TransACT Blog

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 later this month, there are 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.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) issued guidance related to student privacy associated with administering college admissions exams. The guidance addresses concerns that arise due to some State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs or school districts) that have begun paying for and registering students for college admissions exams (ACT and SAT) rather than students or their parents registering themselves directly. This trend is due to the use of these tests to meet the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) assessment requirements.

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.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has posted "A Parent Guide to State and Local Report Cards" on the U.S. Department of Education's (USED) website. 

The School Support and Improvement ESSA RoadMap is now available.

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) announced the release of the document, "Understanding the Every Student Succeeds: A Parent Guide to the Nation's Landmark Education Law" on October 4, 2018. The announcement describes this guide as "a parent and guardian-friendly guide to the important flexibilities in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)." When TransACT drafted its ESSA notices, they were written using the guidelines of the Plain Writing Act of 2010. According to the USED announcement, this parent guide was also written following those guidelines.

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

"Parent Notifications Summary, Checklist & Timelines" is a resource to help educators identify the important parent notification distribution, timelines, and responsibilities. This document is provided to TransACT ParentNotices customers with an active subscription to the ESEA (ESSA) ParentNotices Collection. In August of 2018, this resource was updated with a new title and guidance.

There are several points throughout the school year where parent communication is required by law, but it can be difficult to keep track of the dates or specific circumstances which warrant required or recommended parent communication.

States, school districts and charter networks who subscribe to TransACT ParentNotices' ESSA  have a helpful resource to help them keep track of these timelines and requirements: "ACCT-A3 - ESEA Stakeholder Notifications Summary, Checklist & Timelines"