ESSA Title I Parent and Family Engagement

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER RECOMMENDS

That the Board rescind Board Report 18-0926-PO1 and adopt the new Title I Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Parent and Family Engagement policy that honors the diverse experiences and expertise of Title I parents, families, and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) staff. This policy's objective is to co-create equitable and culturally-responsive conditions with impacted parents, families and CPS staff where Title I parents and families feel valued, respected, and enabled to reach their full potential. It calls for shared responsibility for establishing inclusive and collaborative student, parent, family, and community engagement practices in Title I schools that support student achievement and align to the district's Five-Year Strategic Plan. This policy was developed jointly with, and agreed on by, parents and families of CPS students participating in Title I, Part A programs. The policy was posted for public comment from June 27, 2025 to July 28, 2025.

I. SCOPE OF POLICY

The Board is committed to building inclusive and collaborative stakeholder engagement efforts to support the enrichment and success of all students. This policy applies to the District, all Title I schools, Parent Advisory Councils (PACs), and the Parent Board of Governors (PBG). The Title I ESSA Parent and Family Engagement policy mandates the creation and authentic engagement and consultation of PACs in order to (a) cultivate an inclusive and collaborative partnership among parents, families, and schools (b) provide Chicago Public School (CPS) students with a school environment that promotes the Whole Child, and (c) operationalize the Spectrum of Inclusive Partnerships anchored in our CPS Equity Framework. This policy aligns with the Title I ESSA Parent and Family Engagement Policy Section 1116 of the U.S. Department of Education Federal Policy and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Title I Part A Parent and Family Engagement Policy.

II. DEFINITIONS

Community Member: A person or a group of people, such as community-based organizations, that reside in the school's attendance boundary area and have a shared connectedness and/or vested interest in the school's mission. These individuals or organizations build relationships and work together to support the success of students, families, and educators.

Family: The term "Family" refers to any household member or relative who provides a direct and consistent role in raising and caring for a CPS student.

Loco Parentis: "In the place of a parent"

Parent Advisory Council (PAC): Each academic year, Title I school administrators are required to establish a Parent Advisory Council (PAC) to a) advise the principal on how Title I parent engagement funds should be spent in alignment with the school's Continuous Improvement Work Plan (CIWP), b) co-develop with the principal and approve a parent involvement policy which includes a school-parent compact, c) share Title I information and updates received from the Parent Network Collaborative meetings facilitated by the Office of Family and Community Engagement, and d) participate in trainings and workshops that develop parents' skills and elevate them as partners in creating an educational environment for all the children and the school. A PAC must elect a 4-member executive board. All parents/guardians of a Title I school are eligible to run for their school PAC executive board. Specific roles and responsibilities for executive board members are outlined in section III, part A.

Parent and Family Engagement: The term "Parent and Family Engagement" refers to the adoption of strategies for the participation of parents and family members in regular, two-way communication and meaningful consultation involving student academic learning and other school activities, to the extent feasible and appropriate. In addition, this includes other activities as described in Section 1116 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSA).

Parent Board of Governors (PBG): A district-wide body, composed of a representative group of Title I parents/guardians, that serves in an advisory capacity to the district and complies with the meaningful consultation requirements of ESSA Section 1116. The Parent Board of Governors replaces what was previously referred to as the Parent Involvement Advisory Board (PIAB).

Parent/Guardian: A person with legal authority to care for and protect the personal needs and interests of a minor. For the purposes of this policy, the rights of the parent/guardian are transferred to an emancipated minor or students 18 and older.

Title I/ Title I Schools: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), also known as Title I, Part A, is the oldest federal supplemental education program that provides financial assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) via the State. A school must have a poverty index of 40% or above to be deemed a Title I school. The funds are designed to improve the academic achievement of students most at risk for failing. The district and schools eligible to receive the funds are required to set aside one percent of these funds to provide opportunities to build capacity for parent and family engagement. Accountability requirements include creating parent and family engagement policies and meaningful consultation with parents. Within CPS, meaningful consultation occurs in the form of the Parent Board of Governors (PBG) at the district level and the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) at the school level. This policy fulfills the ESSA requirements. At the school level, the policy requirements are fulfilled in the Parent & Family Plan within the CIWP.

