The U.S. Department of Education (USED) has sent out a letter to Chief State School Officers (state education leaders) with information related to the 2020-2021 school year concerning the following issues:

On February 2, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order requiring government agencies to conduct an immediate review of changes made to the Public Charge rules made by the previous administration.

Educators experienced profound changes, especially related to proper support of English Learners, as schools moved to distance learning. Many educators were left unsure of what was expected of them in terms of conducting English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessments and meeting compliance requirements. 

TransACT Communications (transact.com) has acquired App-Garden (app-garden.com), a leader in K-12 transportation and operations administrative software. The App-Garden team has over 27 years of experience in developing easy-to-use administrative software to support school bus routing, field trip management, event scheduling and facilities management, volunteer operations, virtual substitute teacher training, and more. Working together, TransACT and The App-Garden are proud to offer K12 administrators cost effective software and outstanding customer service to help improve operations and service delivery in school district operations.

TransACT’s Parent Notices team looks forward to the National ESEA Conference every year. It gives us the opportunity to meet with and learn more about our current customers as well as stay up to date on the topics that are at the forefront for educators working in ESEA (ESSA) programs across the country. We’ve poured over the schedule and wanted to provide you with some presentations that we think would be worth checking out at the virtual National Association of ESEA State Program Administrator's Conference, February 8-11, 2021.  

TransACT ParentNotices supports compliance with federal Parent and Family Engagement Requirements under ESEA (ESSA), Section 504, and IDEA with expertly written and pre-translated mobile-friendly notifications that are written by federal programs experts. A subscription to ParentNotices includes unlimited, district-wide access to our federally-required notifications and parent engagement guidance. ParentNotices allows you to:

• store and standardize existing forms
• create new forms and automate approvals
• integrate class roster data from a student information system (SIS)
• send forms to parents and families on any device
• collect digital signatures when required
  

Remind is a communication software platform that enables two-way messaging to support the engagement between school districts and parents and families as required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Millions of educators, students, and parents use Remind to connect with the people and resources that help them teach and learn. 

“We are excited to partner with Remind in support of enabling educators to engage with parents to improve outcomes for all students. Our ParentNotices users will be able to authentically engage parents in the services and support that they are eligible for under ESEA (ESSA), Section 504, IDEA and more, while also remaining compliant with federal and civil rights laws. We appreciate Remind for making this integration simple and intuitive for everybody involved and for the impact it is having on teachers and families across the country.” said Alex Jarzebowicz, CEO of TransACT Communications.

Family engagement in children’s academic lives produces numerous benefits for the student and the school. A focus on parent engagement can spur profound changes in classrooms. Involved parents often yield more positive experiences for everyone in the school system. Schools excel when parents support learning and classroom rules at home.

Online learning presents many challenges for learners. The challenges for English learners (ELs) and other student populations are also significant. Extenuating circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated these challenges for learners and reduced or eliminated peer-to-peer interaction in remote environments. Culturally and linguistically diverse students need opportunities to collaborate with peers, to draw on funds of knowledge and contribute to the learning of the class.

TransACT ParentNotices published a free resource to support school districts in keeping our communities informed, healthy, and safe on September 1st, 2020. As the holiday season often includes travel, we want to highlight the complimentary COVID-19 letter template for state and local education agencies, schools, and out-of-school-time programs. 

Effective school-to-home communication plays a vital role when it comes to achieving successful student outcomes. However, staying in compliance with Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements when communicating with parents and family members can prove quite challenging for schools and districts, especially with the increases to Parent and Family Engagement requirements under ESSA.