Alyssa Thornley

Alyssa Thornley has spent her career working to support schools and communities in providing opportunity to all students. In positions as a teacher, professional development coordinator, and as a volunteer, she has focused on the community’s role in education, and in designing efficient programs that work for diverse needs. Alyssa leads TransACT’s customer engagement and market strategy efforts, and works to ensure innovative programs, guidance, and thought leadership from across the country’s districts are being shared and spread.
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Recent Posts

TransACT-RightLabs Sponsors National Philanthropy Day for 11th Year

By Alyssa Thornley | November 21, 2019

Continuing Our Tradition of Support as Official Partner of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Edmonton Chapter  

Edmonton, Canada – RightLabs (a TransACT Communications brand) the customer-friendly, easy-to-use event registration software is pleased to join the Association of Fundraising Professionals -Edmonton Chapter in celebrating National Philanthropy Day November 21, 2019.  

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Webinar: Changes to Requirements for Students in Foster Care under ESSA

By Alyssa Thornley | November 15, 2019

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) resulted in significant changes for requirements related to students in foster care in both the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and Title I of the ESEA/ESSA.  

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4 Benefits of Compliance Software for School Districts

By Alyssa Thornley | November 14, 2019

In today’s progressively diverse districts, it is increasingly complicated for school systems to ensure compliance with the federal communication and language requirements for parent notices, school forms, campus-wide signs, and important school-to-home messaging. An education compliance solution such as TransACT Parent Notices provides school and district staff with instant access to compliant communications in priority languages to improve district communications, compliance, and parent and family engagement.

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Data-Driven School Improvement

By Alyssa Thornley | October 16, 2019

Making the Grade for Students Experiencing Homelessness

We all share the same mission, to provide the best services we can and help students succeed. It is easy to get swept away in the day-to-day of running a district, or Coordinating Title I, Title III, and McKinney-Vento programming or becoming caught up in an overwhelming amount of data without knowing where you can make a further positive impact. 

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EL Advocacy Resources from the National Council of State Title III Directors

By Alyssa Thornley | March 6, 2019

The National Council of State Title III Directors (soon re-branding to the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators) held a council meeting and professional development conference in Coronado Springs, Florida on March 6, 2019. NCSTIIID's professional development purposes include ensuring that members are knowledgeable of effective administration of national and state programs for the education of EL students and ensuring that members are knowledgeable of the laws governing the administration of language development programs.

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rSmart, Leader in Post-Secondary, Mobile-Friendly Campus Portal Integrations Partners with TransACT Communications to Increase Service Offerings for Educators

By Alyssa Thornley | December 20, 2018

TransACT Communications, LLC (transact.com) has acquired The rSmart Group, Inc.  (www.rsmart.com), a leader in higher education technology solutions. rSmart has over 19 years of experience in higher education and are leaders in SaaS delivery of campus engagement, verification, and service discovery tools that unify the user experience into a searchable, responsive, mobile-friendly platform. Working together, TransACT and rSmart are proud to offer a broader educational service portfolio that will now span K-12 institutions as well as colleges and universities.

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The Indiana Department of Education Collaborates with TransACT For ESSA Implementation Support

By Alyssa Thornley | November 16, 2018

To help with Parent and Family Engagement requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and to meet the Civil Rights obligations of schools in working with Limited English Proficient (LEP) families and English Learner (EL) students across the state of Indiana, leaders in the Indiana Department of Education are partnering with TransACT® Parent Notices. The new partnership, which started in June of 2018, provides all 467 local education agencies representing thousands of schools and teachers with unlimited access to expertly written parent notifications that meet legal requirements and guidance on required audiences, and recommended timelines.

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Dr. David Holbrook Joins Ellevation's Highest Aspirations Podcast, S01 E17: ESSA's Impact on ELL Programs

By Alyssa Thornley | August 31, 2018

This blog has been modified from its original version, which appeared in the Ellevation blog

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TransACT Director of Federal Programs and State Relationships to Serve on Advisory Board for Ellevation

By Alyssa Thornley | August 15, 2018

TransACT Communications, the leader in parent engagement compliance, is proud to announce that Executive Director for Federal Compliance and State Relationships, Dr. David Holbrook, will serve as a policy adviser for the Ellevation Advisory Board.  In this role, which is the first of its kind at Ellevation, Dr. Holbrook will help the Ellevation ELL community understand the impact of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 on the work of English Language Learner (ELL) educators and their students.

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Dr. David Holbrook Selected to be Executive Director for the National Council of State Title III Directors (NCSTIIID)

By Alyssa Thornley | August 10, 2018

TransACT’s Executive Director for Federal Compliance and State Relationships, Dr. David Holbrook, has been selected to serve as the Executive Director of the National Council of State Title III Directors (NCSTIIID). In this role, David will be responsible for guiding the board and its activities associated with advocacy for English Learners and immigrant students

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