III. INCLUSIVE AND COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS

• CPS is committed to supporting stakeholder engagement efforts across our District by co-creating spaces where stakeholder voices and experiences are heard and embedded into the fabric of our district policies and initiatives. Using the CPS Spectrum of Inclusive Partnerships tool, CPS will ensure that students, parents, community members, CPS staff, and partners most impacted by Title I policies and procedures are prioritized for additional stakeholder engagement to support the implementation of this Policy.
• The implementation of this Policy also requires the partnership of several CPS departments. The Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) will partner with representatives from the following departments and other relevant departments:
  1. Office of Equity
  2. Office of Grants Operations and Budget Management (OGBM)
  3. Office of Student Health and Wellness (OSHW)
  4. Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD)
  5. Law Office
  6. Department of Principal Quality (DPQ)
  7. Department of School Quality Measurement (SQRM)
  8. Department of Data Science and Insights
  9. Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE)
  10. Office of Multilingual-Multicultural Education (OMME)
  11. Office of Network Support (ONS)
  12. Office of Social and Emotional Learning (OSEL)
  13. Office of Student Protections and Title IX (OSP)

IV. POLICY COMMITMENTS

• Inclusive and Collaborative Parent and Family Engagement Practices:
  1. The Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) in partnership with the Office of Network Support (ONS) and other essential offices, shall provide the coordination, technical assistance, professional development, and other support necessary to assist participating schools in planning, implementing, and evaluating effective parent and family engagement activities to improve student academic achievement using the Whole Child Approach, that prioritizes physical, mental, and social-emotional health to ensure that every student in every school is healthy, safe, supported, challenged, and engaged.
  2. All Title I eligible schools shall establish Parent Advisory Councils (PACs) as defined in Section II above by November 15th to support the advancement of authentic parent and family engagement practices and foster inclusive learning environments with parents/guardians.
  3. Schools that are unable to establish a PAC by the November deadline must continue to engage parents/guardians and make attempts to form a PAC. The school leader still has the opportunity to spend Title I funds, but must provide opportunities for parent feedback with evidence of the engagement to the FACE Office (i.e. survey results, meeting notes, etc).
  4. All Title I eligible schools shall aim to co-develop and incorporate culturally and linguistically responsive parent and family engagement practices in their Continuous Improvement Work Plan (CIWP) in consultation with their Parent Advisory Council (PAC), Local School Council (LSC), and if applicable, their Bilingual Advisory Council (BAC), parent-teacher organizations, parents/guardians of students with disabilities, early childhood parents etc.
  5. All Title I eligible schools shall co-develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith-based organizations, in parent and family engagement activities, and find ways to identify and integrate resources and services from the community to strengthen school programs, family practices and student learning and development. Examples include but are not limited to the following parent and family workshops/programs, literacy, technology,
  6. In carrying out the Parent and Family Engagement requirements of Section 1116, to the extent practicable, the District and all Title I eligible schools will provide equitable opportunities for the participation of parents and families with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities and parents of migratory children. This will include accessible, culturally and linguistically responsive communication and timely distribution of all Title I-related communication, materials, tools, and resources that reflect the student, parent, and family demographics of the school community.
• Title I School PAC Compliance and Engagement:
  1. The Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE), in collaboration with the Office of Grants Operations and Budget Management, the Office of Network Support (ONS) and other essential departments, shall aim to provide Title I eligible schools with timely and user-friendly guidance, communication, and targeted supports to meet compliance requirements in accordance with Section 1116 by November 15th:
     • School principals shall first conduct a Principal Annual Meeting at a time convenient to parents/guardians to share and present this policy, ESSA requirements, the CIWP Title I parent and family engagement practices & school budget, and seek parent and family feedback on the use of Title I funds.
     • Following the Principal Annual Meeting, the school principal shall conduct the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) Organizational Meeting for parents/guardians to elect PAC officers, identify PAC meeting dates, and create and approve the Title I Budget Plan with parent/guardian participant feedback.
  2. School leaders shall leverage the Spectrum of Inclusive Partnerships to engage their Parent Advisory Council (PAC) on a monthly basis to co-develop content-specific workshops, trainings, and/or events that support parent leadership development aligned to school improvement goals. School administrators or parent liaisons are encouraged to collaborate with their PAC to plan these meetings at different times and with virtual and in-person options to be equitable of parents' availability.
  3. PACs must keep a record of their meeting agendas, notes, attendance, and spending in a physical binder. These are public records and can be used to assist in a state-led audit.

