| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to parental involvement and |
| 3 | accountability in public schools; creating s. |
| 4 | 1008.347, F.S.; providing purpose to provide |
| 5 | information and tools to parents of prekindergarten |
| 6 | through grade 5 students and to set minimum standards |
| 7 | for parental involvement; specifying causes for |
| 8 | student underachievement; requiring shared information |
| 9 | between teachers, schools, and parents; requiring |
| 10 | prekindergarten through grade 5 teachers to evaluate |
| 11 | parental involvement and send a parental involvement |
| 12 | evaluation to parents under certain circumstances; |
| 13 | requiring adoption of a process to dispute a parental |
| 14 | involvement evaluation; requiring reports on parental |
| 15 | involvement evaluations by district school boards and |
| 16 | the Department of Education; providing for |
| 17 | implementation; providing an effective date. |
| 18 |
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| 19 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 20 |
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| 21 | Section 1. Section 1008.347, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 22 | to read: |
| 23 | 1008.347 Parental involvement and accountability in public |
| 24 | schools.- |
| 25 | (1) PURPOSE.-Although the school environment has a great |
| 26 | impact on a child's well-being and academic success, parents and |
| 27 | the home environment form the foundation of a child's present |
| 28 | and future life. Without proper parental involvement in all |
| 29 | aspects of a child's life, the child's prospects to be an |
| 30 | effective, successful member of society are greatly diminished. |
| 31 | The purpose of this section is to provide information and tools |
| 32 | to parents of prekindergarten through grade 5 students to enable |
| 33 | them to have a positive impact on their child's educational |
| 34 | success and to set minimum standards for parental involvement. |
| 35 | (2) CAUSES FOR STUDENT UNDERACHIEVEMENT.-The following |
| 36 | conditions are identified as possible causes for a student's |
| 37 | underachievement: |
| 38 | (a) A child is not physically prepared for the school day |
| 39 | due to inadequate rest, improper clothing, lack of necessary |
| 40 | school supplies, or frequent tardiness or absence. |
| 41 | (b) A child is not mentally prepared for the school day |
| 42 | due to uncompleted homework or inadequate preparation for tests. |
| 43 | (c) Communication between parents and the teacher often |
| 44 | occurs only when a problem has risen rather than on a consistent |
| 45 | basis throughout the school year. |
| 46 | (3) SHARED INFORMATION.-Teachers and schools shall develop |
| 47 | or utilize current information packets, forms, or media for |
| 48 | sharing information with each parent with written |
| 49 | acknowledgement of receipt. The shared information may be |
| 50 | presented in the parent guide to successful student achievement |
| 51 | or in the checklist of parental actions that can strengthen |
| 52 | parental involvement in a child's educational progress, required |
| 53 | under s. 1002.23, and includes: |
| 54 | (a) Expectations of parents with respect to a child's |
| 55 | school attendance. |
| 56 | (b) Expectations of parents to timely respond to a |
| 57 | teacher's request for communication. |
| 58 | (c) Expectations of parents to properly and fully complete |
| 59 | important emergency and medical information requested. |
| 60 | (d) Expectations of parents with respect to a child's |
| 61 | academic work, including, but not limited to, time set aside for |
| 62 | daily homework and reading, nightly check of homework completion |
| 63 | and preparation for tests, and signature on forms. |
| 64 | (4) ACCOUNTABILITY.- |
| 65 | (a) To help parents establish a home environment that |
| 66 | supports the child as a student, each prekindergarten through |
| 67 | grade 5 teacher shall monitor and evaluate the involvement of |
| 68 | the parents of each student in his or her class. Each |
| 69 | prekindergarten through grade 5 teacher shall evaluate the |
| 70 | parental involvement as satisfactory, needs improvement, or |
| 71 | unsatisfactory on each of the following criteria as defined in |
| 72 | district school board policy: |
| 73 | 1. The frequency of the student's unexcused absence and |
| 74 | unexcused tardiness. |
| 75 | 2. Parental response to requests for conferences or |
| 76 | communication. |
| 77 | 3. Parental submission of complete and correct |
| 78 | information, including, but not limited to, emergency contact |
| 79 | information; student immunization records; and pertinent |
| 80 | parental contact information, which shall be on file and updated |
| 81 | if changes occur during the school year. |
| 82 | (b) The parental involvement evaluation shall be sent |
| 83 | along with the student's quarterly assessment to the home of the |
| 84 | parent, which shall indicate "needs improvement" when one of the |
| 85 | following occurs in one quarter or "unsatisfactory" when two or |
| 86 | more of the following occur in one quarter: |
| 87 | 1. The student has five or more unexcused absences; |
| 88 | 2. The student has 10 or more instances of unexcused |
| 89 | tardiness; |
| 90 | 3. Five or more requests for communication between the |
| 91 | teacher and the parent are made with no communication occurring; |
| 92 | or |
| 93 | 4. The emergency contact information provided by the |
| 94 | parent is determined to be incomplete or incorrect. |
| 95 | (5) DISPUTE PROCESS.-A parent may dispute the parental |
| 96 | involvement evaluation by the teacher through a process adopted |
| 97 | by the district school board in rule in which the principal, the |
| 98 | teacher, and the parent discuss how the evaluation was |
| 99 | determined. The discussion shall also provide information and |
| 100 | feedback on the steps needed to improve the parental involvement |
| 101 | evaluation. |
| 102 | (6) REPORTING.-At the end of each school year, each |
| 103 | district school board shall prepare a report, as determined by |
| 104 | the State Board of Education in rule, containing data on |
| 105 | parental involvement evaluations, including data on evaluations |
| 106 | sent to parents, pursuant to subsection (4) and submit the |
| 107 | report to the Department of Education. Based upon the district |
| 108 | school board reports, the department shall prepare a final |
| 109 | report on parental involvement which shall be submitted by |
| 110 | August 1 of each year to the Governor, the President of the |
| 111 | Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. |
| 112 | (7) IMPLEMENTATION.-This section shall be implemented |
| 113 | beginning with the 2013-2014 school year. |
| 114 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012. |