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.

The National Council of State Title III Directors (soon re-branding to the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators) held a council meeting and professional development conference in Coronado Springs, Florida on March 6, 2019. NCSTIIID's professional development purposes include ensuring that members are knowledgeable of effective administration of national and state programs for the education of EL students and ensuring that members are knowledgeable of the laws governing the administration of language development 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.

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.

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.