Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and using operations benchmarks to measure your district’s performance can yield meaningful results. Monitoring operational efficiency promotes student achievement and effective budgeting.

The value of tracking operational key performance indicators (KPIs) stretches beyond maximizing return on investment (ROI) or influencing student achievement. The effective tracking and use of KPIs can also help school districts mitigate an impending budget crisis by making strategic and logical staffing and budget cuts.

While parent notices have the requirement to meet federal standards of communication, it remains pivotal that they also meet the spirit of the law itself: helping parents be an informed participant in their student's education. Towards this end, and based on feedback from customers and our ESSA National Advisory Board, all new parent notices in the TransACT Parent Notices collection are being written following plain language criteria.

When it comes to requirements for English Learners (ELs) in ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act), one of the biggest shifts in responsibility is the move of accountability for ELs progress toward English proficiency from Title III to Title I. Under ESSA (as compared to NCLB) it is more clearly noted that Title I funds can be used for programs to help ELs attain English proficiency. In addition to the accountability
measures, the following two requirements have also been moved to Title I (and must be implemented for ELs in programs funded by either or both Title I and Title III):

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) released guidance for the new ‘Block Grant’ for Well-Rounded Education in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The ‘Block Grant’ is found in Title IV, Part A of the ESSA and provides funding for a variety of programs.

School business officers have the difficult task of maximizing return on investment (ROI) while creating the financial conditions to put the most money in the classroom.

Performance goals for school business officers continue to rise as expectations for return on investment (ROI) and student achievement grow – even as school funding decreases. Due to these stringent demands, accurate performance measurement and operational insights provide more value than ever for managing budgets, reducing costs and increasing operational performance.

When it comes to creating a state or school district communication strategy, it is equally as important to balance federal compliance with the ability to authentically reach out to parents of diverse home languages about their students. While many districts struggle to keep pace with legal requirements and the ability to sit down and provide clear school-to-home communications in plain language, TransACT® provides relief by providing states and districts with district-wide solutions that encompass unique strategies, specialized systems, and helpful customization depending on what the district needs most.

In the often-siloed world of education, district leaders can lose sight of how performance in non-academic metrics can affect student outcomes.This reality exists despite research showing a relationship between positively trending operational metrics and student success.