TransACT Blog

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) has released a new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document that pulls together information regarding the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and how that law relates to school safety. The FERPA FAQ guidance came not long after they released their 2018 Student Privacy Guidance.

In 2016 the Obama administration drafted ESSA Title I Supplement not Supplant regulations, which were later withdrawn just before the transition to the Trump administration. If the Obama era regulations had gone into effect and they were later rescinded by the Trump administration, according to the law that allows regulations to be rescinded, the Trump administration would have been prohibited from issuing new regulations on this topic. Now, two years later, USED has posted Supplement not Supplant Guidance for public comment .

There are an increasing number of resources available that address the changes in education requirements for students in Foster Care made by the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). At the 2018 annual conference hosted by the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), where for the past two years I have had the privilege of presenting, I focused my presentation on these changes.

The National ESEA Conference (formerly the National Title I Conference) was held January 30 - February 2, 2019. The change to this conference having a more comprehensive approach to ESEA programs does not mean that presentations related to Title I programs are less important. The move was intended to promote more collaboration between Title I and other programs.

English Learners are an integral population and a large focus of the National ESEA Conference (formerly the National Title I Conference), as they were before the conference was re-branded. While the comprehensive approach boasts content that serves more populations and Title Programs, there are still many presentations that focus on ELs. This includes my presentation, ESSA Title I EL Requirements for All Title I Funded Districts, Wednesday, Jan. 30th at 11:30am.

The changing landscape of education that is the result of the re-authorization of ESEA as ESSA is a topic that will be widely covered at this year's National ESEA Conference (formerly National Title I Conference).

There are increasingly more resources for administrators who make students experiencing homelessness a priority demographic for their schools and districts. At the National ESEA Conference in January, there were presentations with this focus as well.

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) posted new guidance related to the ESSA requirements for English Learners (ELs) on its website yesterday (January 10, 2019). This guidance is essential as it provides clarity and puts explicitly into writing answers to some of the remaining questions surrounding the implementation of ESSA for educators.

TransACT customers with an active subscription to the ESEA (ESSA) ParentNotices collection now have complete access to expertly written compliance resources, including a recently added notification. An ESSA Subscription includes:

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) awarded nearly $400 million in federal grants to support and expand charter schools in States and districts. The grants are part of the Charter Schools Program under USED's Office of Innovation and Improvement. These funds were part of the FY 2018 funding package that was passed by the U.S. Congress in the spring of this year.