Early Childhood Family Engagement Plan - Lake Dallas Independent School District (2024)

Inclusive, transparent communications allow school personnel to create a safe and respectful environment to promote supportive interaction between households.

• Host family nights such as literacy night, science fair, etc. to allow families the opportunity to connect.
• Host “Meet the Teacher” night at each elementary campus to allow families to meet staff and connect.
• Provide a community room at each elementary campus to facilitate family to family support through various activities.
• PreK/K Round-Up

Lake Dallas ISD will build strategic partnerships with community organizations to leverage community resources for caregivers through the community resources handbook, and ongoing districtwide events.

• Organize a presentation from WIC (Women, Infants and Children) to inform parents of the resources available through their organization at least every other year.
• Partner with Texas Health Steps to connect parents to medical and health related services at least every other year.
• Provide information sessions from the health department, CHIPs, Vita, Medicaid, Medicare, local clinics, dental care, counseling, banking and college savings periodically.
• Provide Adult Education classes through partnership with North Texas Adult Education to provide ESL and GED classes.
• Work with Community in Schools to provide a backpack program, which provides food for needy families regardless of age.
• Community in Schools refers to a wide variety of agencies to meet families' needs.
• Community in Schools will host various events to help prepare families for their student’s educational future and financial planning.
• Partner with Frost Bank to provide parents with information on financial management and budget planning.
• Career Day Event
• Lake Dallas ISD Community Resource List

Throughout the year, participation in district and school-wide decision making empowers caregivers as their child’s first teacher and advocate.

• Continue to offer and expand opportunities for family participation in district decision-making on Campus Education Improvement Committees, Title 1 Committees, and other campus committees.
• Continue offering and expanding family participation opportunities on district level committees like the District Education Improvement Committees and School Health Advisory Council.
• Involve parents and community members on special committees such as District of Innovation and other select committees whose role is specific.
• Conduct surveys of various groups including EB families to guide the District Parent Education Program.
• LPAC Committee Parent Group
• Maintain strong PTAs at each campus to provide families with a voice in spending and selecting appropriate resources.

Caregivers have multiple opportunities to learn about student progress and ways to support success at home. Caregivers also have personal extended learning opportunities.

• Present information to families to meet academic challenges such as math at home and science at home to parents at all three elementary schools.
• Host literacy nights, science fairs, etc. at each elementary campus to connect students to their families through education, which has been shown to have a big impact on student performance.
• Regularly hold events during school hours such as Story Time to involve families with young children.
• Create games and other resources specifically designed for families to work with their prekindergarten children on academic skills at home.
• Use the Pre-School First monitoring tool to let parents directly monitor their prekindergarten students' progress and facilitate dialogue between teachers and parents.
• Use Ready Rosie, which provides simple activities families can us to turn everyday activities into learning opportunities for prekindergarten and kindergarten students.
• Host Leader in Me nights to provide parents with information about the program and how to effectively implement the program at home.
• Provide Adult Education classes through partnership with North Texas Adult Education to provide ESL and GED classes and ESL classes for Professionals.

Prekindergarten teaching staff participate in professional development opportunities to support and use culturally diverse, culturally relevant, and culturally responsive family engagement strategies and enhance instruction.

• Regularly provide training on sheltered instruction to staff at all levels to help EB and other students.
• Provide ongoing training on using various technology applications to enhance teacher to family engagement.
• Early childhood professional development to ensure teachers are Highly Qualified.
• Professional Learning Communities for PreK teachers.

Ongoing campus/district needs assessment cycle will seek input to improve the quality of instruction, climate, and family engagement

• District and campus representatives and representatives from Communities in Schools will meet in the spring to evaluate the current school year’s activities and plan for the following school year.
• The District shall evaluate the Adult Education program and coordinate with Denton ISD to ensure it continues to serve our community effectively.
• Possip survey of families at all campus to provide a snapshot of technology needs.
• Use Community in Schools home visits to determine needs.

• Provide school tours/visits for parents and community to encourage smooth transitions to kindergarten.
• Create a transition plan to support children and families moving from one grade to the next.

• Ensure Human Resources Dept. routinely implements linguistically and culturally inclusive hiring practices.
• Provide ongoing professional development to educators on culturally responsive topics with an early childhood focus.
• Use culturally relevant materials in classrooms and for homework sent to families.
• Communications sent to families in English and Spanish.
• Provide translators and interpreters during all events/activities for caregivers.