The 2016-2017 school year is a time when we are transitioning from one version of a major federal education law to another. In December last year, President Obama signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The ESSA reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was last reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2001. The transition between ESSA and NCLB during the 2016-2017 school year includes some changes to TransACT Communications’ parent notice collections.
Current Changes
- Highly Qualified teacher requirements are not being enforced during 2016-2017, but parents still need to be notified that they can request the qualifications of their student’s teacher(s). In early August we replaced the Highly Qualified teacher notices in the ESEA / NCLB collection with Teacher Qualification notices that align to ESSA. These notices are for use in the 2016-2017 school year and will remain in use after ESSA is fully implemented in the 2017-2018 school year.
- The IDEA collection has notices that may be used to respond to a parent’s request for special education teacher qualifications (another Highly Qualified related teacher notice). This notice has been updated to align with ESSA and is available in English with translations to be uploaded as they become available.
- ESEA Flexibility Waivers expired on August 1, 2016. Notices that specifically addressed the approval of Flexibility Waivers or other aspects of these waivers have been removed from the ESEA / NCLB collection.
- Some of the requirements related to accountability are in transition. This includes Title I Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and Title III Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs). AYP and AMAO accountability determinations for schools and districts are no longer required. Because of this, the AYP notices have been removed from the ESEA / NCLB collection and the AMAO notices have been removed from both the ESEA / NCLB collection and the two EL collections that have these Title III AMAO notices.
Notices still available, but not needed by most districts
- The AYP school improvement related notices for School Choice and Supplemental Education Services (SES) are still available in the ESEA / NCLB collection. This is because, while most districts won’t need these notices due to the accountability changes, there may be some that still do. If you determine that your district does not need these notices this year, contact your district staff person that has TransACT administrative privileges and ask them to hide these documents.
Changes to come
- The reauthorization to ESSA affected other laws and student populations and included some significant revisions to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The McKinney-Vento revisions go into effect in October 2016. TransACT will be posting updated notices for students experiencing homelessness in October. This includes additional documents required or allowable due to the ESSA revisions.
- The ESSA included the addition of responsibilities under Title I related to students in foster care. According to guidance issued by the US Department of Education, those requirements go into effect on December 10, 2016. As part of TransACT Communications’ ESSA Compliance Collection, we have included four notices that specifically address foster care student requirements found in ESSA. Those notices will be available in the ESEA / NCLB collection starting in December this year.
Full implementation of ESSA takes place during the 2017-2018 school year. At that time, all ESEA notices will switch to the over 100 notices that are part of the ESSA Compliance Collection.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact us at 425.977.2100, Option 3 or email at support@transact.com.
