Quarter 2 - Spring 2007 Issue 6, Volume I |
Practical Advice from Forest Hertlein, Ph.D.
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Dr. Forest Hertlein is the Executive Director of Federal Programs at TransACT. In this important role, Forest keeps his finger placed on the pulse of compliance issues. His expertise not only ensures that our services are relevant and accurate, but also allows us to provide you with briefings of the most pertinent issues facing schools. |
The AYP Hammer Falls on Districts, Too
NCLB requires that districts, like individual schools, must make Adequate Yearly Progress. AYP is determined for a district by compiling the data for each student group and for students as a whole in the district as well as by calculating attendance and graduation rates at the district level. A district’s AYP is not determined by the number of schools making AYP, but by considering the achievement level of each student in each designated student group at the district level. Therefore, it is possible for a district to not make AYP even though all of the individual schools do. The education department in each state (the SEA) is required to combine the progress of all students in all schools in a district to determine district AYP – not just students in schools that receive Title I funds. A district is identified by the SEA for improvement if AYP is not made for two consecutive years. According to NCLB, the state is responsible for notifying parents of every enrolled student that the district has been identified for improvement. Such communication is to be provided to parents directly from the state through regular or e-mail, or indirectly using the Internet or the media. States may also request districts to distribute their notice. In anticipation of districts wanting to communicate with parents regarding AYP status prior to receiving notification from the state, TransACT has added the following to the TransACT ® NCLB Parent Notifications:
A district that does not make AYP for two consecutive years must develop an improvement plan no later than three months after being notified by the state. In addition, a district in improvement status cannot be an approved Supplemental Educational Services provider. TransACT provides the following notices for districts to inform parents of these developments:
You can learn more about the TransACT NCLB Parent Notifications by attending a free, no-obligation product demonstration. Register here for one of the monthly sessions. |
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What's New at TransACT
Revisions and additions to TransACT Parent Notification collections
In a continuing effort to meet the school-to-home requirement needs of schools across the country, TransACT has added one new document and revised cover letters, document details and revision histories for 17 others in the different parent notification collections. NCLB Parent Notifications
IDEA 2004 Parent Notifications
GenEd Parent Notifications
GenEd & Free and Reduced-Price Meals Parent Notifications
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Document Details Added to GenEd Parent Notifications
Based on customer feedback, TransACT has added Document Details to the GenEd Parent Notifications collection. Document Details, which are also included in the NCLB and IDEA 2004 Parent Notifications collections, provide users with a description of and information on when to use each form. Document Details are accessed by clicking on the link that appears just above the PDF document window. |
Keeping You Current
In the last six months, more than 45 documents have been added or updated to respond to changes in federal requirements for school-to-home communication, all at no cost to our subscribers. Highlights of this work include:
The staff at TransACT works diligently to ensure the parent notification collections accurately reflect current interpretations of NCLB, IDEA 2004 and OCR by the U.S. Department of Education. Subscribers can be assured that TransACT closely monitors the changing landscape of federal programs and the impact on parents’ right to know. To learn more about the full line of TransACT parent notification collections, sign up for a free demonstration at http://www.transact.com/webinar/?Free_Demo. Questions about document updates should be sent to TransACT Customer Care by e-mail (support@transact.com) or phone (425-977-2100). |
New Faces, New Places at TransACT
In order to continue to provide a high level of customer support, we’ve added a few new faces to our team. Sarah Springberg takes over as the Account Implementation Manager for the Eastern Region. She replaces Greg Heaston, who has moved into the Sales Account Manager role for the eastern United States. We've also welcomed Brenda Munroe as the newest member of the Production Team and Patrick White as the Western Region Manager. |
Welcome to Our School Posters
Poster pricing:
Shipping & Handling (UPS Ground)
To order posters, send the number of posters you’d like to order (minimum of 10) to John Boerger by e-mailing john@transact.com. Show Us Your Posters! Take your digital camera and snap a picture of your poster and send it to TransACT. Tell us your name, school name, district name, and where the poster is and we’ll feature our favorites in upcoming issues of the TransACT newsletter. E-mail your photos to John Boerger at john@transact.com. |
Implementation & Training
GenEd Customers: Time to update your District Data
As of June 1, customers who subscribe to the TransACT® GenEd Parent Notifications need to update their district specific information. Data provided is used to customize forms in the GenEd collection. Identified TransACT Coordinators and Data Coordinators should log into the site, click on the image on the upper left corner of the page and complete the provided forms. Questions should be directed to TransACT Customer Care by e-mail (support@transact.com) or phone (425-977-2100). |
Training Catalog Now Available
An online catalog of both online and onsite training opportunities is now available. Users can now sign up for basic user webinars for their specific products or request on-site training from a TransACT ® Certified Trainer. To register for training and for more information, |
Become a TransACT® Certified Trainer
The TransACT Academy is a two-day workshop held at the TransACT corporate offices just outside Seattle, WA. Over the course of the training, participants will be equipped with the tools to fully implement and train others on the TransACT system in their state, region or district, leaving the Academy as a TransACT® Certified Trainer. Learn more by visiting http://www.transact.com/public/training/academy.htm. |
Upgrade your TransACT Subscription
Learn more about upgrading your subscription to include the additional parent communication compliance resources available from TransACT at one of the monthly product demonstrations, hosted by the TransACT Customer Care department. Register here for one of the monthly sessions. |
2007-2008 Budget Reminder: TransACT
Don’t forget to include TransACT in your budget planning for the 2007-2008 school year. Renewing your TransACT subscription gives you the peace of mind that our support of your parent communication and compliance goals will continue. Your renewal will allow you to continue to communicate effectively, consistently and confidently with your school community. |
TransACT |
Customer Spotlight
Kentucky Department of Education, Frankfort, KY
How long have you been a TransACT subscriber? Kentucky's TransACT statewide launch was in 2003. Why did the Kentucky Department of Education make the decision to purchase a statewide subscription? In 2003, Kentucky was home to over 10,000 school age children who spoke another language and did not speak English "very well," according to the 2000 US Census Data. That represented a 46% increase in ten years! No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 and Office for Civil Rights required effective communication with parents. This was a rigorous challenge for our 176 school districts to meet the needs of those children and their families, who represented 74 different languages at that time. The Kentucky Department of Education recognized that need and took a significant first step toward enhancing districts capability to communicate with the limited- and non-English speaking parent community that districts served. TransACT, this comprehensive on-line service, was offered free to districts for the first time. How does Kentucky use TransACT throughout the state? Of Kentucky’s 176 school districts, approximately 175 are currently registered for FREE access to parent notices that ensure compliance with NCLB and OCR notification requirements in multiple languages. In some districts, each school has access to pick and choose forms that are appropriate for meeting the needs of that building. In other districts, the Title III/ELL Consultant reviews forms that will be applicable to the district and distributes appropriately. Reaching out to the all the districts can be challenging. What has KDE done to increase awareness of TransACT throughout the state? In February 2006, TransACT provided the Kentucky Department of Education a scorecard, which delineated the following information:
As a result of TransACT's generated data and recommendations, we have greatly expanded TransACT training opportunities for the 2006-07 school year across the state. Multiple sessions will be presented at the following conferences: Department of Pupil Personnel; Title III/ELL Coordinators Annual Meeting; KYTESOL; three Emergent LEP Districts training sessions across the state; and Kentucky Teaching & Learning Conference (state-wide) in the Spring 2007. Some involve contracting TransACT staff to do the training, while others will be conducted by Kentucky's Department of Education staff. How would you describe TransACT to a colleague in another state DOE? TransACT is an affordable way for districts to meet the multilingual parent notification requirements of No Child Left Behind and the Office for Civil Rights. Any workstation in Kentucky with Internet access and the district staff person's self-selected username and password can have access to more than 75 school forms and letters translated in 20 languages. There are standardized forms (e.g., field trip permission, head lice notification/directives, food service information, discipline) that all districts will find extremely helpful. Kentucky has made arrangements with TransACT to pay the annual fee, allowing this valuable service to be offered to all districts FREE. TransACT congratulates Maureen Keithley & Shelda Hale and |
Topic Suggestions? Comments?
If you have a suggestion for a topic that you would like to see covered in future newsletters, drop us a line. We always enjoy hearing from our customers and welcome any suggestions for topics or feedback on this newsletter. |
