TransACT Blog

Pandemic-related learning gaps are still causing issues in K12 education as students try to make up for lost time due to the pandemic and school closures. These gaps are even more significant for Multilingual Learner students.   

Congress has passed three bills that provide $190 billion for K-12 education called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding, explicitly meant to help education recover from the pandemic.   

In an on-demand webinar, TransACT Parent Notice’s Executive Director for Federal Programs and State Relationships, Dr. David Holbrook, outlines ways school districts can access these federal grants to support dual-language programs.   

A lot of competition exists for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. There are many questions on how best to use these funds to support students and educators. One area where the use of these funds is especially urgent is student mental health. 

The Homeless Information Management System for Students (HIMSS) December 2021 software development release improves communication with district homeless liaisons to support at-risk student groups. 

TransACT ParentNotices subscribers get unlimited access for all district users to over 200 expertly written and translated parent notifications. These notices have been legally reviewed (where applicable) to comply with federal education laws and are regularly updated to remain current with changes. ParentNotices supports administrators in a compliant parent and family engagement plan and can serve as evidence of implementation in the event of a state monitoring visit, ensuring districts have genuine support when they need it most.   

TransACT ParentNotices is parent engagement software used by school districts and state departments of education to support compliant and equitable parent engagement. Subscribers of ParentNotices can have access to over 200 expertly written and translated notices that have been legally reviewed where applicable to comply with federal education laws. ParentNotices supports administrators in a compliant parent engagement plan and can serve as evidence of implementation in the event of a state monitoring visit.

The August 2021 ParentNotices feature release involves enhanced monitoring capabilities when adding parents and staff into the system.

Students experiencing homelessness often end up in foster care, and when students in foster care age out of the system, they often end up being identified as students experiencing homelessness.  

For schools nationwide, understanding the backgrounds and living situations of the students they serve is vital to providing adequate support. The process is not always straightforward. The Student Information System (SIS) of many school districts can be inadequate because an SIS is only as accurate as the data that it houses. Inaccurate data, missing data, or data that an SIS doesn't store can create hurdles to support students' needs. Not only does this impact the school's ability to stay compliant with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (M-V Act), it can hinder student achievement and stability. 

Running a GEAR UP program that supports hundreds or thousands of teenagers at the school or grant level is no easy task. Add the many administrative requirements of GEAR UP funding, including data collection, and that task can become monumental!  

Effective school-to-home communication plays a vital role when it comes to achieving successful student outcomes. However, staying in compliance with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements when communicating with parents and family members can prove challenging and the pandemic has only exasperated the difficulties as schools operated remotely.

TransACT’s Executive Director of Federal Programs and State Relationships is leading a webinar on the “Increases in Federal Requirements for Parent and Family Engagement” on August 25th, 2021, at 9:30 am PT / 10:30 am MT, 11:30 am CT, and 12:00 pm ET.   

In this webinar, you will learn about significant changes to parent and family engagement under ESSA, including:    

The June 2021 ParentNotices release further supports school and district staff by collecting parent signatures on crucial notifications while improving content management with auto-fill student assessment results. The latest release includes: