TransACT Blog

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's 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"

Back in February I wrote about the U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos’, proposed reorganization of the U.S. Department of Education (USED) that would eliminate the USED’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA). Since then, a group of 18 EL advocacy organizations and members of the U.S. Congress have written letters in opposition to the elimination of OELA.

Charter schools continue to be a hotly debated topic in the world of education, with educators and administrators tending to be either strongly for, or strongly against, the charter school movement. No matter if you are pro-charter school or anti-charter school, there are many facts and figures that seem to support both sides of this movement.

School choice is a hot topic in the education world, especially lately. With the change in presidential administration, there have been many promises regarding how charters schools may be a mechanism for education reform. This conversation really began back in the late 1980s, when Albert Shanker rocked the educational world with his speech on school choice, and a subsequent New York Times article that became widely circulated.