V. PARENT ADVISORY COUNCIL ESTABLISHMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

• All Parent Advisory Councils (PAC) executive board members are required to have a child enrolled in their Title I eligible school and shall collaborate with school administrators, faculty, and staff to ensure all parents within the school are aware and engaged in opportunities to better support their child's education. The responsibilities of each executive board member are as follows:
  1. Chair: Presides over all PAC meetings; develops the meeting agendas and leads the meetings. The Chair leads the voting process for approving the proposal on how parents/guardians want to spend the Title I funds. The Chair signs off on Title I documents after they have been voted on by the PAC, such as the transfer of parent engagement funds.
  2. Vice-Chair: Supports the Chair and fulfills all responsibilities of the Chair in the Chair's absence.
  3. Secretary: Takes notes, attendance, and organizes information to ensure efficiency and organizational effectiveness. Maintains an easily-accessible digital folder and a physical Title I binder containing all meeting notices, agendas, sign-in sheets, approved minutes, inventory, transfer of funds requests, and school workshop materials.
  4. Outreach Coordinator: Although everyone shares this role, this member is the primary person responsible for engaging parents in the schools. Their duties include: a) assessing barriers that impact parent involvement at their school, b) leading efforts to increase parent/guardian attendance at PAC meetings, c) promoting PAC events and meetings, and d) assisting with evaluating PAC events.
• Elections
  1. All elections of officers shall be conducted at the beginning of the school year before November 15th during the PAC Organizational meeting and serve a two-year term that expires upon the election of their successors in an odd-number year. A quorum of five or more parents/guardians with children enrolled in the school can vote for officers.
  2. The elected officers shall be:
     • Chairperson
     • Vice Chairperson
     • Secretary
     • Outreach Coordinator
     • No officers other than those listed above may be elected by a Title I School PAC.
• Voting:
  1. A quorum of five parents/guardians from the school whose children attend must be established to vote on PAC business.
  2. All parents, families, legal guardians, and persons standing in "loco parentis" shall have equal voting rights on any PAC matter.
  3. All votes of the PAC members must be by a show of hands or roll call. Secret ballots are not allowed.
  4. Community members may vote provided that parents comprise a majority of voters.
• Vacancy:
  1. In the event there is a PAC executive board member resignation due to the following:
  2. If a PAC board member chooses to resign:
     • The PAC executive board member must submit a resignation letter to the PAC, the principal, the Network FACE Specialist, and the Title I District Manager.
     • PAC executive board member's absence:
     • If a PAC board member is absent for more than three consecutive regularly scheduled meetings, they may be voted out by the school's PAC. A PAC's vote to remove a member is valid only when the PAC member is:
       1. Is notified of the PAC's intent to remove him/her at least seven (7) days prior to the vote;
       2. Is notified personally or by certified mail to his/ her last known address;
       3. Is allowed to explain his/her actions and to vote on the question of his/her removal from PAC;
       4. The majority vote of the serving members.
       5. *Absences from special, emergency, and committee meetings do not count.
  3. The vacancy shall be filled according to the following:
     • The election to fill the vacancy must be included as an action item on the agenda posted in accordance with the Open Meetings Act for the meeting during which the election will occur.
     • Candidates for the vacancy may be nominated by another PAC member or may self-nominate.
     • All candidates must be present at the meeting, either in person or virtually, if the meeting is hybrid.
     • All parents of enrolled children in the school community and community members attending the meeting may vote, provided that parents constitute a majority of voters.
     • The vacancy will be filled by the candidate receiving the highest number of votes.
     • In the case of a tie vote:
       1. Confirm the accuracy of the votes by performing a recount.
       2. If the recount confirms a tie, continue voting until one candidate receives a majority vote.
       3. If the vote continues to be tied, the vote is considered lost. The vote is tabled until the next meeting.

VI. PARENT BOARD OF GOVERNORS (PBG) ESTABLISHMENT AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• CPS shall establish a 13-member district-wide parent advisory group known as the Parent Board of Governors (PBG), that is a representative body of parents/guardians of students currently enrolled in Title I eligible schools.
• Following an application process, the FACE office selects candidates reflective of the district's core values and are then approved by the Chicago Public School board. Parents/guardians who are members of the Parent Advisory Council (PAC), Local School Council (LSC), Bilingual Advisory Council (BAC) or any other parent group at the school their child attends have the right to submit their candidacy to join the PBG in the Spring every year.
• The Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) in partnership with school administrators and Parent Advisory Councils (PACs) shall provide all Title I eligible schools with timely and accessible application materials and documentation to ensure equitable, cultural, socioeconomic, geographic and linguistic diversity of the PBG body.
• The Office of Family and Community Engagement shall manage, guide, engage, coach and elevate the PBG to actively participate in district-wide stakeholder engagement initiatives and advise on this policy, programming, and CPS priorities impacting students, parents, families, educators and community members.
• The PBG shall be a key stakeholder in advising on this policy's collaborative engagement process and language development. They will be actively involved in the revision process, providing feedback, and ensuring that the policy reflects the needs and concerns of Title I parents and families. Their experience supporting parent engagement in schools, subject matter expertise, and background will provide a parental perspective on the policy's revision and decisions.

