Section 22-7-304 - Council - advisory duties - technical assistance - report(1) The council shall inform, at a minimum, the early childhood councils, public schools, school districts, the state charter school institute, the department, the state board, the department of higher education, the Colorado commission on higher education, and the governing boards for the state institutions of higher education concerning best practices and strategies, aligned with the national standards for family-school partnerships, for increasing parent involvement in public education and promoting family and school partnerships, including but not limited to best practices and strategies in the following areas: (a) Creating and implementing programs to effectively involve parents in improving their children's education and levels of academic achievement. To identify these best practices and strategies, the council shall review the programs implemented in other states and the results of state and national research conducted in this area.(b) Involving parents in programs to raise academic achievement, increase high school graduation rates, decrease student dropout rates, and close the achievement and growth gap;(c) Involving parents in response to intervention programs in public schools and school districts;(d) Involving parents in programs to raise academic achievement, improve the persistence rate, and improve the on-time graduation rate of students enrolled in institutions of higher education;(e) Increasing parent involvement in education-related committees at the local and state levels;(f) Designing and implementing parent education programs and centers and parent leadership training programs;(g) Creating and implementing family-to-school liaison positions; and(h) Establishing and implementing school-based parent information resource centers.(2) The council shall recommend to the state board and to the Colorado commission on higher education plans for statewide parent involvement initiatives, which may include, but need not be limited to: (a) Requiring each school district and the state charter school institute, as part of the accreditation process, to increase the level of parent involvement in education; and(b) Initiatives to increase admissions to institutions of higher education and the degree-completion rate and to reduce the need for remediation.(3)(a) The council shall provide training and other resources designed to help the school district accountability committees and school accountability committees increase the level of parent engagement with the public schools and with school districts, including increasing the number of parents serving on school district accountability committees and school accountability committees.(b) The council shall work with the department to provide regional training programs for school district accountability committees and school accountability committees. At a minimum, the training programs must address parent leadership and increasing parent engagement with school district accountability committees and school accountability committees, including best practices for parent engagement with school district accountability committees and school accountability committees.(c) The council shall work with the department to provide regional training programs for school districts and charter schools concerning best practices and skills for district and school personnel in working with parents.(4) The council, in consultation with the department of education and the department of higher education, shall identify key indicators of successful parent engagement in education and use the indicators to develop recommendations for methods by which the department of education and the department of higher education may measure and monitor the level of parent engagement with elementary and secondary public schools and with institutions of higher education in Colorado.(5) On or before December 31, 2013, and on or before December 31 each year thereafter, the council shall report to the state board, the Colorado commission on higher education, and the education committees of the senate and the house of representatives, or any successor committees, the council's progress in promoting parent engagement in the state and in fulfilling the duties specified in this section.Amended by 2018 Ch. 90,§9, eff. 8/8/2018.Amended by 2018 Ch. 59,§3, eff. 8/8/2018.Amended by 2013 Ch. 355,§7, eff. 5/28/2013.L. 2009: Entire part RC&RE, (SB 09-090), ch. 291, p. 1431, §1, effective August 5. L. 2013: (3), (4), and (5) added, (SB 13-193), ch. 355, p. 2074, § 7, effective May 28. L. 2018: IP(1) amended, (SB 18-099), ch. 90, p. 727, § 9, effective August 8; IP(1) amended, (HB 18-1141), ch. 59, p. 601, § 3, effective August 8.Amendments to subsection IP(1) by SB 18-099 and HB 18-1141 were harmonized.
For the legislative declaration in HB 18-1141, see section 1 of chapter 59, Session Laws of Colorado 2018.