School and/or Districtwide Advocacy

• Recommendations Submitted to Superintendent Dr. Carol Johnson and the Boston School Committee RE: Promoting Successful Pathways to Postsecondary Education and Employment for Students with Disabilities (February 24, 2010) (PDF)
• Recommendations for the Boston Public Schools Code of Discipline (June 30, 2009) (PDF) Recommendations sumbitted by CLE, BPON Taskforce: Code of Discipline Subcommittee, and parent members of CLE's Family School-Level Change Initiative. Recommendations urge BPS to adopt and enforce a Code of Discipline that is based on the core belief that students have the right to a high-quality education and should not be punished by denying them the opportunity to learn by, among other things, limiting the exclusion of students from their usual classroom instruction as a discipline response by using exclusion only in the most extreme circumstances and as a last resort. 
• Recommendations for the Boston Public Schools Code of Discipline (June 29, 2009) (PDF) Submitted by Members of the Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC) and the Fifth Floor Student Government at The English High School with Support from CLE, accompanying recommendations by families posted above. 
• Recommendations for the English High School Civility Standards (June 2009) (PDF) Proposed changes to the English High School Civility Standards by members of the Fifth Floor Student Government at EHS with support from CLE. Changes seek to avoid, whenever possible, the exclusion of students from their usual classroom instruction as a response to discipline problems and to promote, instead, the use of alternative approaches to discipline.
• Boston Family School-Level Change Initiative Executive Summary (2007) (PDF) CLE has been working with families and educators at several schools in Boston, using the requirements of Title I as a tool to bring about school-level change. CLE's Family School-Level Change Initiative seeks to make schools accountable to families, students, and other members of the school community for providing a high-quality education to every child.
• Boston Family School-Level Change Initiative Press Release (2007) (PDF)

Tools

• "Components of a Parent Involvement Policy," (2009) (PDF) Handout describing seven components, at a minimum, that should comprise a Title I Parent Involvment Policy (source: 20 U.S.C. § 6318). The Policy must describe how families, teachers, and administrators will knowledgeably and effectively participate in developing the school's Title I schoolwide program plan or program plan as appropriate.
• CLE Releases Key Tool for School Reform: Educational Quality Bill of Rights (EQBR) (PDF) CLE has developed both a short and long version of its EQBR. The EQBR is designed as a starting point both to help schools articulate what they need to provide to ensure that all children receive a high-quality education, and to advance district and state adequacy efforts to help ensure that the resources and supports are sufficient for schools to have the capacity to provide that high-quality education.
  • EQBR Short-form (1 page version) (PDF) identifies each key element of quality education in response to parent-oriented key questions about a school.
  • EQBR Longer version (PDF) outlines the contents and components of each of those key elements of quality education in response to parent-oriented key questions about a school.
• "Family Literacy Resources," (June 2009) (PDF) Families at one school site used the parent involvement provisions of Title I to begin a school-wide focus on improving the literacy skills of students at their school. Conversations between families and teachers culminated in a workshop for families about ways families can support their child's literacy at home. Handout supplemented information provided at workshop. 
• "Boston Public Schools Office of Family and Student Engagement Summer Institute Workshop: Developing a Family Engagement Policy," (August, 20 2008) (PDF) Presentation for members of the Boston Public Schools Office of Family and Student Engagement introducing a framework for making schools accountable to families, students, and other members of the school community for providing a high quality education to all children. Goal of the workshop is to introduce the legal provisions in Title I that require each school to develop a Parent Involvement Policy intended to lead to meaningful school-level change.