VII. PROFESSIONAL LEARNING:

• The Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) in partnership with the Office of Network Support (ONS), the Office of Equity, and all other relevant offices shall provide all Title I eligible schools with parent and family engagement practices and competencies, policy updates and compliance progress via one-on-one meaningful consultations with school administrators, monthly principal network meetings, monthly parent collaborative meetings, and other opportunities for PACs and school administrators to receive ongoing learning and guidance to support successful PAC-school leader partnerships.
  1. The Title I Department shall provide Title I Orientation for all PAC Executive Officers, which includes, but is not limited to:
     • Title I Federal and Local History, Compliance and Expenditures, PAC Roles and Responsibilities, CPS Equity Framework / Spectrum of Inclusive Partnerships, Black Student Success Plan, and the CPS 5-Year Strategic Plan
• All Title I eligible schools shall aim to educate all staff in the value and understanding of student, parent and family lived experiences in order to elevate parents/guardians as equal partners in the education of their children.
• All Title I eligible schools shall aim to provide progress on and introduce new health and wellness initiatives that they are engaging in to support the Whole Child, working in collaboration with guardians, caregivers, and parents.

VIII. TITLE I PARENT AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT FUNDS- EXPENDITURE AND FISCAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• The Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) in partnership with the Office of Grants Operations and Budget Management shall inform, engage, and consult the parents and families of children served in Title I schools in decisions about the portion of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parent and family engagement. CPS will ensure that not less than 90 percent of the reserved funds go directly to the schools.
• Under Illinois law, a school's Local School Council (LSC) will consider and approve appropriate and/or reasonable and necessary budgetary requests of the school's PAC to use the Section 1116 parent engagement funds to support Title I parents in participating in Title I related activities.
• One percent of Title I funds given to designated schools will be allocated and used for parent and family engagement activities and strategies, with expenditures that must include the following:
  1. Reasonable and necessary parent-only expenses that elevate parents/guardians capacity to improve their students' academic success, and must have a direct tie to the classroom and or the Continuous Improvement Work Plan.
  2. All reasonable and necessary expenses must be associated with school-level parent and family engagement activities, including but not limited to, materials, services, or experiences that build parents/guardians skills, support mental and emotional wellness, and strengthen the parent-child-school relationship. This may include allowable expenses for literacy, digital tools, transportation stipends, child-care, mental health or SEL workshops, and culturally and linguistically responsive learning sessions that enable parents/guardians to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions.
  3. Schools shall offer flexible and linguistically responsive meetings at times that are convenient for parents/guardians. Schools should maximize parents/guardians participation and engagement during existing school-related events and activities, including but limited to, report card pick-up, progress reports, curriculum nights, LSC, PAC, and/or BAC meetings, Open Houses and any other parent and community relevant engagements.
  4. Additional allowable expenses for Title I parent and family engagement include, but are not limited to:
     • Expenses used for a parent room or equipment used by parents only
     • Expenses for refreshments; up to 25% of funds may be used for refreshments.
     • Assistance and training for parents/guardians to work with their children at home
  5. Unallowable expenses under Title I, Part A, are activities that are not deemed parent-only supports and trainings and do not align with student achievement. These include, but are not limited to:
     • Parent stipends
     • Non-academic field trips or topics
     • Non-academic parent/community events, ceremonies, banquets, celebrations, and activities.
     • Entertainment (bands/DJ, decorations, party rentals, etc)
     • Promotional items (t-shirts, caps, tote bags, keychains, souvenirs) featuring the district's or school's logo).
     • Alcohol, gifts, awards, fundraising costs, gift cards.
     • Materials purchased for students.

IX. DISTRICT ACCOUNTABILITY AND MONITORING:

• All Title I eligible schools, relevant offices, and departments within CPS are responsible for implementing this policy and meeting compliance within the aforementioned commitments in accordance with federal guidelines and in alignment with the CPS Five-Year Strategic Plan. This includes co-developing process guidelines, evaluation tools, timely communication and critical updates to schools, and monitoring mechanisms to track progress and address areas of concern.
• The Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) in partnership with the Department of Data Science and Insights, Department of School Quality and Measurement (SQRM) and other relevant CPS departments, will conduct, with meaningful engagement and consultation of the Parent Board of Governors and Title I parents and families, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this policy. These findings will be public on CPS' Continuous Improvement Data and Transparency (CIDT) website. CPS will use the findings of the evaluation to continuously improve the policy and design targeted strategies for more effective parent and family engagement practices at the district, network, and school levels.
• The district shall report at the end of each school year on the progress of the implementation of the Title I ESSA Parent and Family Engagement Policy to the Board of Education and the broader CPS community. The FACE office shall create opportunities through monthly stakeholder feedback sessions to better understand the experiences and perspectives from Title I schools, parents, and families to better inform this policy.