including rights of challenge and rights of privacy with respect |
| 36 | to such records; |
| 37 | (b) Services available for parents and their children, |
| 38 | such as family literacy services; mentoring, tutorial, and other |
| 39 | academic reinforcement programs; college planning, academic |
| 40 | advisement, and student counseling services; and after-school |
| 41 | programs; |
| 42 | (c) Opportunities for parental participation, such as |
| 43 | parenting classes, adult education, school advisory councils, |
| 44 | and school volunteer programs; |
| 45 | (d) Opportunities for parents to learn about rigorous |
| 46 | academic programs that may be available for their child, such as |
| 47 | honors programs, dual enrollment, advanced placement, |
| 48 | International Baccalaureate, International General Certificate |
| 49 | of Secondary Education (pre-AICE), Advanced International |
| 50 | Certificate of Education, Florida Virtual High School courses, |
| 51 | and accelerated access to postsecondary education; |
| 52 | (e) Educational choices, as provided for in s. 1002.20(6), |
| 53 | and corporate income tax credit scholarships, as provided for in |
| 54 | s. 220.187; |
| 55 | (f) Classroom and test accommodations available for |
| 56 | students with disabilities; and |
| 57 | (g) School board rules, policies, and procedures for |
| 58 | student promotion and retention, academic standards, student |
| 59 | assessment, courses of study, instructional materials, and |
| 60 | contact information for school and district offices. |
| 61 | (8) Each school district shall develop and disseminate a |
| 62 | checklist of parental actions that can strengthen parental |
| 63 | involvement in their child's educational progress, consistent |
| 64 | with the requirements in subsection (3). The checklist shall be |
| 65 | provided each school year to all parents of students in |
| 66 | kindergarten through grade 12 and shall focus on academics, |
| 67 | especially reading, high expectations for students, citizenship, |
| 68 | and communication. This checklist must be reviewed during |
| 69 | parent-teacher conferences. |
| 70 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |