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Documenting Independent Student Status of Unaccompanied Youth Experiencing Homelessness for FAFSA

By Dr. David Holbrook | March 8, 2023

When the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law on December 10, 2015, it included changes to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. One of those changes required every School District to appoint a District Homeless Liaison.  

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Updates to the Self-Onboarding Feature in ParentNotices

By Dr. David Holbrook | February 9, 2023

TransACT ParentNotices launched the self-onboarding feature in July of last year. Since then, hundreds of educators have signed up for a ParentNotices account using the self-onboarding link available on the ParentNotices sign-in page: www.parentnotices.com/login.

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Required ESSA Notification for Statewide Family Engagement Centers

By Dr. David Holbrook | January 6, 2023

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes, under Title IV, Part E grants from the U.S. Department of Education (USED) directly to entities to establish Statewide Family Engagement Centers.

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ESSER Funding Provides Billions of Dollars for Education

By Dr. David Holbrook | December 22, 2022

What Is ESSER Funding? 

ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding is the portion of funding from the three COVID-19 relief funding laws designated to help address educational issues arising from the pandemic.

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4 Ways to Support Student Success Initiatives by Bridging the Gap between School and Home

By Dr. David Holbrook | December 1, 2022

The gold standard of a successful educational environment is one in which parents and teachers work towards aligned goals, the students have the latest technology at their fingertips at school and home, and communication between parties is welcomed and encouraged.

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Hidden Translation Risks: Limitations of School Notification Translators

By Dr. David Holbrook | December 1, 2022

As an education professional, we understand that you are committed to communicating effectively with your students and their families to support student success. Not only that, you’re aware of the legal obligations of presenting information in a language that all parents understand, including the parents of English learner (EL) students. After all, your goal is to build trust, share information, and show that you care about all students in your district  — regardless of which language they speak.

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Updates to Tribal Consultation and Private School Consultation Notices: Title VI, Part F – Project SERV Grants

By Dr. David Holbrook | November 11, 2022

TransACT ParentNotices continually seeks to make improvements to its notifications, tools, and user interface—frequently at the request of our customers. Earlier in 2022, one of our state customers pointed out that we lacked documents to assist with and document the consultation with Tribes and Tribal Organizations (required in ESSA Title VIII, Section 8538) regarding school districts’ provision of federally funded educational services.

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ParentNotices Spotlight: ESSA Title I Required Regular Meetings With Parents of ELs

By Dr. David Holbrook | October 18, 2022

To help local education agencies (LEAs) (a.k.a school districts, Charter Schools, etc.) meet the ESSA requirement for regular meetings with the parents of English learners (ELs) (a.k.a. multilingual learners), TransACT’s ESSA ParentNotices Collection includes the notice EL-07 Meeting for Parents of English Learners: Invitation to Participate. LEAs can use this notification to organize these meetings. 

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U.S. Census Releases Data on Teacher Pay: It's Low for Their Education Level

By Dr. David Holbrook | October 13, 2022

Educators and the news media pay a lot of attention to our current teacher shortage crisis. One of the oft-cited reasons relates to teacher pay. While not the entire solution, having teacher pay be commensurate with their education level would be a step in the right direction. 

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Grants for School-Based Mental Health Providers Announced

By Dr. David Holbrook | October 5, 2022

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) released the Notice Inviting Applications for two grants funded by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). These grants are part of the Biden Administration's goal of “doubling the number of school-based mental health professionals.”  

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